Ore than an estimated 90 million adults in the United States lack the

Basic Writing Skills

• Handwriting

• Spelling

• Keyboarding

• Capitalization

• Punctuation

• Sentence construction

Specialized Writing Knowledge

• Attributes of good writing

• Texture of specific types of text

• Linguistic knowledge

• Awareness of the audience

• Topic knowledge

• Vocabulary knowledge

Writing Motivation

• Self-efficacy

• Writing apprehension

• Attitudes toward writing

• Attributes for success/failure

• Interest

• Intrinsic/extrinsic motivation

• Goal orientation

• Goal setting and planning

• Seeking information

• Record -keeping

• Organizing

• Transforming

• Self-monitoring

• Reviewing

• Self-evaluating and revising

Writing Strategies and Processes

• Self-verbalization

• Rehearsing

• Environmental structuring

• Time management

• Self-rewarding

• Rehearsing

• Seeking assistance

• Emulating

Executive Control

Effective Writing Instruction

FIGURE 2:  Component skills and processes of writing

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Developing Reading and Writing

a variety of basic writing skills, specialized writing knowledge, writing strategies, and 

motivational processes to create a text. How the writer applies and combines these skills 

and processes will vary depending on the writer’s task and goal. 

Principles of Effective Writing Instruction

A number of principles for effective writing instruction are supported by research, 

although the body of research is smaller than for reading. 

Explicitly and systematically teach the strategies, skills, and knowledge needed