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…

Students' perceptions can influence their performance in writing. In the Portuguese context, the number of studies on this subject is still small and has not provided a clear overview of typical perceptions, for example, of students by year of schooling. Even more significant is the gap in international and national research on the relationships…

Research shows that writing motivation decreases throughout schooling and predicts writing performance. However, this evidence comes primarily from cross-sectional studies. Here, we adopted a longitudinal approach to (a) examine the development of attitudes toward writing, writing self-efficacy domains, and motives to write from Grade 6 to 7, and…