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Background: We examined linguistic features in fourth graders' narrative and opinion writing and their relations to writing quality. We analysed narrative and opinion essays in terms of lexical sophistication and diversity as well as syntactic complexity, syntactic accuracy, and morphological complexity. Methods: Data were from English‐speaking students in Grade 4 (N = 129; 50% female) in the United States, majority of whom were from low socioeconomic status background. Paired t tests were used to analyse differences of linguistic features between the two genres. Hierarchical regression models were run to examine how language features are related to writing quality. Results: Words in the narrative task were more diverse and included more diverse verbal inflectional morphemes than those in the opinion task; syntactic complexity was significantly greater in the opinion genre, manifested by longer T‐units and the more frequent use of adverbial and relative clauses. Approximately 80% of T‐units were grammatical and 20% were ungrammatical. Syntactic accuracy and verbal morphological complexity of words were positively related to writing quality in the narrative task. Additionally, syntactic complexity measured by clauses per T‐unit, verbal and nominal morphological complexity of words were uniquely related to writing quality in the opinion genre. Conclusions: The findings highlight the limited extent to which Grade 4 students use complex syntax in their writing. The study also supports the critical role of linguistic features in writing quality and shows both similarities and differences in language use in two important writing genres, narrative and opinion, in elementary grades. Highlights: What is already known about this topic Linguistic features vary across writing genres.Lexical diversity contributes to narrative writing quality for elementary students.The relation between syntactic complexity and writing quality varies by genre. What this paper adds Lexical diversity and nominal morphological complexity were higher in the narrative task; T‐unit length was longer in the opinion task.Syntactic complexity positively and uniquely contributed to writing quality in the opinion task whereas syntactic accuracy positively and uniquely contributed to writing quality in the narrative task.Morphological complexity was uniquely related to writing quality in the narrative and opinion genre. Implications for theory, policy or practice Students in upper elementary grades may benefit from explicit and systematic instruction on salient linguistic features in different genres.Students in upper elementary grades may benefit from explicit and systematic instruction on syntactic accuracy and structures and morphological structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Low back pain (LBP) has been linked to the degree of lumbar stability, but evaluating lumbar stability has remained a challenge. Previous research has shown that inertial sensors could be used to quantify motor patterns during the wall plank-and-roll (WPR) test, and that LBP may cause deviations in movement from the general motor patterns observed in healthy individuals.Objective: To generalize the lumbar motor patterns during the WPR test in healthy individuals, and to analyze the effect of aging and LBP on the motor patterns during the WPR test.Design: A descriptive, exploratory research with a convenience sample. This study is registered at the Clinical Research Information Service (Korea) under public trial registration numbers KCT0002481 and KCT0002533.Setting: A biomechanics laboratory of a tertiary university hospital.Participants: 57 healthy individuals (23 men 36.7 ± 15.4 years old and 34 women 42.4 ± 17.7 years old) and 17 patients (5 men 48.4 ± 10.9 years old and 12 women 33.7 ± 9.9 years old) with axial LBP.Methods: Participants performed the WPR test with 2 inertial sensors placed on the thoracic spine and sacrum. Relative angles between the sensors were calculated to quantify and examine lumbar motion in 3 anatomical planes: axial twist, kyphosis-lordosis, and lateral bending.Main Outcome Measures: General motor patterns during the WPR test in healthy participants were examined, stratified based on age, and changes based on age were analyzed. Motor patterns of LBP patients were compared with those from the healthy group.Results: Movement in the kyphosis-lordosis and lateral bending axes showed little variation in healthy participants, whereas in the axial twist axis there were 2 dominant patterns. A χ 2 test revealed that the distributions of 2 motor patterns in the axial twist axis between the younger group and the older group were significantly different (P < .05). Furthermore, the older group had decreased lordosis at the static position (P = .02) and at the maximal rotating position (P = .03). Compared with the healthy group, LBP patients showed increasing lateral bending at the maximal rotating position (P = .007) and increased lateral bending excursion angle (P = .04) during the WPR test.Conclusions: A general lumbar motor pattern was observed during the WPR test in the healthy participants, but age contributed to variations in this general pattern. Comparison of motor patterns between healthy individuals and LBP patients revealed a different type of variation in the LBP patients. The results presented should be scrutinized with further research, characterizing specific variations in different subgroups of LBP patients.Level Of Evidence: III. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]