Korean children's writing development with a short text completion task

Abstract

This study aims to investigate Korean elementary school-aged children's developmental evidence in a short text writing. Methods: Thirty children in each grade of an elementary school in Seoul participated in a short text generation task of 'Yeju's homework'. Each child's writing was analyzed considering morphological, syntactic, orthographic, and coherence aspects using qualitative and rubric analysis. Results: Middle (3rd & 4th) graders outperformed early (1st & 2nd) graders in morphological and syntactic aspects. Morphologically, middle graders used more words (number of different words [NDW], total number of words [TNW]) and grammatical morphemes (number of different grammatical morphemes [NDGM], total number of grammatical morphemes [TNGM]) compared to early graders. Similar patterns were observed in syntactic length as in MSLeojeol and MSLm. Upper (5th & 6th) graders used more advanced syntax including complex sentences in writing compared to middle graders. Spacing errors were significantly low in upper graders compared to middle and early graders, while spelling errors were significantly low in high graders compared to low graders. Rating scales including sentence completeness, grammatical morpheme and syntactic complexity, spelling/spacing, and coherence provided meaningful developmental differences among three groups. Conclusion: Korean elementary school children revealed developmental patterns in morphology, syntax, spelling, and coherence in a short text writing. Middle graders used more words and morphemes with longer sentences than early graders. Upper graders seemed to write thematically organized texts including more complex and cohesive syntax. Further studies could provide more detailed developmental criteria in text writing including grade-appropriate themes and children with reading and writing difficulties.