Successful experiences in writing are produced when the writer is automatically able to spell words, handwrite or word process, and use appropriate vocabulary and genre knowledge (Berninger, Fuller, & Whitaker, 1996).

This automaticity allows the student to focus on content, as well as to monitor, evaluate and adjust both the process of writing and the text produced.

Elementary and many secondary students do not have this level of automaticity and cannot move efficiently back and forth from planning and organizing to drafting or from idea generation to drafting (McCutchen, 1996).

Some cannot monitor efficiently, so they do not revise effectively for meaning. For others, spelling is a barrier, so they use simple words which they know how to spell, rather than more complex and descriptive words used in their spoken language.

Learning to write is a complex developmental process. This developmental process moves from a ‘knowledge telling’ to a ‘knowledge transforming’ level of writing (Bereiter, 1980).