Getting stuck in writing: exploring elementary students' writing self-regulation strategies

To understand the self-regulatory strategies children used while writing, we asked 780 elementary school students in the United States, "What do you do when you get stuck in your writing?" Using an inductive approach to content analysis, we analysed their responses to an open-ended item on a survey on student motivation for patterns of self-regulatory behaviour. We examined how their responses differed according to gender, grade level, achievement, and writing self-regulation aptitude. Overwhelmingly, students described strategies like reviewing prewriting, brainstorming, and help-seeking- strategies proven effective for improving writing performance. Chi-square analysis revealed female, upper-grade level, and high-achieving students were significantly more articulate in reporting their strategies. Descriptive analysis revealed these students also reported regulating their behaviours and emotions such as taking a break or persisting at the task. There were no differences in strategy use based on self-regulation scores. We conclude with implications for writing self-regulation theory, research, and practice.