The Role of Vocabulary and Syntax in Informational Written Composition in Middle School
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The Role of Vocabulary and Syntax in Informational Written Composition in Middle School Adrea Truckenmiller1 · Mei Shen2 · Lake E. Sweet1 Accepted: 14 October 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract The current study explores the contributions of written vocabulary and syntax to informational writing quality in Grades 5 through 8. Various aspects of language skills (receptive to written, oral register to academic register) have differing relationships with narrative and informational writing achievement across development. In this study, we explore one relatively understudied aspect of language (written language in the oral register) during a key transition period. Specifically, we find support for the role of vocabulary and syntax skills in informational writing quality in early and later middle school; that the role may differ according to students’ skill level; and we explore the role of written vocabulary and syntax in the gender gap between girls’ and boys’ informational writing quality. Keywords vocabulary · Syntax · Written composition · Middle school · Expressive language
Introduction Writing plays an important role not only in students’ schooling, but also in their daily lives (e.g., Graham & Perin, 2007). For example, in health class, students may need to write a report about how their diet meets nutritional recommendations, and they may send a text to their parents making an argument for different meals to be prepared at home. Although this type of informational writing is a key instructional target Measure development and data collection were supported by the Office of Research Administration in the College of Education at Michigan State University. Parts of the measure development was also supported by grant #R305A160049 from the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. * Adrea Truckenmiller [email protected] 1
Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education at, Michigan State University, 620 Farm Lane, Room 340, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
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Advanced Studies in Education, The State University of New York, Potsdam, NY, USA
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throughout schooling, a heavier emphasis is placed on narrative writing in elementary grades, as informational writing represents a more cognitively demanding task (Beers & Nagy, 2009; Berman & Verhoeven, 2002; Koutsoftas & Gray, 2012). Informational writing becomes more emphasized when the amount of content area instruction (i.e., science and social studies) increases in late elementary and middle school years (Englert et al., 2009). The context of informational writing in content areas places demand on students’ development of language repertoires. Specifically, students need to integrate their knowledge of the vocabulary, syntax, and discourse structure that is specific to science and social studies into their written responses (Berman, 2009). In the current study we focus on the language demands in writing informational text during a key transitional period: middle school.
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