Prior research has consistently shown that motivation is a catalyst for students' writing performance, with important implications for writing instruction. However, this body of research has mainly relied on a variable-centered approach that does not acknowledge the similarities and differences between and within groups of students. In the current…

Background: Writing is a particularly demanding activity, which poses unique motivational challenges for students. Despite the wealth of research on the relation between writing motivation and writing performance, little is known about the role of students' writing frequency in writing motivation and writing performance. Aims: We aimed to: (1)…

Notwithstanding the value of self-regulation, different studies evidence that self-regulated learning (SRL) is still insufficiently ingrained in schools and that teachers only rarely promote it among their students. Therefore, the current study reports on a one-year school-wide professional development programme (PDP). A quasi-experimental…

As writing is a complex and resource demanding task, high-quality writing instruction is indispensable from primary grades on to support beginning writers in developing effective writing skills. Writing research should therefore provide teachers and schools with evidence-based guidelines for teaching writing in daily practice. In this respect, the…

In the past, several assessment reports on writing repeatedly showed that elementary school students do not develop the essential writing skills to be successful in school. In this respect, prior research has pointed to the fact that cognitive and motivational challenges are at the root of the rather basic level of elementary students' writing…

The authors investigated the impact of explicit instruction and peer-assisted writing on students' writing motivation and self-efficacy for writing. Eleven teachers and their 206 fifth- and sixth-grade students participated in a 2 (explicit instruction vs. writing opportunities without explicit instruction) × 2 (peer-assisted writing vs. writing…

This study examined the effectiveness of two instructional mind-mapping approaches to stimulate fifth and sixth graders' graphical summarization skills. Thirty-five fifth- and sixth-grade teachers and 644 students from 17 different elementary schools participated. A randomized quasi-experimental repeated-measures design was set up with two…

The authors explore the effects of student tutoring as an approach to provide support on self-regulated learning (SRL) to fifth- and sixth-grade students with a low socioeconomic or immigrant background. In total, 401 Flemish (Belgium) students participated. A quasi-experimental study with pretest, posttest, and retention test control group design…

In Flanders, there are neither Flemish assessments nor teacher surveys to provide insights into the current practice and outcomes of writing instruction. In the present study, we provide a-state-of-the-art study of the practice of writing instruction in Flemish late elementary education by investigating: (a) how writing is taught, (b) how teachers…

From the age of 11-13, children start to spend increasingly more time on learning from texts. The need arises to support them in dealing with this text information and engaging them in self-regulated learning (SRL). This study is embedded within the cognitive component of SRL and focuses on mind mapping as a promising organizational learning…

This study explores the effects of a student tutoring programme focusing on self-regulated learning. Ninety-three Flemish fifth- and sixth-grade tutees at-risk due to their socio-economic and/or non-native background participated. A pre-post test design was used and the "Learning Motivation Test", "Junior Metacognitive Awareness…

Independently learning from informative texts becomes increasingly important from the age of 11. Little information is available, however, on (a) how and to what extent late elementary education students already apply specific text-learning strategies, and (b) whether different learner profiles can already be distinguished. In this study, a…

The present study explores the impact of an experimental reading intervention focusing on explicit reading strategy instruction and cross-age peer tutoring on third and sixth graders' reading strategy awareness, cognitive and metacognitive reading strategy use, and reading comprehension achievement. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design was…