Transcription skills, language oral and executive functions in writing development in a transparent orthography (HATLE)

This project has received funding from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad del Plan Nacional I+D+i, Ref.:PID2019-108419RB-I00.

Goal: The purpose of this project is to evaluate the validity of the Not-so-Simple View of Writing Model (NSVW) in a transparent orthography such as Spanish through CBM (Curriculum Based-Measurement) and general-domain cognitive measures. According to this model, transcription skills, oral language and executive functions (FE) are essential components for the development of writing from an early age. The use of CBM measures will be aimed at the evaluation of specific-domain skills (i.e., transcription and linguistic skills) and FE (i.e., memory and attention) as indicators of cognitive measures of general-domain skills. The validation of the model will help determine which are the most important components of the typical and atypical development of writing in Spanish. So far, this model has not been validated in Spanish and a CBM is not available in our language for the early detection of Writing Learning Difficulties (WLD). In the projects of the National Plan R + D + i, which have been granted during the last decade to the DEAP & NT research group of the Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), CBM instruments for reading and mathematics in Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Primary Education (PE) have been validated and standardized. These instruments have been incorporated into web platforms aimed at training education professionals in the Response to Intervention Model (RtI) (e.g., in writing, trazo.ull.es; in reading, letra.ull.es, and in mathematics, primate.ull.es). These web platforms have been piloted in Latin American countries (Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Chile, Panama and Spain). In the same line of research, with the previous project (ref. PSI2015-65009-R) the creation of CBM tools for writing between 1st-3rd year of (PE) and its incorporation to the TRAZO platform. With the validation and standardization of the CBM in writing for ECE of the present project we would also have covered all the basic instrumental areas of the school curriculum (i.e., reading, writing and mathematics) from ECE to 3rd grade. In addition, this work is having international projection since these CBMs have been adapting and standardizing to the modality of Spanish in Panama in collaboration with the Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo [Inter-American Development Bank] (BID), the Ministerio de Educación de Panamá [Ministry of Education of Panama] (MEDUCA) and the General Foundation of the ULL (FGULL). In addition, an institutional agreement has also been formalized between the Government of the Canary Islands and the ULL (BOC, 151, August 7, 2017) through our group for the transfer of this knowledge to the education sector. The proposal presented here is also in line with international organizations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that promotes the need for the ministries of education of the member states to focus its attention in the curricular area of writing and that this body has designated the IP of this project to lead this international initiative called “Formative Assessment of Writing in Early Grades” at international level (see scientific-technical report prepared by the IP and recently published, https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000266277). All this previous experience allows us to face with sufficient guarantees of success the challenge that is proposed now with the present project.