Contributions of school-entry oral language, early literacy skills, and name writing to writing in the first 2 years of school

Early literacy and writing development are inter-related, yet predictors of beginning writing are less well studied than beginning reading. This study investigated contributions of school-entry name-writing to writing skills after 1 and 2 years of school in New Zealand above and beyond school-entry oral language and early literacy skills. Participants were 102 children followed for 2 years from school-entry. Study variables correlated concurrently and predictively, although multivariate results varied by outcome measure. School-entry alphabet knowledge consistently contributed to spelling measures and teachers’ judgments of writing progress at follow-up. School-entry phonological awareness uniquely contributed to one measure, pseudowords spelled correctly, at follow-up, with 1-year correctly spelled pseuodowords mediating the relation between school-entry phonological awareness and teachers’ judgments of progress in writing (WritingOTJ) at 2-year follow-up. School-entry name writing predicted later handwriting and correct spelling of letter sounds at 1-year follow-up, with 1-year correctly spelled letter sounds mediating the relation between school-entry name-writing and 2-year WritingOTJ. Finally, predictive relations between school-entry oral language skills and WritingOTJ emerged at 2-year follow-up. Results document links between school-entry alphabet knowledge and beginning writing. Cognitive-linguistic skills differentially added to predictions of later skills, supporting posited contributions of phonological awareness to spelling and oral language to proficient writing of older students. School-entry name-writing, associated with handwriting and letter-sound writing at 1-year follow-up, may reflect beginning transcription skills in young children.