Welcome to our new blog series where BIG WRITING IDEAS ARE SIMPLY EXPLAINED! This series is dedicated to sharing key subject knowledge that can make you a better teacher of writing.
Each month, we will share a new concept or figure with you. Over time, we hope this series can build up your expertise. To follow the series, simply sign up to our newsletter here.
This month, we are looking at Linda Flowers & John Hayes.
📣 The cognitive process model
“The process of writing is best understood as a set of distinctive thinking processes which writers orchestrate or organise.” – Linda Flowers
🧠 The big idea
Flower and Hayes revolutionised how we understand writing – not just as putting words on a page but as a complex thinking process. Their model shows that writing involves multiple, overlapping mental activities like planning, translating ideas into text, and reviewing. It’s a dynamic, recursive process where writers constantly juggle goals, audience needs, and problem-solving.
In short: Writing isn’t linear – it’s a loop of thinking, writing, and revising.
The cognitive process model
🏛️ In context
| Year | Event |
| 1981 | Flower & Hayes publish their influential paper A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing |
| 1980s–90s | Their model reshapes composition studies and writing instruction |
| Today | Foundation of cognitive and process-oriented approaches to writing |
🔍 Core concepts
🟠 Planning
Deciding what to write, setting goals, and organising ideas.
🗣️ “What do I want to say, who do I want to say it to, and how to I want to say it?”
🟠 Translating
Turning ideas into actual words and sentences.
🗣️ “How do I express these ideas as words and sentences?”
🟠 Reviewing
Rereading and revising text to improve clarity and effectiveness.
🗣️ “Is this any good? What needs working on?”
🟠 Recursive process
Writers don’t move straight through these steps — they loop back and forth, rethink, and revise constantly.
🟠 Working memory and long-term goals
Writers juggle immediate sentence choices and their broader writing goals simultaneously.
👤 Key figures
👨🏫 Linda Flower & John R. Hayes Cognitive psychologists and composition researchers who mapped out writing as a mental process, shifting teaching toward process and strategy.
🛠️ In the writing classroom
✅ Teach writing as a flexible, recursive process
✅ Encourage planning and goal-setting before and during writing
✅ Understand that revision is a key part of thinking and improving
✅ Plan class writing projects in a way that manages students’ cognitive load and focuses their attention
⚖️ Criticism and debate
🔸 Some say the model underestimates the social, motivational, and cultural influences on writing.
🔸 Critics argue it’s focused more on developing the individual writer than developing a social group of writers.
🔸 Still highly influential in process-based writing pedagogy.
Find out more:
- A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing by Linda Flower & John R. Hayes [LINK]
- The Science Of Teaching Primary Writing by Ross Young & Felicity Ferguson [LINK]
Previous entries in the series
- ‘Writing as a process’ – Donald Murray [LINK]