KEYNOTE: Knowledge, Strategies, and Metacognition in Learning to Write

Research on strategy instruction in writing has demonstrated strong positive effects on writing quality from elementary school to secondary education to college, especially for students with disabilities and other struggling writers. In this presentation, I focus on what is needed for effective instruction in writing strategies beyond foundational skills and content knowledge. First, writers need discourse knowledge, that is, knowledge about genres and what forms of writing are useful for varied purposes, audiences, and topics. Writing is a means of social communication, and genres are forms developed to meet communicative purposes. Second, writers need cognitive strategies for planning, drafting, and evaluating/revising, as well as strategies for critical reading and integration of sources. Finally, students need metacognitive strategies to manage the complexities of writing, to self-evaluate their work, and to reflect on learning and set new goals for learning. The presentation will include practical examples from my work and that of others.