The use of advanced planning among emerging writers

This descriptive study examined differences in children’s text production as a function of the advanced planning strategies they used. A sample of 117 third-grade children engaged in independent advanced planning and then composed a compare-and-contrast essay both before and after receiving a six-week text production fluency intervention. Analyses of variance showed that engaging in advanced planning was associated with higher rates of text production pre-intervention when basic writing skills were not automatized; however, as the children developed greater fluency with text production over the course of intervention, their planning processes shifted, and the advanced planning they engaged in was no longer associated with their writing outcomes post-intervention. These results have implications for the capacity theory of writing, extend theoretical work on the relationship between advanced planning and text production among early elementary children, and present several opportunities for future research.