Writing motivation in Chinese children with developmental dyslexia

Abstract

BackgroundRecent models of writing acknowledge the influential role of motivation in writing development. There has been a paucity of research on writing motivation in children. This study investigated writing motivation among Chinese children with developmental dyslexia.MethodsForty‐one Chinese children with developmental dyslexia (RD) in Grades 3 to 5 and their typically developing counterparts matched on age (CA controls) (n = 41) were administered tasks assessing their writing motivation (perceived value of writing and writing apprehension), cognitive‐linguistic skills (word dictation, syntactic skills and working memory), and writing abilities (quality and productivity).ResultsThe results showed that the RD group performed significantly less well than the CA group in all cognitive‐linguistic skills and writing abilities measures. No significant between‐group differences were found in writing motivation measures. Multiple regression analysis results showed that perceived value of writing significantly predicted writing productivity in the RD group and writing quality in the CA group. Word dictation was the only significant predictor of writing quality in both the RD and the CA group.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that writing motivation influences writing performance in Chinese children with developmental dyslexia in elementary grades. Specifically, perceived value of writing predicts writing quality in typically developing Chinese children but predicts only writing productivity, not writing quality, in Chinese children with developmental dyslexia. The impact of writing motivation on writing performance becomes stronger with advances in component skills acquisition.