Executive functions contributions to copying and text production in elementary school children

Executive functions (EF), including verbal and visuospatial working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility, are associated with academic skills such as copying and producing written texts in school-age children.

The objective of this study was to examine the association between primary school children's executive function skills and their ability to copy and produce written texts.

We included 282 children attending primary school (children in fourth to sixth grade; mean age = 10.22 years, SD = 0.86). Text copying tasks (transcription) and a photographic description (expressive writing skills) of the BEEsc Battery (Batería para la Evaluación de la Escritura) were administered. The visual search, working memory, flexibility, and inhibition tests of the TAC (Tareas de Autorregulación Cognitiva) battery were administered for EF.

Children with better resistance to distractor interference and response inhibition scores wrote more words and made fewer phonological errors in the copy task; and their written composition quality improved with less omission errors, shifting and visuospatial working memory in the production task. In addition, we found that both copy, and production skills varied as a function of demographic factors, finding higher scores in higher grade students and among girls.

The findings indicate that children with higher EF skills exhibit enhanced writing copy and composition performances. Furthermore, demographic differences (gender and school grade) significantly influenced writing outcomes, underscoring the need for tailored educational strategies. These findings point to the role of EF in writing and provide theoretical input for classroom practices.