Enhancing Writing through Strengthened Executive Function

• Main Author: Russell Jay Hendel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Institute of Informatics and Cybernetics 2014-10-01
• Series: Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics
• Subjects: educed anxiety; essay writing; executive function; improvement; reference; self-efficacy; skill mastery; tree diagram; Composition; Cybernetic; Organization; Planning
• Online Access: http://www.iiisci.org/Journal/CV$/sci/pdfs/EA920DW14.pdf

We explore aspects of essay writing requiring high-level organizational capacity and executive function. The literature supports the approach that specific and focused writing-skill mastery leads to reduced anxiety and increased self-efficacy which correlates with improved writing skills. Although essay writing is a complex multi-dimensional task, two particular strategies, tree-diagram and reference methods, specifically address the organizational skills characteristic of executive function. The tree and reference methods presented in this paper address the flow of information, not content, and consequently, the methods presented in this paper apply to mathematics and English as well as to K-12 and college level.