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. 2024 Dec 27;19(12):e0315748.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0315748. eCollection 2024.

Understanding the pathways to text generation: A longitudinal study on executive functions, oral language, and transcription skills from kindergarten to first grade

Juan E Jiménez  1 , Jennifer Balade  1 , Eduardo García  1 , Becky Xi Chen  2
Affiliations

Understanding the pathways to text generation: A longitudinal study on executive functions, oral language, and transcription skills from kindergarten to first grade

Juan E Jiménez et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

This longitudinal study explored the contribution of transcription skills, oral language abilities, and executive functions in kindergarten to written production in grade 1 among Spanish-speaking children (N = 191) through structural equation modeling (SEM). Three dimentions of written production were assessed, including productivity, quality, and syntactic complexity. Accordingly, three SEM models were tested to explore these relationships, and the estimated models for each endogenous variable demonstrated good fit. The results indicate that transcription skills and executive functions were key predictors of productivity, while both transcription and narrative oral competence contributed to writing quality. Syntactic complexity, on the other hand, was primarily influenced by narrative oral competence and executive functions. The results are interpreted within the framework of the not-so-simple view of writing model, particularly considering the characteristics of a shallow orthography. Limitations and educational implications are also discussed.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Three models of the effects of transcription skills, oral language skills, and executive functions on the writing dimensions of productivity, quality, and syntactic complexity are presented.
Black lines represent predictive paths, and grey lines represent covariances. EF = Executive functions; CF = cognitive flexibility; IC = inhibitory control; OCT = oral cloze task; DSB = digit spam backward; AT = attention; TR = transcription skills; PS = phoneme segmentation, WPI = picture word writing; NW = name writing; LC = letter copying; PI = phoneme isolation; NC = narrative competence; TNW = total number of words; TU = T-units; UW = unique words written; NS = narrative structure; PRO = productivity; TNWW = total number of written words; WWF = written word fluency; CWS = correctly written sequences; UWW = unique words written; QUA = quality; NWC = number of written casual connectors; PCW = percentage of correctly written words; WSF = written sentence fluency; WNS = written narrative structure; SC = syntactic complexity; GS = grammatical structure; WTU = written T-units.
Fig 2
Fig 2. This graph shows a structural model of the relationship between executive functions, transcription skills, narrative competence, and productivity (Model 1).
Circles represent factors (i.e., latent variables), rectangles represent indicators (i.e., observed variables), black arrows represent direct paths, and gray arrows represent covariances. EF = Executive functions; CF = cognitive flexibility; IC = inhibitory control; OCT = oral cloze task; DSB = digit spam backward; AT = attention; TR = transcription skills; PS = phoneme segmentation, WPI = picture word writing; NW = name writing; LC = letter copying; PI = phoneme isolation; NC = narrative competence; TNW = total number of words; TU = T-units; UW = unique words written; NS = narrative structure; PRO = productivity; TNWW = total number of written words; WWF = written word fluency; CWS = correctly written sequences; UWW = unique words written.
Fig 3
Fig 3. This graph shows a structural model of the relationship between executive functions, transcription skills, narrative competence, and quality (Model 2).
Circles represent factors (i.e., latent variables), rectangles represent indicators (i.e., observed variables), black arrows represent direct paths, and gray arrows represent covariances. EF = Executive functions; CF = cognitive flexibility; IC = inhibitory control; OCT = oral cloze task; DSB = digit spam backward; AT = attention; TR = transcription skills; PS = phoneme segmentation, WPI = picture word writing; NW = name writing; LC = letter copying; PI = phoneme isolation; NC = narrative competence; TNW = total number of words; TU = T-units; UW = unique words written; NS = narrative structure; QUA = quality; NWC = number of written casual connectors; PCW = percentage of correctly written words; WSF = written sentence fluency; WNS = written narrative structure.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Structural model of the relationship between executive functions, transcription skills, narrative competence, and syntactic complexity (Model 3).
Circles represent factors (i.e., latent variables), rectangles represent indicators (i.e., observed variables), black arrows represent direct paths, and gray arrows represent covariances. EF = Executive functions; CF = cognitive flexibility; IC = inhibitory control; OCT = oral cloze task; DSB = digit spam backward; AT = attention; TR = transcription skills; PS = phoneme segmentation, WPI = picture word writing; NW = name writing; LC = letter copying; PI = phoneme isolation; NC = narrative competence; TNW = total number of words; TU = T-units; UW = unique words written; NS = narrative structure; SC = syntactic complexity; GS = grammatical structure; WTU = written T-units.
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