Developmental changes in prose production in primary school children

In Study I, the structures of 206 compositions obtained from primary school children ranging from first to sixth grader were analyzed based on the schema model for composition. The results indicated that logical statement and internal speech occurred more frequently in the compositions by the middle and the upper grade children than in the lower graders' compositions. The results were discussed in terms of the cognitive development in children. In Study II, 10 primary school teachers and 10 university students evaluated 6 compositions for each grade on 2 general scales and 4 specified scales. Multiple regression analyses were performed on the rated scores on each scale, regarding a general scale score as dependent variable and four specified scale scores as independent variables. The results of the regression analyses indicated that contributions of the four independent variables to the dependent variable were different between teachers and students. The theoretical implications of these results were discussed