Enhancing Writing Self-Regulation and Metacognitive Awareness Through Structured Free Writing: A Mixed-Methods Study

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Writing Studies
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Free writing is often seen as a pre-writing or creativity tool.
• Its potential to foster self-regulation and metacognition in writing is underexplored.
• Understanding these processes is key to improving academic performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if structured free writing can scaffold writing self-regulation, affective engagement, and genre performance.
• To explore the role of free writing in developing metacognitive and self-regulatory processes.
• To examine its impact on preservice teachers in higher education.

Main Methods:

• Convergent parallel mixed-methods design over a seven-week writing workshop.
• Quantitative data: validated measures of writing self-regulatory efficacy, attitudes, and writing performance (informative and narrative).
• Qualitative data: semi-structured interviews on writing process regulation.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements in writing self-regulatory efficacy and more adaptive attitudes toward writing.
• Gains in genre-specific writing performance were observed.
• Qualitative data revealed enhanced metacognitive awareness, reduced anxiety, and increased cognitive engagement.

Conclusions:

• Structured free writing acts as a scaffold for developing crucial self-regulatory capacities.
• It integrates cognitive and affective processes, contributing to intelligent academic performance.
• This approach offers insights into individual differences in learning and writing development.