). CANADIANTHESeS ON MICROFICHE

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CANADIANTHESeSON MICROFICHE

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THESESCANADJENNES SUR MICROFICHE

-,'I:.S.B.N.

NOTICE

Previouslyeopyrillhll<fmate ri, ll (p.m.l. mel.l.

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Microf iclwSo,.iet 1~'mierolidl.

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^{AVIS '}

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thehighestqu.lityof~produI::tionpos~bl.. . dereproduct ion.' .

IfPill",remiuing.contKtthltunlw rsitY'which 51. ~despages.-~illelcommun;q... O...nledthedrgr~. . .YeCI:l:lI'Iiw";" q,," . eonfefll; le g,~.

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qu, li l l!. . .

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teldoeumef\"quilont dej'robi"d'undroit d',u llI!u'l,rticlfi de _ . e-.rrens pub!ik.e te.lnt

sontPftmiCfOlilmes. .

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THIS DiSSERTATION HAS'BEENMICROFILMED

EXA CTlY ASREC'EIVED

• LATHESE A

e re

MICROFILM~ETELLE QUE' NOUS l'AVONS RECUE•

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USINGeHILDREN'SLI TE RATURETO FOSTERLANGUAGE

".OEVELOfHENTAIDTOIt'l~ROYE^THEWRITING

AillL ITY OFAtUDEONE CLASS

!

.by'

. © ".g.;"

^{R.D.lt",B. , .!Ed.;, B. A.}

:1.

' -

AT11lSl s sub.fUe d.to"the Sc:hool ofGraault e

•ShdfeiiOn part'ial~ulft ll_en tof the re qulremuts forthedegr eeof

Ma ste rofUu cJt l on

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.Dep.ar~men·t·

^Of.currjCUlum

an d. ln st ~utt1on

l1~mo r1a1,Un Ivers ityofNewfo undla nd , Janury198 5

Newfound land

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Abstra c t

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^The

s t~dy

^Is

conc~rne d'

wit h using literature

and~

cer.tai nrelatedf~llow -upact tvtttes tof,a mil la r iz e a grade one.class,cons fs t 1ng of eighteenchildre n,with et.rernate fo r ms·of·...ritingi andwit h the effects of suc h an expo.sure upo n

t,'hefo~m

^{an'dqualityof}

th~ lr

^{writ t en.language. The}

studywas carri ed out ove r a twelv e wee k period during ...hl~ h

tiir)ethe chil dre nw~.rereadselectionsfrom thegenres of faJr:(taJes,fan t a,S! and poet ryon aregl.l lar daily basis.

F'a.irytaleswere presented to thec.h'i l dr en"durl ng weeks one tp-f our, Fantasywa s-pr-e s entedduring weeks'rtve to'ei·ght.

Poe t r y wassha~edwith the chlldr en on a da11y'ba s h during theentire studybut Itreceived its intensive focus during weeks nineto twel ve. Certain featu res'of each qenre-were

hi g hl ~g h t e dbothbefore andafter.thereading . Fo ll o ~ i n g

the reading,a par ticular.re l eted acti,v'ity was also'included.

,Du ; ing.t h.,e.lrda'lly fo;ty'mlnute writings!!ssions . the chi'ldfli n we re sp,ec1f lcal1yaskedto writefairytales , fantasyor

poetr~ depe~d 1 ng ·.up~

^{the ;artlCulargenre'bei n}·g emphasized ..at that·time..

Resultsof thestudy c1ear.ly indicat ed that the / chil dr enha d matured sufficie ntlythroughtheirliterary

expe r i enc e s to'allo wthem tomo ve beyondtheiregocentric wo r l ds to.p;o duce. a lt erna t e'for ms ofwri.t lng with dlstingut-s.hab1efeatures which could beclaSS.H iedasfairy

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-;-....:-.":''t""- -.-,.~-

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tale ,f tas y a.n.dpoetry. Itwa,sal s o Ind1cllted that

I .

expo sure't o ter atur eresu l ted fnillnot i ce able,improvement

'I'.., ,1n',chJ1dren's-1a ue

g e

^devet eoment 1nt,er ms' of the1,"

vocabularyandsente estr uct ur e,eswell~5an,impro vement in,t heir spellingabl11t:. The resultsfurt herr-e veel ed thatas-ao-esultof e'xpd'sur to'lit.erat ure. child'r en's' wri tin gs'cont ai nedvarious li t era c.~nven t 1 ons..1nc.l~d 1n g chereceer f eee ten,dial ogue,pl o tl~,~~me .~_5 e tt1n g.aswell

illSanexte nsiveincre ase inf1gunt1v e"hn guag

• The

~ t~d/ h1 9hlY reco~m~ndS '/'h'e cons t~" , "

chlldren'sMteratureasillnee ns.t~'~youngch lld l"en' ~

La ng~iIIge ,deYe l Op~en t

^iIInd'to'

l ~provVth.el r·W'r1'tlng

^{abn'ity, "}

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I wish',toexp ress.1grat it ude and'.ppre c·fH1Qn"tc' t~efoll o'olhg : ~.:tsupervisor,Dr.linda ~h t1~t"PS-~l g9 S . f~r her expe r t!I1l1d l~ce ~ndadvtce,her IIshtanc e'nres earc h.

~er^generOilsIva~llb f1 1t1^of tille ,"dherconstintp.t1@nc~

.

. . .

'.I nd,enco uragemen t ,.theRoml nCat holi c.SchoolBoardfor Cone lp t tonBay Centre , for.~ll olftngme the~pp o r t unltYto ear ryo ut this s~udY;^andpa~tlcUl.arlY ^to

my;

_{stu'den~h~'~e}

par ticipationand'gTowt h in the-...r1t l ng process 'hI

,

vebee n recorded"in th'l pages ofth is study.

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THEORETICALFRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY ',

"I nt r oductfon ', ' .

SllIlple .

Mater ials'Se lecte d Procedure. . .: Evaluation Crite r iafor

• C,hlldren'$lIrlti~__.

[valuatio nCrfterhfor Present Study".

tene.lus ten •• • • •

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40 51

52

58 60

ct,APTERIV EVAlUATIONOf TH( STUDY' Int ro duc t f o n

Commentson WritingPdo rto

the S.tudy. . .

Highlightsof Children' sWriting Pdor-

to

^the~t u dy • •• Back.grou nd'toAna ly sis of

Fa1ry.Tale.s .

Use of TraditionalBegfnnlng and Ending "

Past Tense Repetitlon .

62 62

62

79

81

84 92 95

D~v.l! lop llent al Spel li ng.

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CHAPTERIV (Co nt' d~

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Charac te rha tio n•

Vocab~ lary

^{. • '."}

SentenceI Struc ture

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Hig hl i ghtsof theChiIdren ' 5 FairyTales ••. .'. . •. •

I . .

Backg~ou n dto Ana ly sfsof Fant as y Cluis1ficat1onof For,II'.'t'.

I

Fan cif ulor Ima gi na tive

;'I Ppenf ngs orEle ments Pl~tDeve l opment. Chu . c t e rlzat1 o n• Setttng •. . .. Voca bulary. • .

J

Fi gur a t ivelanguaJe • Sentenc e Stru c tur eI .

Ch ild's Sense of BeingaWrlte~ . De ve l op llental Spelli ng• •:. "...

tl1ghl1 ght s

o f

tinCh il dren's

FanusyStorf es .

Bac.kllroundto Anal ys1s~~ f poetry.• •

;'oe t ic Forll . .. Fe elingDrEmotfon Compar iso ns •• Ima gery ;.: :.• Othernun ts.

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264 I,

269 I

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CHAPTERtv '(Co n t ',d )

CHAPTER V

BIBLIOG~APHY • APPENDICES'

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~i9h119ht~s

of Ch11drenr,Poetry

No ~~~~: ~'1; a ~~;e~~~~'~~ t -;:n ~~:;dS

and Poe t ry1n the Children's Writ,ln g '.' • • •'• ••• •• Imp o r ta nc e.of Sharing tothe

Fes t erl ng of ClIl1dren'.S

:W r

^it.lng ••• •. • CGNCL USIOtIS'ANDIMPLICATIONS

Introduction • . . The Study;lnRevle~•" .'.:'•• Con eIus tens•."-. • •:.~.• •

, '

Imp'tcettonsof the Finding s forFur t her.Resear c h •• • • Imp l i ca t i o ns of tileFindi n g s

forPe d a gG9Y Conc lu di n gSta t ement s

Fairy Tales •• • Books of Fa ntasy Poetry,

vi i i

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CHAPTER, I

INTROPUCTlON

Dur ing the la B te n"ynrs •.ma n yresea rcherswith i n thefie l dof"Ed ucat io n, hav efoc us ed thei rattent ion onthe .writ ing pr oce s s.

Apr ominent researche r,Donal dGraves(1983)h.as shownt h at chil dren. even'y oungchil d r enof"f iv eand six ye ars of age. areca pable.o,fwritin g,/ H,giv enth,~ppo rtunlty to do so. He "'Iintafn.!that:

Chil dr e n want to~r 1'te',"Fer yea-r s we hav e underes t imate dtheir1I'i"l eto

~:~1m~~~~St~:/:~:; 'be~: u~:Y~d~:~k

of understa ndi ng ofthe wr it in geroc ess, (p.5)

Gravesb'eli eves thatIfchild ren ar epr ovi de dwith the right env.lro nme nt theI r"wri~ing wi ll foster andgrow.

Pro viding child re n,.d t~ t~eri ghtenv1ro nmentIn clu des pu ttl".9the co nt ro l of

wrf

t1ngwh e rei t bel ongs. Th ismeans tha tch tLd r en mus t be give"ncont r o l..of their ownwr1t~n g. .Theymust begiv enfull re s penstbHjt y for choosi n g thei r own

to pic s. Child ren willle a rnto wri.te bywriting.

. Educato r s mu st-recogn i ze and'gtvecr ed it ti:l- chi ldren' s

I

la n guage•.Childr en must be

~1.1 owed

^{to used}e velopme ntal ) spe l ling. Thisapp r oach will ena ble the..to p~odu c e^{In the I r·} writt en langu a ge an y:word which th~y-are'c apa bl eofexpressing tn thei r oral langua g e. Res ear chersand cur rent opinion hold th atth i s is indeed so (st ssex 1981,·Gentr y 1982, Grave s 1983).

/

!t is this,lnv e s t1 g at~ r ' s opi nio nthatIfchildre n 's writiog'I s to,d eve'iop

a~d

^{flo urt}s h", the n notonly eust'the y be"gi ven.the

op ~>~r,t~'tli

.-

tyto

"write'.:

~'nd

^'the

op po~t~n1~Y t~

, -chc cs eehat,they''want towrite,:bu t t.heynust.alsobe

Intr oduted'to,t h edlff ere'nt for~"s oflOr.it ing. Chi ld renneed' tobelIIid'eia'lu' r e.Of' th

e' {~a r ac'~eH"'s (iis'

'o f:

wr.·it;~'~· fom~~

fo(

exa~l

^e.

'i f:"~~·:wan t··dh'll d're~ t6

^{wri'te'a'f a}

lr~~~a le':"th ~n "

7' ~,u,

^-',st

a " ,q"'i" tt,h~ ,

^••,·',w,

it h" l t,.h ~ ,. ,e,:!,ein , ^{'"to ,}

^t

h,'< ,~O";ti

^tuto',

fairy'tales: Ifwew a nttT~mtoproducepo:etry,'then.we' ,:.:

lust· 's how,the:Mthe':iha

ratt~ r

^{tstl:cs'.cr .i>oet;y , :'Ifchti'dien'}

d~'n " t';: ~n~~'

^wha't

tt1e's:~ 'char~.c terl'5 t l c~ · ~r'~~

^th'en:

t~ey ~ari'n;:~

be

' e X'pected'~'to,

^produc'e

the~

^t

n' h~i r" '~,~i ti~~;; : ,:" <: '.

^--.'

;

" ~IO'w

^{'t an,we'}

'I ~:t

^r-educe

Ch i ;'~"re'n :'~o ' diff·e·;ent.-fo;~m's·,d<f

^.

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ertttnqsc

t'h~t . the: fo ;~ ·and ;- c~nten t

^oj

thel~,

^{own ....}

r:l ~i Il,9

^..

will'.l~p~o.ve? ^{Wi ll t'heexposure to'goad'l'Hera tu're}

Wit.h'·

cert ainfoll:ow-u'-pac'tiv't'ties improve" writt enlan gu~ ge?

Purpose of StUd y

The majo r,purpose',of,the st udywasto intro.d ,-!ceto

ch.ll CirertII varle tyof 1ttef-eture wt thcereatnfollow-up

, '

.

act f viti es-ecde termi ne-if.tt; woul dhaveanyeffect up,oR/th e form an'd

"~o nten t

^{of'th el'r}

~'~i ·t;ng .

^A'se'c ondar y

pllri>os'e '~~s

. _' " - , - __ - 'I .' .

~ode terll in eif,- as,a re sul t ofthlsexpo sure,"there was any .

i'mpro ven~ rit i ~ childre~ 'S

^wri.tten

l a ng~'a ge! I RC1 IJdl .~9

^{bot h}

voc ab uh ry,'devel oPlle~ t;.,a,rld sen tence stru cture. and'to'note

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whe,the rthe r e....asany improvement inthe ch l1 ~.r e~ ':S'P.e l1 !rig abiltty.

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·.. .. '1

Ne e d for the Study'"

1!l a guide concerning writing instructionin the eleme"ntary schoo l pr epa r e d by theDepa~tmentof Education, Newfoundlan d(1982), it is sta t e d:

....:

Pr ominent'researchersof wr it 1n'g in

"the school haveclaimed that the most

severe.pr o bl emin the elementaryschoo l 'isno writing, Thelit tle wr it i ngt~at :isca rri edonin some schoolsis..notfor :cusrmuntcattcn; i tis,rather, a time- t a ble

event frequently characterized by such fo rmal, structured experiencesascompleting a workbook page, fillingin a ditto sheet andcumplet.jngsetblanks. (p. 1)

I fthe 'above statement-ts true for.the~rementary

• schools, the situation ispr.~ b a b l Yas bad,i fnot wors e, in

At,th"e.primarytevet ,thereare manyfacf~.rsth.at c·oUld actas deterrents to writ ing . The beginning prima r y the primar ygrades,

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ch ild.isus ua ll y facedwith theburden'of not being able~o read, ,a nd,of'not beingante to spe l l or punctuate', In',some casesthe gradeonechi ld does not knowhow to.form aU of

"t Jie letter sof the alphab-et. His co-o.rdfnati onmay not be

sUffic ie~tlY develoP~d

^to enable hi;

t~

^keep hi's printingon

't he correct1ine

0 ;

touse corr ec t spa c i ng.

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Unlesstheteacher unde r st a nd s the writing process ' in full. the dangere xtstsckhet the chlldren1'1111not be enco uragedto writeand may even be denie dthe-opportunity to do so.

Most YQungc hil dr-en who.dowrite,. wr i t ea,hout the

. . ._._. __ ~~ ..J

exper i e nce s that~reclo s est to them, their·rentttes., the i r'

~~ien d s tndt~ei r.pet s,'The i r writ ingus ually.co nsis t sof ,t he mere lis tlng o f".p en ts,·o ft en"

,n

^an"i na ppropri'ate seq ~ er t1a lorder ,an.dwi.thvery lit tl edet ail include d . Ver yof t en tn\eir writ ing endsab r uptl ywithnode finite,

..concl usion. ' "

Itwa"s felt by the presentfnv e sttga'to rthat ifther e wa s animprove ment1n ch.l1d r e n '.s writi ng,as are s ul t cr: havin gbeen.e xp o s ed·togood iiterat ure, andofhavingbe ~n /' acqua int edwith thefe a t ur e s t·ha t~ons titutevarious type s of wr it in g , th~nimprovements co'u l~ ~emade atthe pri mar y level tha twou l d el imi nate the problem of 'nowritin g' ,and would alsoai d,in deve l o p in gwrit ing fluency. Improv e men t in. wri·ting,.insybs equ en tgr ad e swouldposs i"bty

be

.inc r eased.

Itishoped that knowl edge ga i ned from"this s~udy

·w1.l1 be ofbenefit tobot hprimarY and.e temenr e r-ytea cher s in carryi ngout a mor esuc c es sfu twrH{ngprogr am,

. I

Thi sstudy waslimite d toone'grade and one schoo l onl y. Because of'th esma llpopulil tio n.,the r e wasnorandom selectio_; nmadeand no contra]

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'gr oup

^{.. . .}

'ves-used.,

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pr e s e nt e d:

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CHA PTERII '.

REYl EWOFRElA TED LITERAT URE

Introduct io n

.

Since' l'~nguage

¹⁵

co~prls~~ Of"bot~: wr~tt~n a~d

^{or a'l '}

c~,mponent s, inatt e mpt~1 1l bene de to examine ora l,la nguag e In orde r to mak e acampa,r iso n with

its

wr,itte,ncc unte r-pa rt. Ne xt ,ce'rFai~if act,orswhichare,consfde redtobe Important to writing w11'l als o be examined. Thewrtt 1,n~proce s's will

'Hle~

^be:100'keJat to se e what

e~a, ctl~

^{happe nswhen a}

~hf1d.

enga ge'sin writi ng,and',fi'tNJ ly;,t herelat i onShi pto litera tu re and tts effec to.nlangua gedeve lopme~t'will'be'

I

Oraland Wr ittenlang uag e AC9u'lsition

'Ll'ngUf . ~'ts

^{agre e that by thettee aJhild ent e rs.}

.schoolhe has lIIastered allof the baste str uc t u r e sof his

.

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hngua ge, Childrenar e capableofgene r a ti ng-n.ove l sente nces,. Th is tmplte stha iwithou t havi~g bee n forma llytaught , chil d r engrasp

.

therules-o f our languagesys temfrom experien cinglanguage ineetton.

. :As,r~ sear chcon tinue s to developnew,theo r1es re latf ng to theecqutstttcnof la?9uage. ce r t a i n,factors,rema t n

.

.

con s ta n t. Allchildre nfoll ow apP,rox111atel y,th,esame sta ges . of,langua ge

deve l~p.,ent

^at

~pprOlti_ate 1Y

^{'t he}

sa~e '

^ttee,I,nd

._--- _.~ - ,-_._-.~~~

'· "-.f

!

t

. .. L

'- - _.,{.- - - _ :

6·

all norinaiumdren maste rtheirnative

or~l

·1a nguag'e

I ~

^a 'rela t iv e ly ver y short time. }t 15'sta ted"intheNewfoundland

Departme ntof Educat ion pub l ic a t l on , languageGrowth(19'82): Providedchi ldrenar eexpo sed 'to

language ina suppor t iv e env ironment, they cannotbe pr-evented frolll learni,ng:,. 1t,..younglang,uage lea r ners'a r e . effect ivel~ n 9 Uag etearnees. (p..4)

S~ ith ,

^{Mered it h}and Goodman(1976)mai nt a i il that it is becauseof the child'sgreatnee d to commun icatethath~

'lea r n s 1~n 9 11ag eat all:

The<a bi1ity of the child e'ventuaIly to produce exactly.thesounds that are thesymbo l s of the lartguage ofhis society Is deter mined by hisneed for effecti ve commu nica tion. ...the-needto communicate isever pr-es ent, The choice

of-la n9ua ge issocia l. lis language

developsitbecomes a't'9'ol

of

thechild's st r iv i ng to,deriveme an'ihg fromh15worl d. .,:..

~~r~~~~g . la~~~;~:e i~n e~~:~~~~~ bin~hiS

commun icationIs the immediater~as on for l~n 9ua ge

'""? '?".

(p.

u n

J.. ' •

Spe ec hand,wr it i ng are bothcomponents of hngua ge . If acht jd1san effect ive or al language learner,then why

' Is ' h~

no t also an effectivew'rHer ?,The

l~t ~";""

^reveets

thatwriting isofte~~a dlyneglectedor pe 1"ly taught,i ii"

our,s~:h O O ls. Gra ves (1978 j"impltesthatwrl tlng'15on the

dec)fne;,th.at itIs becomi ng 'anendangeredspeetes ".r.')hre e years later,'heattribu te~"t his 1na bil'lty to wrtte to our' educat ional system.

'---'-:-: - ; - - "--

7,_,

Our res ea r chhiS est ablishedthat all chl1drencan writeat5-6years old, can enjoydoing so.and canmat e at thts t-i u someof·the,.most ra pidandde lfght- ful gr owth 1n wr it.1ngof the i renti re 1tve s. ile s hcuI d look.et thesys t em which1mposes lAea n1ng l es s tc ntesand. notatthechildren forthereason s why somany are turned off fr omwri t ing. (p. 9)

Tied t'eti1...(1983) state:-·O·f all lan9 ua ge'sk111 s'; writ ingIs the1I0st difficulttoICquire··[p.7).

o 0Th'e

Newfo~nd l~nd Depar t~ent

^of

Ed~'ca ~i on ·#p~bl i ca~.~on

(1982 ) reveals tha t··-"uc hcrlticisllofoureduc a tio nal sy s'tell; ce ntr;s'on thetea chin g of'wr itten

COIiPOSi't-i~n wh 'ch

^ts

o ~t~n

labe lle dasbein gthe peo r e st,ta ught of the.languagearts~

(p.·l).

Smit h (1982) concu r s with·t~1s^bell.efwhen

li e

s~'ys;

·It Istrue that notma ny p\OPlewri te verymuc h, andtllat t'hose whOdo so

ofte~ .;xh i blt·l1 tt le"'sk; il .o r

^{pleas ure-in-;}

.t heact iv ity· (p"17).

Stnc espeec h and'wr i ting.arebot h

:as ~ec;ts.

^of

1angu~g~ :

ari'd

si ~ce

^{speec h}

s en~

^{to beso}

effec~helY ~Cqut red" ~.hf1e· ' .

wr it ing does not,it'1s lmporta nt toI'ookat the relatioilSh ips

b~iween

^oraland wri'tten'

la~gUage :

^{Such'an'examin..}

ti~ ~

^1119h"t

rev eal tns1ghttnto

th~ ' wayS'

^of

pro.vl di ~"g

^{'"mea ningfUl'wrlting'}

ins~r uctlon,

,:'~

" ,

~\.

~~-.~- "'._-.-~..---;.

. ~

I I

"

;\ Oral Lu guageMeceuary for

'

"'. ' wrttte~lan q'ua ge one l opmen.,.

Altho'-ughthe re.ar e ba s ic differences wr:1tten 1ang,~a g e: Qra l lang.u.a ge15essent ial

in ora1an.d to wr itt,e n.

.

.

Inorde'r to deve lopthlsar gutlentitisne c es sary to loo k ':'at so_e'ofth.e

<! t ff.e re~cl!!S

^{that exist}

beh,e~'n

^{the two}

~Od ~os

. '.

"

:" 0:

i.

I

... .._ _ . _ 1- I

'e x pa ns'tona~ d el aborat i on ofthesubjecttohan dtd·speecll.•

·...:..;t wu..als o sho..,".tha t the'produc tt.on0/ cert atn phru u In

of etsceu-se..

°The developmen t0-"-oral,and wrttten.langUa·ge

.us~allY

occurs ind1ff e ren~typ esof-envtronments._:Acco rdtngto...:.

CTa~er '

(1978) .' sPel ktnOg 15

1ear~ed

^tn'an.tural

env t~onllle~tO;.

one th.t"isrell t he l yfreefr~~^{stress. The childis}

allo~ed

^toO

ex pe rlll~n t, .nd -~ s e

app r ox lni'",°t10 n; fn-la ngu.gOe. Hets all owed to takechanc e s and tomakeesr-o rs. Heis e_xpe~t'edtol!v;n,.t~al1Ylearn to speakand'hedoes. Wrlt t'ng, onthe, ot he r hand•.is us uall y lear nedtnanunnatura l '. envtronllent. Itoccurstnthest ructuredsit uattonof the

"school setttng whe r e'the ch'l l (j-l s

expe~ te·d · to

^adhteve.·

..,lthout0 ' ','be tj'ig*'~ allowe0dthe

freedo~t"o

_

ex·pei"t

0

.e~dw1t ~

^{,n d}

_a ke erro rs~tn hiSowl"'ttten language.

Todt!e rmtne tohe bast c.sllll1idt tesarid-d if ferenc e s' be tween'or a land wdtten discours·e ;taye randSa~ks,'lg 79) liadel gh.tcoll eg e freshmenpar t1cI'pat e In twocommuni ca ti on situatton s- an oral tas kand a

-w~1t ten

task.

Rl!S u l't~

of the

st·~dY

^{showed't hat writt e.n}

'a ~~~age

^re s ult ed Ina grea te r

i .

! j

)

"

•

I

' J

" .

orill.linguag esuch'as 'you,know''-Ippe"aredlessfre quently 1nwrf ttenlangu a ge,

FrankSmith(19Bl ) indica tes'that alt ho ugh the rel a ti onship'betweentalk i ngandwrftlngha~ enot be en

a ~eqUatel Y

ex.Pl 0'r ed't hr au Qh research. i tl's

n~t

^dtfflcult

.re recognize tha twritte nand spoken languagear en'ot the.

s~lIe .

^{·Wh tl e.s .fthd1s ttn,gu h he ;}

b~ tween th~ - two

^lIIoduof

.d l

scours~~

^{he also'}

reCOgn l~e ~.

^{the I.partnc·e}

~f

^or'a

1 l~n gul'ge 1~

^{relationtohar ntn? to}

w.rl ~e .

^He

. s t~ te s :

Writtng freque nt ly involve s •• king nc tse,not onl y to exchangeide as (or feeltngs)withothe r people.but to gh event to'e xp r e ssio ns of I

"uhtla r attono rfrustra tion."(p.796)

Dyson(19 81)also:'ma i nt a i n.s'tha't spe echis an Il1lporta nt fact or l.n lear ni ngtowrit e;, She argues th. t for ."some ch'1ldre n, spl!l!ch.'1s thewayt,heyde r i ve meaningfr om

their exper iences ,'a nd itenabi n thl!llI

t~

^get that mun1ng' Into writtenfarill.

The

thU"~1c

^{·con.tento'f't he·wr 1t ten}

pr oductfrequentlyeve rves In the talk pr ec e ding writin g. Talk is ahaused to el~borlteon the full'lIean1ngof thatprod uct. Fur the r,or a l langu.ge . is i tool whichcansee knee ded . 1n fo rllat1o n. assist,,i n theencodi ngof wor ds.andfina lly.dista nceself,f rom' wor k (i.e.)expr ess evefuattcns of compl e t e d lJlor k., (p.78 3 )

Ca r te r 09S3)etsc , advoca t es that ora l Iang ua g~^is .

ne~e·s·sary

^for

writ~en

^langu ag e dev e l opment . She

des'c rl~es

t'he'

e~~1 r~ n,"~ntfor

s'uc c e ssfU.llJlrit 1ng

,~ .

^{thefollowing1}

j

'-'~--.'---,~-'-'~~-

\ . 1 .

I io .'.

~6.

' I

I I

I I J

I .

I

I

Thuea,r eclas sroomswith:vetces, The voices.rethou ofwrtter srehears ing / pieces.readingdraft sbackandfort hto oneano ther,call Ingout ideasInddtscussf ng dHf1cultles••.wr ft1ngtfmesar e notquiet, timesin the se.clas s r ooms. Ch il dren • frequentlysharethei r stor l es-.even those inpr og ress.' They'talk about the i r writing as they writ e. (p. 41) .

;pe ak tng

~ lolld

^{is tn}se pa'r ab1y' linked\

w1t~

^{ma ktn gthe}

tr ansitionfrollo~ll

to

^{wr i}tt en dH c ou r se: Graves (1981) r~po r ts.differ e nt.

typ es

of oraldis cour se e...·id e Ace din his res e arch," Helist s theseas:

'I. Sound ingtoprobefor sDund-symttol re lation.

2. So u'ndl ng to,'breakoff' I phonelllt c unftfromthewo rd und erattack. '~3:-Rer eadfn glanguage for reor t e nt at i on

" 1n thecomp? s1ng untt.

4. tenve rsettcnswithfriends. 'This mons te risg01ng toeat upallthe good guys.'

5; Pro ce dural langua ge :' 'Now whatallI goin gtodo? No,this Isn'trigh t..

I nn dto changeIt.'

Advan ce d sta te mentof the text : The chil d 51y s'thetexttn order to sense theapprop ri atene ssof'the cur r e n t

word. '

7. Con ver sati onsbefor e and afterthe composing. No t only is the ch1ld spe a kin gduring thecompo sing,but languag esur rounds theenti rewritten

event. (p.21) ,

.I Gr n.'es explainstha t 1nthe begfnntng.mo st young

" I . ' .

write rsdep e nd very lIu chonoral hnguage.but illStheyga tn

I . . - .

distanceon thewrttf ng processtheY.llate fewervoc al tuttons.

> 1"-' - - -I

I

I ' I ('"

¹¹

1

"

'Res ul tsfromast udy by LalAmeandChi l ders (19B3) confir mthator al languageisIn important par tof the

~o~po stn9

^{pr ocessfa; young}

chl~ren .

In the study three childr'!'".. qed t'liO tofour ye arswere obserYfd inst)lt~'en ep t ~odes'^{oyera six'.on t h}per1~d. TIle children dr e w, wrote anddic ta t e dIn agr ou p settingwith inadult. Results shollfed tha t th'ech(ldren:ta l ked consta ntly whtle {he;y'were compo s ing .

Thes e"fi ndings'ar e suppor te dby Dy son (1983). She .

1 0 b~erYed and lnter~cted

with

ktnder9~rte n

^{chil dre n}for I

.t"hree .onth period.Inorder todeter.1ne therole of oral"

langua geIn thewrit in gproc ess ofyOllngchildren. Dati consisted ofwrit t en products,-aud1o -ta,pedrec ording softhe childrenwhf1 e,fnvolve'din writing,

Obs erva t l~onal · notes

^and

int ervle ws with the child r enandthe'1r parent's.

·1

Resultsshowed thet.children.us espeec hto make se ns e ofwrittenlang uage. -In itia llytalkis·us'ed toinvest

,w ri ~tengrap hicswit h Ileani ng.eventua ll ytilt.,15 Y.1e wedas~

the'subs t uc eof wrf tte n lang uag e- (p. 1). . Dyso n co n cl ud e dtha.t :.

Oral lang uag e perllleat ed·thewritin g proces s.-This Is ver ycloseto the.

·,react ive sixandsev e nyearoldwrit ers

describedbyGraves, 1975 , 1979 , who ty pically mutter thro u9 hou t the wr iti ng proc e ss : rehearsi ng, re r ea di ng . . . dls.cussing,-and,so undingout. (PP. 20....et) The find ing sf~o.,the se stu di~ sstre ng the nBritto n's

.(l970) vfewthat:

.I I.

I I

-~-'.-.!_ ,.,-c:~::'.-.~ . ^{-rr-: . . - . .- . . -.- .-- - - -- I··..} ·:···....,..:..,·

^.

^'.,

e.

12

~··~···r··

•.•\. ' . Yo,", ,hfld",rol , ^po spe ech '0' 111theywant toCOlllllu n tc ateandtht Iillle ntheywr ite thefr wr it in gtlk es on ._, the fon,ofa eenstruct ...orI .

\ p.!~fo r.ance. (p. 164 ) .

-\---Theresearch.as shown, indica tes tha t or allanguage

Pla'r.san hllpo rt an trole 1,"thewrH1ng processof.young I.

childr en. Implica t i o nsfrom thtssho uldbecl ea r to educators.

I

~O U~g

^{chil drenneedto ta\ k as theyplan,wri'te}

andrev ~;~~

the ft

_I

r-writi ng. Ifor

_.

al"languag eplaysacruc fa l

_.

role in

I

wr1t;1ng, then,the ac t of,writ in gft s elfneeds to beconsfdered'

I _ " " i"

d ." '.'\'.'."'" , ...

lo p~.",

^{J .//}

The IlIpo'rta ncjof Wrttfng to

\ . ; o .t h

^,to

_{~: :: ::::} 1:':::: ::::., ,.po, t"t

^to'

" '0 / .

succ e~ s. Bo t hor . landwr it ten langua ge Ire,use d as .easuf u ofchtildren'$know1l!dg eof spe cifl~'sUbjec ~.$. Accordingto Cramer, '(1978)1tistheac t of wr iti ng whichst i llu la tes I!

.

^.

thought a,nd lang uage tothehighes t possi ble deg)"u. He uyS:

"Wr iting exe r-ts••l(i ~ulI:in f1uence·^{on thegro wt hof} langu"~~e andtho ught""(p. 'I)."

King (478)rega rdswrit ing BSthe'ha,l1mar kof a

" ~ . . "

truly 1.1te ra tesoci e ty '. She descri bes Itas "auntque langUllg:eactthlltcontjlb"ut e s to cOgnH iv"ed~elopment, ^and isame ans of re fl ec t i on, and an avenueto'dis cover thi ngs about one se lf"(P. 196).

.rc

, )

I I

.. i ^{- ----r-'~ .} - .

"" .Thi ng s happen when" " ".,.',m ,,,,we wr tt" ....e•.. tnt on.Ideas ..,

J : .

can begene ra t ed and de veloped inthe int e r a c t i onbetwe e n wr iterandwhat 1$

beingwrit te n thatwou ldnotbepos s ib l e i fthe ideas we r eleft toflowe rand perha p sfadein the,transie nc eof the min d. (p. 16 )

Hoffett (l9SJ) su p por t s this view al s o. He des c rib 5 writing as away of manip u lati nginner speec h. Hecon t ends

tha~

^{the-act o! wr ft fng} "s us t ,i fn s the de vel cpmentiof asub j ct' beyond~hat,we, havethou ghtor imagi ne d abou t itbe ~o r e."

(p•.320)",

Ifwr it i ngcontri bu t es to,cognitiVe"d e vel o pme n t,-ad

·if.tbe act-of jr i tl ngh~lPSto deve l opa_n~con t,ro 1 what

m .ar

,beW., .ftt.en, neXlt.aswa s_s~ gg i! ste d ^{by:Kt".9'H.Off et.t.a nd.sm}

1

^'.th'

·theni tse ems

!1 0 ~ l ca l

^{to co}nc lu d e that chi ldren shoul d be . pro v i ded wftheve r y 'o pport uni t y towri t.e . Ther e is some re se arch'.a ne a.l·o t.of.op i n io n\11' curr ei'f't ~trer atur-e to suppo rt. this po intof vt ew.

·It •

I , ..

Factorstoi)e Con sid e r e:d In'"Writ1ng ';pportu n1L"es for W;it1ng_.

Ifchtldr-e nar eto deve l op lnto" w rl~erjS.t he ni t'1,5 ess e nt ia l tha ~theybecome active ly involv ed in the wr i-t"in g proc e s s ;'and

~hey mus~

^{do this on}

. .

^{a\'da l1Y bas h .':}

S'ith? "l ) "' te' d , ' 'h"' 1

., .

14"'

.ISot"hreadingand wr iting can'only be teernee 1nthecours e of reading Ind'writi ng. Wrftfngmay need ye ars of pract t ce to makei tflue ntand . fact l e... . but the-fl ue ncy and fa cil ity come w1.th writ i ngnotwith repe t iti ve and separa te exerc ises.,and drt tLs, (p .794)

'Bi's s e x (1 98 1) holdsa 51111111'vie w..--

"S he

_SlyS~

Jus't I'Schildr e nlearn to talk'by- .."

~~l~:~tt~~~~d~:~t ~::~~n~ot~~~t~S f ~U~~

^{"!. / ' (}

env f r o nlll.ent"full of writing and writ i ng s. •••Childre n-of-all 19B are

..1ear ntng.towrHebywriting'e;rrr y day

'f n en¥ f r o n~entsthat are fu ll (writ ing

tn'pr ogr es s as we11 as fin ishdproducts .

(p.787) . .' ,

Hilz (1980 ).rep~r t1ngon"there su lt sof writin gf'n her.o wn·cla s s r~om.gives'e vide nce tha t firstgrade chll dr en can lear nt~writ ei ftheyare gl'vena purposeforwr1t i~9 aswell as.anopportunity,·to

.

doso. She.writ es:

fo rlllandco·nve·nti o n s of writ ing eIIerge O\Sthe child writ es who le lIes u g u with ale g ithla t e so c ia l func ti o n. "They -choosesubject s that theyare Int er es t e din ana put theinfor ll.ti onintonotes. lette rs . jo urKals Andsto ri es whenghe n-the . o,pportunltyto doso.. (P. 180).

"fndiscussing the illportanceof ha v i ng an opport unity

f~rwr ·(tl ng .

^{Rhodes(l98]) arg uesthatchil dr'en·le a r nto}

writebywriti ng. Sheagr ees wit hMil: ' s vi e wtha-t'

1 115

mor e impor t a n t to spend

t~m

^.•'.t

, pu~po se f . Ul w;iting ~

^{than 't is to}

spendtimeIn·le ~ ~ ni n g.th e 'l: o n ve n t ions of writin g'.

-, i

^.

. I

··d · .

..•...

- ---.... ...

^~

. ;(.

15

As'theywrite to.con ve yllea ning fu l messages toothers; as they readother pe o pl e' slIe s sa ge s,they'graduallylearn theconve ntfon al ru le sand forms of . written language byexpe rimenti ng a.", .

I

tak ing chanc e s. [p. 774 )

McDo nell andIOsbur n(1980)glv; fu~ th e r su p p or t~^'to thear gumen t tha~

,n.t

^t1;'9 shou l'd,'occur on adai 1.)'•ba,s

Is.

.,They claimtha t:

,Wr iting,is.-sl::11Lthatcan flour is h

on1.1if_c ht l,drenhas e freedollto . experillentw1ththewrit t en word •.Sin ce' .no hUllan sl::111canbeIla stere d unlessit

iscons ta nt lypracticed. opport un it i e s to'COlllluntc atetnwr iti ng must occurda Hy i fchJ~drenar e"toee ve nee• (p. 310 )

Ho s sandSta ns,ell,(1983)ag re~ th~tc'hildre ndo need

m"any opport un it iesto'practice,writing. The y explain tha t:

"t he'act o'f wr iting 1;\Volv e s making rl!bny"choi ce s conc er ni ng me an in g s,langua ge'andconv e ntions^M (p.'3( 9).

ae seeon findings fromeseenstvere s e a rc h,.Graves

'(1 983 )lI.t intai ns th~t'c~l1dren'-evenas.yo~ng'as fhea~dsix

yeirsof.eae Cin wri tewhengiven theopportunity to'writ e da11y. He.a'hopoints out that,child r enshouldbeg1v ~ n .'control'of the ir;writin g': 8ycontrol . herae e nsthat

child re nshould beallowedto choose,their owntopicsfor ,~r1t ln g . He also demons tra t es thatthe.con"f e rencerechntque

is'a ninvalu~bl'e ^{w,ay of},ge t t i ng,child ren to unfold and flo uris h In thel ~ abl1 ity as wr f t er s. The conf erence techn iqu e isusu a 1'1y a matte rof th~^{teac her orastu dent} befngInvolve dIna~ne -to-on.!!·re la t ion shipwit hthewrite·i-.

aski ng hillquestio nsabout his wor kin order tohelphinl

confe r en c emay las t (or only a fewmi nut es or 1tmaybe'

': ,.:.

/

/ /

. / .

,. ' .16

'.'j'

^'.

:

^'

longerdepend ing upon the needof thepupi l.. At'no time durin~the confe re nce does the teach e r tell'thec~ildwha t to write or how to'wr1teo >r""

,

R:~U l

^{t sfromr}e sea r ch seem to 1nd1r::t t

t~a t chl1dre ~' s'

writingNou rishe s.be s t 1f the y are giv en raany oppor tuni t ies to wri te andi fthe ylIlreall owe dtogatncon t r olover the i r own wo r k.

If childr en ~r e to.e n gage in wrl tingin thesc~ool se tting, then i tseemsappr opriateth~tthepurpos efor

~riting shC! ul dbe consid er ed. J

\ Wr it ing fora Purposeand an'lAud ience

Britton(l97 I l divt d~d^the pu r poses,0,' wrfting,int o thr ee lIajo r ca t ego ries.

I. Ex pr e s siv e Writing,isdescrlbedas writin gtha t fs done to reveal'the .se lfto SIllf a,ndto'_other s. 2. Tr ansactionalWrHing"'-tsdescribedas

writlng-thatfs us ed for 1nf orll 1ng"-or pe'rsuading:

'..3. PoetfcWrt t1n g~h'~_e ~ c r lbed_1S.wr Hi? g

tha t 15usedas an art'form,

f,heNe wfoundla nd

Departmen~ 'o '

Educ a ti on

P'~bl l ca tf on

(1982 )

reCOI'IIIl~ndS t~at

^{the Com'm}un ic a t iv e

a~p'proach

^tJ

w~'ft~ng

.( ....hich Inc.ludes·theu.pr ess ive,tra ~sactl on al ^{and po'e t'ic}

beidop ted an'd'1llpl ellen t ed ill the.

J

"

.. .. -.

17

. '-"

el emen taryschools in Newf ou nd lan d:

When youngch il dr e n write, very of te'nthey'fall to jn clude detafLs . Theirwritinglacks11 certai,"clarity.

They usu allyemploy theexpress ive modeofwri,tfng ., The' Newfound landDepartmentof Education'publi cation (1982) Naffirmsthat:

Any readfhgor li stenin g audience mus t takethe ...rt.terontrust, fo r .inexpressiv ewrft1ngthough ts may be

half-uttered-andattitudes ha lf- expr es sed . (p•.27)

...Golden (t??'O)t.in recognitionof the maj or cate go'rl es . of writingas develop ~dby Britton'(19 7 1)emphas izesthat:

Wr tters, then, writefor 11 purpose. - tocommunicate to an implied audienc e.

Sinc e purpos efulwriting cannot Occur in a vacu um,wr iteqare. in varyingdegrees, aware thatsomeonewill readthe irmessage or poem. (p.758 )

Goldencontin ues to repor t ehe res ul ts of an observat'ionshe'd i donch ildre n's wr it i ngsto dete r minewhy

' :~h'ey

^{wro t e .} She repo r ts that't hewr.it i ng·Of.yo'ungchildren. /

(five and six years.ofage)'wa s done la rge ly intheexpr e ssive cat egory , altho ugh.s cne transac tio nal writ ingwa s prese nt.

; f

^{She f,ound}~hatchl1dte n at thisage used thetrwrit1ngmainl:"

to descr;betheirown.experiences. ·Writ ing.wasa~a~of ar t1c ula;t ing a personal ex pe rienc e " (P'.759 ) .

Mo s t'o f the junio r and middle school'childr enwere describedaswr it i nginthe transactional mode. The y wrote mainlyto re po r t info"rmationor to recordan event•• Itwas foun(t hatchildrenat both level s wroteasa result of their

18

", '

own expe rien ces.wit hth'~pur pose s of'c o mmunic a t i ng to other peo ple. She'c cncj udes :

Wr itin g: then,isillnaturai cutrtcw of exper-tence . Ch'i1 d r enexpec t to'wr ite

~;c~n~:'Y c~~

¹

~~;~c~~~;

^i:.9

s:~:~ 1~~ .

^audi

e~ce

because theyknow"theirwork wi11be displaye d fore-tas anetes, teac her s , 'pa r en ts.andvisitors tcvsee . Thewri.t1ng ts bound upfntoillco mmunica t i on pro ce s s of write rv-me ss age -aud i ence . .(p. 760) The re is alwa ys apur pos e fo r \"rftfng. whether ftbe

I -

for selfD~oth er s..Ac cord in gto Smit~ (1982 ) ._t~epurpo s e is oftendJt erm fned byillsens e.ofeudtence. He'wr it es:'

Awa'r e ne s s'of~ potent1ill1

aud

ten~e ma,)lplay aco n s ider a b le part.fn:t~e origi nal nc t.ivat fcn for writin g •. We

:U~~t~e~~C~~:~

^{: ;,}

:~~i~~om~~~e '

audtenc e prnvtde sthe incen tiv e , aut. the re are occ asion swhe nwe writefor ourowneyes only , Eve nwhen wewr i t e fo r other peop l e we ar e still our own primar yeud te nc e. (~,80)

Som,etlmesha vin ga know!!euetenc'e ct he r thanself".

ca nhe l p the wri t e rto c'la r lfy'ideas. InGra ves' (l983 ): cptntcna sense of audienceisvit al,to thewritin gprocess. He fi rm·ly.advoca testhe'pr acticeof havtnq't he writer read hi scompo s i t io n aloud to theteache r or aJlothe rthild. The liste ne rwil laskquestionsi fsome,t hi ngisno tcle a r, This ,will he l p.thewriteI'focus~hi.sldeasa ndtprcduce a nore

coher ent pie ceofw~ it i ng, Whe,nthech ildkno ws.t ha t his writin gwillbe reee•• he will st r iv e to makei tmean1ngUtl.

ACCOr ding'to Grave s . i t'ts

~htOu9h

^{.t hi s sens e'of}aud i e nce that the ch ildwill progress anddevelo p.Lntca.wrtt e r.

I

'II

~"'

19

Graves alsorecogn Izes the fact thatI

an

^{.au otencecari}

hav ean IIIeffec t upon wr i t e r s . and 'ut t erly destr oythem ', Heexptaf ns that"someti mestheeffectof anunseen audt e nc e.

, .

suchas. a teac he ror parent who demand s perfec tion.tn spe lling

• • I

andtheother mechan i c sof writ i ngcan hinder the child's .a ~.ility topr oduce. 'He says:

The chil dcan'tmove ahead becau se ofthefear of theone aud1e nc e tbet

won't.understandwhathe isdoin g.

prtc r te ach erscan be prese ntas 'unseen aud ie nce s ' . The child may nc t-evenrea ltze they.acc ompa ny lli m inthe draft.yet t.heirtapprce c hto ,tile te e cbf ne.of writln9 has bu t-l

i

up

avoida nce patt er n s thatmake the.child. fear audiences. Thiscanoccur even whenthecurren t teaeber isacc e pt i ng 'of the write r ' swo r ~, [p.266)

In recognft ionof the impo rtanc eof a sense'of audienc eand,of pur-pose inwritingMoffett (19S3).states:

Wepu t ou~,thoughts inorde r.t~get ourstorystraight forsomeone. else, for apurpo se... The wr it er puts.herself in theshoes of the reader"(gets ins i de of

n~s;~r t~~ !~~;~~j:~~~t~h~r;'~~h~~;~ '.~~works

-"on or off pape r, it doesn'tmatter -

see ki n g ways and means. The composition evolvesdurfng the rhe t o ricalprocess of get ting Itrigh.tfo ran audience and a pur pose. .-( p, 321)

Ifchil dre nare providedwith a pur po s e forwriting, andiftheydevel op an aware ness of senseof audience ,'t'l'1e n re s ear c hseems to'i nd 1cate.ttiat .childre nwillbeable" to producemeani n.gful w.riti.ng ,

I ,

;

.

-

,.

j".

1 I

I••dOlt' ..to•tecke """os. nd '.; " '/"

"OS,

of"audie n c e•.therese eesto beanot her"f ac t or wllieh.a1

~ . "

preventchfldren frolll wrfting.

Hanyte a cher~IllYbe hesitan t tofnt r oeuce writing

": th~^{begi nnin gof}t~e^{ye a r.t,oa} g~~~e^one"clan b,ecause o~

the fact thatchfldren•• 1.nctbe abletospellunywor d s,-.

", . - .

.

^.

or their hand wr~ t lngmayno t be wellde v elope d. R~ s ea r c h e r s fell,us tha tth1s ls the wrongap p roach. A~c o rdl ngto Wisema nandllat50n(1980) :

Ch 11 dren canexpe rime n twithwriting as-soonas the y hol dpenctIs .'••the-se earlyexpl orations ar e sure 51,g ns tha t

~:~t~~:.l.~~~~ ~~j:tb~~~~ ;~~~jv~~~~: ~~ed

"'p roduci ng It. ·Tllat'is, even wi t hou t

adult.instructionchildrenst rfke the re ading andwriting trl i l. (P. 750)

In" stud)' do nebyWls ell\anandW.atson 09S0}, agroup

. '. '!

of, sev en tee nchildren•.rangingIn agefrollfour ~ortveye a r s,.

whohidno forlllalins t ryctio nwe r-e askedtoparti ci pate in

t~ree w~-1 ti ng

^{ta sks. Onall'IIi-It'ingt'a ststhechil dr enwere-.}

enco~rage)to'

^{produce''II ritin g}by cOIi/llent.s suc has

'Pre tl!~d

^to

ertee",~r 'Showlie hallyo uthinkyouwoul dwrl't e'. Results showedtha tchildre n-'unde r s tandthat writ i ng invo lves le t t er-prOduct io·n,.ls letter -i lkeel;mentswerepro duced. and thatwriting hasa ertetnforlll(p.753 ) . Theyco nc lu dedby.

~

say ing; ...

.

^;'~"

21

Even these earl.y"intuitive wd t lng atte mpts ilhstrate' t hatyou ng childr en ar e act i ve partic i pant sIntheir persona l writ i ng acqu isitio n . The teac herca n encour age natura1 gr owth In pri n t prod u ctio n by provl, dlng"11."

atmosphere ~here ctllld ren,feelfr e eto contin ueonthe tra il they,hav ealready beguntoma r k. (p. 754,1

Ifyo·ungc_hildre nare nat ura Flyincl ined toexperte ent with"w riting, as thel,it era t u r ~sug ge sts,"a ndif we are to encou rage,t hatin terest. thenweBlus t all ow children,to expre s s themselves'inwhat ev'ermanner theyarecap abl e.uf

, ,

doing. Ttds inc'lu de sal lowin gthe ~c.h~ l dr e n tausethe deve lo pment al app :-oa -chtospe l ling, whi chwill be discussed next .

"

oevel~pmen'ta l ^{spel l in9}

Per haps

\on~

^{ofthebigg es't}

o bstac~'es

^that,"ou n.g chil d renhave tode alwit_~in lurn i ~ g t o write is the ir inabilityto spell. lf c htld r-enwrtj.aon lythe wor..dsthey canspell

co rre~t~y .

^{theirwr.i.t ing}

W i l1_ ~~ Ve~Y' .l;·mi ~ed

^and

quite stilt e d. 'We must'e ncouragethem to write _{th e'~a nguage}

• ' • I "

they.erecapable of produ ci ng. Cra mer(1978)sugge sts : Few thin gsinli f e ar.e aspr ecious oras beautifulasthe native lang ua ge of·child r en. Re'sRec t foritshone sty and re ver encefor its beaut y are-the . hal1 m'ark ofthegi ft ed teac h e r. Te a cher s must nuetu r-a.t be nati vegift oflang u ':.g e ~ they eust;enti ce 1tou toftnecre v tces of themin dand ontopap er ;theymus t give-1t the r-e spect:tha t isits duej,they^{mus t'us e,} 1ttohel pchild r enrealize the valueof thei r gi ft s . (p.v) •

-i

. _ , ~ _ \ L

i '

Ifwe;antchildren io writ'e. we mu stno t become 22

overly concer ned.withcorrec t s pelltnqor th'eeec nent c sof. writing. Inrecogn it ion oftntsbelief,Clay(1975)asser ts':

•Therewilla 1 waysbe error s Inword detai'l ifthechildis moti vatedto expr e ss his ideas ra therthan merely st ay wfthln theconfines of the vocab ular ywithwhi ch he Isre a t tte r andthes k 111 5 he can c ontrcl• (p. 35) Learningto spel~ Is adevelo pmen t.~l process. It cannot be ac h i eved ill1at once . Theteache r S!lo.u l,d:be of thisfa<tor whendeali ngwfthyoung writers. Acc orl;lin g

,,' , I .' ,

to Smith(1981):' i '

le ar ningto,sp e\' take s'tim'e, it begjns wltn"m( ss pelli ng s. Chi ldr e n who wri.tecnl ythe word sthey know howto spell end upwrit1n9and . knowinghow to sp ell veryfewindee d .

I P ~' ,

^'

Read (1975) noted that p"re.kHtd erg arte n.chfldr en,ar e capableof ?e v e lo.p1n g asy'stem ofspel li,n9whfc hallows them' to. co,m~u nicatethe ir.intendedmessa ge s. In ananalys Isof children'~sp e lli ng .'hecb s er ved that cer ta.1ngeQ,era l

c hanac~eriS;t1 C$

^{occur. For}

~h·mpl"'e.

certain seunds

~re

'r epresen tedbya'slngl.e,1ettercnly,

Bls s ex (1981) also refers to certa i n patt e r ns.

cc cur rtnaIn'fh{~d re n's'spellings• .Shecomme nt s th~ t':

~ .oJ'Pr esch oo l er s " invented spellln·gs• .:..-- wh1ch-a r eunc onve n t Ional but consistent

acros schil d r e nare ru 'le-governed. F~ r

~~~;~~~~:n~:~:.l (0 ~pf~r~u~~lS~'t ~~;s

^t

~~~

nual is not ar t icula tedasa separate speechsegment. Wit ho u ~1n"trllctfonin

.\,

sound-letter relatio ns hips,these you ng (wr ite"rs r (s pelle rs)abstractr-etetton- s ht psfrom,thelet t erna me sth ey know, leadingthemtomany con vent 1,o nal consona nt spellings but als o to suc h inventio nsas 'K' for 'Ch',(P KHR• pictu re ) . [p.766)

Insupportl ng the-tdea·thatchildren shou ld-be aL'loeed towrite .usingthispat t ern of deve loprlen_~~l spel11ng, Grave s'09S1)ee pcrts: "uur data show'thatthe wor ds ,evo lve.f~om~: lIdespel ling s to greate rrefinement "

(p. 191.

~ e 9.iv e.~ ·~n

^{exam'Ple of}

wh~ t' he c all~

^{'spell ing}

"evo l ut i o ns',wntehcen befound"in·a'chl1 d'swr1tl~g.

FLlAOWZ --flowers .FlLAWRZ,.-

Fll AWR --flo wer Fl l AW-R S .- FLOWERS ··

;.GraveLf eels that byacc e ptingt~j.styp eof. spelli ng fr o'm a writer, the llh lld'.tif!be'capabl eof writing right fro mtfJe beginnin g. Hewil1 beab'l e'tousehis kno wle dge'of sOund- Sy:mbol

~e lat; ~nshi P . to co'nvey '~ny

^{me'ssa g eint'o}

p~in~ .

lie cont e nd s: "Ltapp e ars thata chil d.whck.no wssixsound- rymbO!

reh~l~nshl PS ( us~'~

^1y

conso·~an'ts).

^{ca n begin}

t~

^write.

rnd they do." (p.~9) • .

. Sliit h(1981 ) agree s·that spellin g is not just a hap hazar dgues s fo'r chi ldre n. Hefe~ls that childrenmlss p~ ll .~ord·s.^notthro ugh any fau lt of the ; ~^{own,,'but'throug h'an}

.-. "

~" ,5

II

24

cv e j--dependence on t'he sou ';d~s ymbolr eLa t tons htp. Alt hough'

\ . . ,

.

.hea r g ues that anover- re liance onscun d- meee nr-e lattcnshtp

tso-e spcnstbtefor 'thefrequent viol ence do ne to conventio nal Eng 1 15 h orthograph.ybychildren'.hetsno t.agai nst us i ng this'

method . He conc l ude sthet: )

•

ad,.-~~e:O . ~,~ ~~ ~~~~C ~~~~oia ~~~~d~~~s:~~entlY

^.

beccee per s ua ded thatcr e ativity in , spelltn9 1$ notw1de1yco mm en~.ed isto avo i dwr iting wordsthat they thinkthey arelike.ly to spe l l inco r r ect ly. (P. 18 5) Re po rtsinthelit e r at urefrom seve r al teache rswho

.are

enco u r a gin g~hlldr e n.t o use"deve lo pme nta l spellin "gin their writing,all

"5

howfav~ u r a b ~ e result s'in thatit~lfows thechtldr ento befr e eto IIs~'1 anguage . a~d toga1nco nfide n.ce in.thEli raettttyas.wr tr er-s•.

Ml1z (1980) report s thather first grade chil d r e ncan writebecause she9fv~ St hersa'purposeandall o wsthem- to exper1menfw1 th theirspe l l i ngs. She fe e ls tha t jus t as the- beginn in gta l ke: ".s,a llowed tomakeerrors.w1thou: con s t an t correcti on ~.·50 shoul d the be g tlwdngwriter be allowed.todo the samewHh spe'l1i ng.

JanTur b lll

j(1518 2 )reportin gon a projec t bytwe nty - se ve n tea~ hers inAustral ia who are.uS-1 n~Graves ' Proces s a pp r-oac h toteachwr iting say s-l'

Invent ed spell1n9t

s

an immens,el y valuablenatural pat h a begi nnercan takein expressingthoughtconfiden tl y inwr i t i ng beforehe or she be g i nsto spell. Itends the traditional

2S

dominat io nofle a r nin g to'spellover le ernin g to write. un h inde r ed by fear offncorrectspelli ng ..•tndeedthe -rete of progres sattestedby the se 'l7

teachers is exc iti ng! Vet.s peltlingis

"l?t19no r ed. (p.51 )

Gr~vJ s (i981). expl.~in~thatinventedspellingsgo.:...--

t~~OU9h

st agJ s of developmentalongwith

th~

^{child. He sees}

the s e stagesasfirst tn venttcn s,wor dsintransition. sta b l e invention s end sightword$, ...cla i ms,tha t·the stable inventi ons ~r!more likelyto'be revised.

Gent ry (1982)concur swf"t hGr ave s that spellt ng'Is a develo paen t.e Ipr o c e s s, He ma i nt a i n s thatchil d r e npa s s through"' h ' e,sta ge sinlea rn 1 n g,t~ spell.

1. ThePr e commun icat heStllgeisd~sc.ribedlIS the level where the child first,'usessymbols :fromthe alphabet to repr ese n twords. He has no knowledgeof the let ter-sound

.

^. ,

.

relationsh?p; ,H.f s_spe l l in gattempt ~atthi~sta geare R,ot readable.

. 2. ,T~eSem1phone tic Stage,occurs whe nme-spetter begins to r ete re'l e tt e r andsound;.ThesemiPhon~tic^spelling\ isab b r evia t ed;one,two ormor ele tt er s may represent the wholeword .

3. ThePhone ti c Stage·At this -sta ge th,espellings arequite rea da bl e. Le ~ t e rsareu s ed astheysound,. regardless o(theirconventions.

.4,. J§,eTransitiona lSt age- This stage occur s when thespellerbeg i ns to ass i milate:theconve~tion~lalternates forrepre sentingsou nds.

..

^·f

5. The Correct Slage

I

- Thi sstageisre ache d when 16

view tnmi n d , the writing proces$wlll be e xami nedr 't he child's sp,ell ingco rre s pon ds to.theEnglishor fho gr a phic

system and its basic rules. (pp . 192~199 ) ~ ,

. In addition to'·s pe lling . Wr1ting~ d .

to beade ...

el 0~menta·1

^{p,rocess . This}factor....fl.!!!ds

t~ .b~ " ~

l

^{ccnstceredwh'; ctscuss tnacht}l dr e nts wrttfn .:Withthis TheWr i tingPr o cess

The

'l i ~eratu re ind fcat~s

^{t'hatint er e s t.l n wr1·}ting as>

.ilprocessis afair l y r-ecent eevetcpeent. Ea~lle.r res ea r ch .-c ente r-ed on theresultof writingor the product. The'

:.:'

^,

at schet

(l9 ~4 )

^rep l ic a t ed Emi g',s study:" Hedf;

~

':.~~{~,e

^'stUdY

~f!

^grade

twel~e· s t~de n t

^{who'wasconsidere dto}

"

.~

.. b e

ar.t i cul ate ·and gene r a ll yint e ll i gent, but who testifie d

that he didnot"e nj ay 'wr it i ng . Results fromthts study 27

showedthat thesUbiect's timespen t-tn Plann'fng,ranged

~from fe'55than .cneminu te fo r s choc l req.Uired.wr it i ngto . about twen tyminu t e s fora self -ch o sen wr it ing assignment.

It was repo rted by"the study, that the,st uden t did an of his pla nni ngme ntally. He paid lit tl eattentionto revising .

~Kc'ep"'f--io

r-e - er-r-e nqe groups of words. .

. Stallard (19]4)

. ana l yz ~d th~ wrltit9

^{'behavi o ur of}

fiHe en hig h

s1.h O .0 1

st ude.n"ts.

w~o

^ere.

CO~Sf.dered.

^{to be,}

'~OOd

writer s and

co~pared

^the res u lts

Lith

^the

ehavio~r

^{of. a'}

gr oup that'had bee nran40mly ~elect~d.. Results Ind1c a t e'd that goadwrit ers put more effort tntc theirpr odu c t than

. '

.' ,

wr i t er s selectedat random. The investme ntof time,

.

.

ccnsctousat t ent i on't ocOlllmu~i~atio~pr-cbl eas , .and the effort of repea ted ly contempl ati ngwh a ~ had been written durin g the pro~ess'of wii.tingseemed to be'themajor diffe r enc es bet we enthe segood twe lfthgrad e,writ e r s an d twel :-t h:grade.wri ters,thatwereran domly chosen' (p. 217).

Grave~('1975) studied t~ew~ it ing procedu resof a grou p'o fseve nyear ol d child re n.: The children were observ ed whilethe ywere,engagedinthe processofwri ting.

Data 'wa s col le ct e dinillcase s"tudyproced ur e.' The cht l dr e n's behaviou r,: range'andty pe

of

langua ge usedto accompanythe

I i

28

~c tual wri tfn gwer e.recorded. Int erv iews wer ehel dto- d e terntnethe children" s views concerning thei~ ownIIr iti ng ,ndthe1run'd ers~ and ln gofa'g oodwr~te r·.

.Resu ltsfrain thissj udyctndtce ted thatwhen childr en areal1o'fted to Choo!s"e

the ~ r

^o'lln"topi c they.'IIt{t e<rnoreand fora1anger

p~rjodi o~

^ttme,tha

~/~ ,~en'"t~~y'

^{ar ea}

s s~

^a

topic. Require d wri t in gwasrcund.tcbeinferi or to informa l wr1tfng inconte nt .'rangeandquanti ty . Res ults ofthe 1nfOr~al ~ritings.sho~ed that .childr e n are able to~r1te without exte r nalmo tivat ionor superv is ion.

Further.r~'searc h~(cal]{ins1980,GravesandMurray '198 0, and Graves 198 I)wasreport edbyHumes(1983). The researc her sspent~,t hre e"year-peri Od,intheclassrooms dire~tlYobserving~ha tyoungchil dre n dowhile tliey parti ci pa t einthe processofwriti ng .,Results fromtheir fi ndin g's

offe r 'Il~Ch I~OWl edge

^{,a bout}

th~

^{writin1proce,sses}

o-f young child ren. Thei r findings are per ttcula r l yhelpful be caus e they'-a rethe first res ee rcjer-s to oeconc emed ~ith

,1-

(~

. i

th e writin gproces ses of,young ch i1dre~. OU er educato rstenc ,wr iters inth~literature ~hor~po rt.succes s f ul.re s ult s in

theteaching ofwri t 1ngattribut etheir sue ,cess tofol.) owing

,

,

Graves' approachto wri t inq.

Graves'research,proves that evenfir st-gndechildr e n canbecome successf ulwriters if theyare givencont r ol of th~lrown.wri t ing, When teache r sreceive dapieceofwrit ing, that.Is. when they listenerto awriterreadhis piece a loud.

I

29

andthenq!J e s t..io~ l!d t.hev rtter,,theerttee.se s capab le'of.

•gen'e :\ting ncr e idea s tobe put'tn

te

vr-tt ten form. When ',student s rea~ anddi scus sed their \'jo r~ withothers theywere

ucr-e fnclinedtore- dr af t andr~vi^{5!theirwo r k. Re ading}

the workaloud helped 'chil dre n developasens e ofauctence

an d itgavethe mpur-posefor developing-clari.tyinthe i r wor~^{-. It al so enable dthemt6devel op goodrevi ;t on} sk~ll^s an d to tmp rov e tilel r spellingand othe r mechenfcalvsktlls of writing. Itwasfou n d,thoug h,thatchildren'att~ e g'ra de. .one level ~1dno trevise th eirwor kto any~reatext e nt ~

The US~.Of de velopnentalspell in g enabled the chtld re ~,t b producewri tten language,,'

Per) (1979)studied thecompos ingproc~'~s e s of five,.

un skill ed culle qevrtter s. D~ta wascollect e'dthr-ouqh wri ttenp,..o~uc t s,video -t a pesof theora llan'guageus ed ,w.hi lecomposing al oud and int ervie ws .

Result s showe dtha t.m ese write r s wereacre concerned Wit h'~he.s urfac efea turessuch:as correctspellingandhav ing their paper loo katt ra ctiv e rather than revisi ngfor Ideas

andneantna.

J I

.

Ma j~-~

^{esults frolthest Udyshowedth,at"a,1 1of.the} studentsdis pla y edconsistentvcuapo stnqprocess es, that is. beh aviouralsubs equence s- prewrit iny,writ ing,andedttinq, app e a redinsequential patee rnsEtretwererecoaetae bte across Ifrfti ny sess tcns and, stud~nts'(p..328).

)romoneanother.

30

In theresearchcite d ,it appears tha t the"

w r1tl~g

proc ess is not ccaprts edof;a sing lest agebut isma de p of seve ra l stag e sshtc hlIlay notbe thou ghtof"as di sc ret e

)

I Sta~es ofthe Writing Process.

Areview

o f

the literatur e asre portedby Hu mes (1983)show sthatres e archers di ffe r

o~

^{theiabelli'ng of}

the component sof the wrlt in,9,·program. El bow"(1973) de~ cribe s writin gas a two-s t epproces s ; 'fir styou figur e

~out YOOrme anin g andth~~yo u'put i t1ntolan guage." [p•14.) Rohman (1965) co nsiderswr i t ing to bea'three stage ..process

. " i

fQcl udlRg'pre-w riting. wr1t1n1land post - wri ting'. Mu rray

:(l 97 8) al soreco cnt ae e wrltin9to be

co mprls e ~

^{of th ree}

comp one nt s • .He labelshisstages,as'pr,evislon,vtstenen d revis ion'. Bri tt on(197B)calls the'stages'preparatio.n, incu,batlon andarti cu lat ion'. King(1978)ref ersto the prcc e

sj

as 'pre writing,artic ulati onandpost-writ ing'.

Legu mand Krashen(19 7 2)spe a l:of a fou r stag eproce s s -

. ,'conc e ptuali zing ,plan ni ng, wriUn gand editing',vhtte

Draper(l979)incl udes afiv estage pr o c ess- 'prewrit i ng.

formulatin g, tra nscribing,retornu Latinqand edi t ing'.

Flowerand Hayes (1981) developed a.nod e l that hasthree

eef or-components - 'planning .tra n slating,andrevi ewing '.

They rega rdthe writ ing pr ocess asbeingrecur s iv e,

Jl

that is,the writer moves backand forthfromone'stage.t o ancthe r (p,·4 ).

TheNewfound l~nd^Departmentof EducationpUblicaticn (1982)also uses.a model comp;rlsedo( three stages ,namely.

pr ewritlng,writingandPO£Wri'tlng. , Graves (1983) desc.ri be~the threestagesof wri ting as f~llows :'

Pr ewrilingPhase-This phase.is .immediately prec edInq thewri tin g,o f.t he child.

'\" Writing,Phase~-.This phasebeg insand endswiththe

actual writ; n9of the~e s s a g e.

Post- \~ riti"9 Phase-Thi s phaserefers to proof- :·)ead i ng.re vi s i on

i1~d

^the co mpletio n,ofthefini s h'e d

pr(Jd~·i::t .

Flo werandHay es' (1981) tht!'orythattheact'o f wr1t1ng is eecur s tve suppor tsPe rl's(1979) statement:

," CompOSi n.irdoes not cc curin a,str aightfori4rd lin ea r

hshio n "(p. ~3 1 l. Itis also"i nagr ee ment -..1thHampt o n ' s ... (1983 )ar g u ~,e n tthat" theWrit1 11 g process is an in t e r na l

dialoguethat exis ts,withi nthe wri t e r . Thewr it~ rhas to moveback and.forthfrom one sta geto"the.ne xtas he que st ions ,

answe r~. revise~a nd

^{re-reads, inhis}

attemp'~

to bring meaning to hiswrit i ng (p. 343 ).

All of the wri te r srev i e wed,ag r e e

tII~t

^{writ ing}

doe s~~

()ccur~'1n

^{stage s ,and}is :hard lyever.comll.l e.tedinone

at temPt .t~~

^.

They..dH ferhoweveron't he numbe rof catego"ries used andon . .:~~^. .thete rminolo gy used todescribeeach cate gor y. Itdoesn't

'"'

--- ^.

3Z

really matter'wha t it1$ r e

eer-r

eet~__

as

'the,impor t a nt.pctnt is the conceptbel"9conveyed. For,clarjfication purpns es, writing process throughoutthe rest of t ht'spape r shill' refe r to the"three stagesofpre-writi ng , writingand post-

\II:l t1n9. tnts'c ho ice Is made in-k~e p l n g.~ {i hthe curr-ent te.flllfno l ogythatisbeingused bythe Department of Ed"ucatfon,.and wIllc h}.S,b.ei~g.,im pleme n ted ; n}t heelem~,nt..~ry.

sc hoo ls ofN'ewfoundlandand la b r a dor.

ThepuP'n 'srol e in the 'writingprocess is'to acquire'

'~he

's e lf- f elt ' purpose'forwriting;" !rhls fe'ell ng-willnever. come ebcut 1f child r en ar enotprovi~edthe bP~ortunlties to write about those things thatarere al to thee. pupt1s.s bould see the teacheras a'f r i e n c! top~a fs e'what is enj nyeble,to ques tion the vague and to offer choi cesandelternetIve s in content ,in organ i zat ionas well as in syntax,''St udent s must come moreandmor e to the point of responsi bilityfor analy.zing theirowntl\oughtsand check ingtheirownform.

In thi

s

^Processapproach,t.owriti ng thepupj1rs res pons f b l efor choosing~isowntopic.• lie tsencou~age.d to use developmentalspelling, tnorderto.b~froeeto~let~fs language flow.

He will lea r n to reada~ d di sc us s'his writi ngand

.t h is wilthelp himto lear n the skfl l s for self-e diting.

His writing.neednc t-be finishe dillone sa ting. .1