# WRITING PROCESSES AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 1993 · $134,294

## Abstract

The National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that many elementary
and secondary students are incompetent writers (Applebee, Langer, &
Mullins, 1986).  If research is to have a positive impact on writing
instruction and achievement, which to date it has not, it will be by
increasing our understanding of the processes that underlie writing skill
and their development.  Three promising theoretical models (Hayes & Flower,
1980; Bereiter, Burtis, & Scardamalia, 1986) specify global writing
processes and their development, but the models lack procedural specificity
and have been tested almost exclusively with verbal protocol analysis and
naturalistic observation, which are scientifically weak and instructionally
uninformative.

The research proposed here will [1] unpack and test the psychological
reality of procedural details hypothesized to underlie the global processes
outlined in cognitive theories of writing and [2] test for individual and
age-related differences in those processes.  Eleven proposed experiments
focus on specifics of three global determinants of writing skill-[1]
planning, [2] translating, and [3] reviewing-and on [4] the effects of
theory-based instruction on writing.  The research plan, which will be
executed by a team of five collaborating scientists, is theory driven, and
it uses converging operations (Garner, Hake, & Ericksen, 1956), individual
differences tests (Underwood, 1976), and instructional methods (Belmont &
Butterfield, 1977) to maximize the scientific and educational returns of
the research.  Likely returns are more detailed and valid theory of
processes underlying writing, and more effective methods for increasing
children's writing skill.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2199904
- **Project number:** 5R01HD026349-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **SAM.gov UEI:** HD1WMN6945W6
- **Principal Investigator:** DEBORAH E MCCUTCHEN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1993
- **Award amount:** $134,294
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1989-12-01 → 1995-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2199904

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2199904, WRITING PROCESSES AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT (5R01HD026349-04). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2199904. Licensed CC0.

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