ABSTRACT
This chapter is organized into four parts. Part 1 begins with a brief historical overview of the fi eld of writing instruction. Two themes are emphasized: the changing developmental focus and the diverse perspectives on what counts as evidence. In this chapter, evidence will be discussed that resulted from research using paradigms considered to be scientifi c by mainstream cognitive, educational, and developmental psychology and neuroscience. Part 2 describes the characteristics of writing and of writers. The characteristics of writing are described in reference to the cognitive processes involved, comparison of the simple and not-so simple views of writing, the relationship of writing to reading, listening, and speaking, and stages of writing development. Characteristics of writers are discussed in reference to whether they are typically developing, at-risk, or learning disabled. Part 3 provides an overview of a programmatic line of research that evaluated the effectiveness of specifi c kinds of writing instruction for writers that met researcher-defi ned criteria: (a) early intervention for at-risk writers in the primary grades and at the critical third-to fourth-grade transition, (b) supplementary instruction to increase the number of students passing high stakes tests in writing, and (c) specialized instruction in writing for students with dyslexia who struggle with writing as well as reading. Part 4 explores future directions, with focus on the need for evidence about effective writing instruction for students with specifi c learning disabilites, importance of generalizing results of research only to the population sampled in a research study, and the limitations of meta-analyses in fully capturing effective writing instruction for the complexities of the writing process, the normal variation among writers, and developmental changes in writing.
