Longitudinal and reciprocal links between writing motivation and writing quality in grades 4–5: A cross-lagged panel analysis

The relevance of writing motivation to the development of good writing skills throughout schooling is well-documented. However, the relationships between different motivational beliefs and the directionality of their links to writing performance have not been the focus of empirical research. Here, we conducted a longitudinal study examining the reciprocal associations between writing attitudes, writing self-efficacy in three domains (viz., conventions, ideation, and self-regulation), five writing motives (viz., curiosity, emotional regulation, boredom relief, grades, and competition), and writing quality. For that, we asked 532 fourth graders to complete three motivation-related questionnaires and to write two opinion essays. This procedure was repeated one year later. A cross-lagged panel analysis showed three main findings: (a) most motivational beliefs were associated with each other within and between Grades 4 and 5; (b) contrary to what happened in Grade 4, most beliefs in Grade 5 were concurrently associated with writing quality; (c) self-efficacy for writing conventions in Grade 4 longitudinally predicted text quality in Grade 5. These results not only reinforce the relevance of promoting students’ writing motivation, but also inform teachers about where to start in order to achieve this goal.