INTRAINDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN LEVELS OF WRITTEN LANGUAGE

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Abstract
Intraindividual differences across different levels or units of written language — the word, the sentence, and the paragraph — in sequencing the elements of written language were examined in intermediate‐grade children. Both Experiment 1 (N = 72 good readers) and Experiment 2 (N = 102 readers of varying ability) confirmed the main hypothesis that performance at the word level does not predict performance at the sentence or paragraph levels and that performance at the sentence level does not predict performance at the paragraph level. The hypothesis was confirmed for both an expressive, production task and a receptive, metalinguistic judgment task. A secondary hypothesis, tested only in Experiment 2, that metalinguistic judgment and production are related was supported at the word and sentence (but not paragraph) levels of language in intermediate‐grade writers. Results have implications for (a) individualized educational programming that takes into account the developing writer's profile of levels of written language skills and (b) writing instruction that focuses on the levels of processing involved in writing, rather than the global writing product.

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