Primary And Junior Students’ Writing Fluency Characteristic And Influencing Factors

Writing as one of the basic human skills, not only is an important part of academic requirements for students, but also plays a significant role in daily life and work. Currently, writing research has gradually shifted from product-based to process-based. Based on this real-time writing research, the study on writing fluency (WF) has developed. As the dual factor of dynamics and time, WF is an effective predictor of writing quality.WF, that is the fluency of the individual using written language to transmit the information. The study adopts the perspective of cognitive processing, which combines with text generation, pause-executive and language burst to explore WF through on-line research. On the one hand, it reflects the process-oriented approach to writing; on the other, can help to reveal the potential cognitive processes involved in WF.In the present research, third, fifth and seventh grade students were tested through three experiments to examine the WF characteristics and influence factors in narrative writing process. Specifically, experiment1aimed at setting the critical point to distinguish the mechanical pause and the pause for high level cognitive processing in Chinese writing. It is the basis of WF indicators. For example, pause and language burst. Experiment2integrated the various indicators of product-based and process-based, adopting EFA to explore the effective index of WF. Meanwhile, comparing the characteristics of WF in different grades and different writing levels by3(grade:3,5and7) x2(writing level:high and low) two-factor completely randomized design. And experiment3focused on the influence factors of WF, which is working memory span, verbal fluency and writing automation.This study got the following conclusions:(1) The pausing critical value for narrative writing by the third-grade student is2.1s. In other words, the pause which less than2.1s is due to writing itself belongs to the mechanical pause, and the pause exceed2.1s is by high-level cognitive processes caused for the third-grade students.(2) The pausing critical value for narrative writing by the fifth-grade student is1.5s. In other words, the pause which less than1.5s is due to writing itself belongs to the mechanical pause, and the pause exceed1.5s is by high-level cognitive processes caused for the third-grade students.(3) The pausing critical value for narrative writing by the seventh-grade student is1.3s. In other words, the pause which less than1.3s is due to writing itself belongs to the mechanical pause, and the pause exceed1.3s is by high-level cognitive processes caused for the third-grade students.(4) WF can be measured from text generation, pause-execution and language burst three dimensions separately. Particularly, the dimension of text generation includes the number of words, the number of T-units and the writing speed. The pause-execution involves the total pause time, the average pause time and the cognitive cost of execution. Finally, the language burst consists of the average burst number, the average burst length, the pause times and the average length of P-type burst.(5) WF will make better with the improved grades.(6) With the development of students’ writing skills, their WF performance will improve.(7) Writing achievement and WF is a significant positive correlation.(8) Working memory span, writing automation and verbal fluency can significantly predict the WF.(9) There are grade differences in influence factors. Specifically, the factor for the third-grade students is writing automation; and is verbal fluency for the seventh-grade. However, the fifth-grade students’ WF is affected by working memory span, writing automation and verbal fluency simultaneously.