Perspective taking, one’s knowledge of their own mental and emotional states and inferences about others’ mental and emotional states, is an important skill for writing development. In the present study, we examined how perspective taking is expressed in writing and how it is related to overall writing quality. We analyzed seventh graders’ source-based analytical essays (N = 195) to investigate (1) the extent to which students incorporated perspective taking in their essays, (2) how the extent of perspective taking in essays differ by students’ sex and English learner status, and (3) the extent to which perspective taking in writing is associated with overall writing quality. Findings revealed that students wrote more from their own perspective than that of others. Moreover, the results of multi-level analyses suggested that female students exhibited more varied perspectives but there was no meaningful difference by English learner status. Lastly, greater extent of perspective taking, particularly that of higher level of perspectives (i.e., dual perspective), was associated with better writing quality, after accounting for students’ demographic backgrounds (e.g., sex, poverty status, English learner status) and essay length. These results underscore the importance of writing from multiple perspectives on writing quality.

换位思考，即一个人对自己的心理和情绪状态的了解以及对他人心理和情绪状态的推断，是写作发展的一项重要技能。在本研究中，我们研究了观点采择如何在写作中表达，以及它与整体写作质量的关系。我们分析了七年级学生的基于来源的分析论文（N = 195) 调查 (1) 学生在论文中纳入观点采纳的程度，(2) 论文中观点采纳的程度如何因学生的性别和英语学习者状态而不同，以及 (3) 观点采纳的程度写作与整体写作质量有关。调查结果显示，与其他人相比，学生从自己的角度写作更多。此外，多层次分析的结果表明，女学生表现出更多不同的观点，但英语学习者地位没有显着差异。最后，在考虑了学生的人口背景（例如，性别、贫困状况、英语学习者身份）和论文长度。这些结果强调了从多个角度写作对写作质量的重要性。