Development of Writing Skills in Children in Diverse Cultural Contexts: Contributions to Teaching and Learning

Description

This book brings together multiple theoretical perspectives and disciplinary approaches to study the acquisition and development of written language by children as well as the implications for teaching and learning of writing practices in a variety of languages and cultural contexts. Chapters in this contributed volume present both theoretical contributions and results of research carried out with students and teachers from 11 countries (Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Israel, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, UK and USA) who speak seven different languages: Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian, French, Dutch and Hebrew. By bringing together research developed in diverse cultural contexts it enriches the debates in the interdisciplinary field of writing studies by analyzing a wide range of topics at the interface between research and educational implications for the teaching and learning of writing by children. The book consists of five parts, each one addressing a specific set of topics. Part I presents studies on topics related to written language representation systems (phonological and morphological awareness) and on the relationship between grammar and the quality of texts of different genres. Part II includes studies related to compositional processes of writing texts, and the factors involved in these processes. Part III focuses on the difficulties faced by students during the acquisition and development of writing. Part IV is dedicated to chapters that discuss and compare writing practices in different social environments. Finally, chapters in part V deal with teaching and learning of writing in the school setting. Development of Writing Skills in Children in Diverse Cultural Contexts: Contributions to Teaching and Learning will be of interest to researchers and students in the fields of psychology, education and linguistics, as well as to other social scientists in the broader interdisciplinary field of writing studies. Contents Contributors About the Editors Chapter 1: Development, Teaching, and Learning of Writing: From Word to Text 1.1 Introduction 1.2 The Role of Linguistic Knowledge of Grammar and Vocabulary in the Composition of Written Texts 1.3 The Role of Metacognitive and Metalinguistic Activities in Written Composition and in Learning to Write 1.4 Writing Different Text Genres in Different Social Contexts 1.5 Difficulties in Writing: The Challenges That Children Face with Transcription and Composition Processes 1.6 The Role of Interventions in Writing Development 1.7 Final Remarks References Part I: Spelling, Vocabulary, and Grammar in Written Texts Chapter 2: Learning to Spell in Brazilian Portuguese: Children’s Patterns of Spelling Errors and Unconventional Word Segmentation 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Learning to Spell 2.2.1 The Object of Learning: Spelling 2.2.2 The Nature of the Spelling in Which One Learns to Write 2.3 The Development of Children’s Spelling Skills in Brazilian Portuguese 2.3.1 Context-Sensitive and Morphological Regularities in Brazilian Portuguese Spelling 2.3.2 Children’s Spelling Errors in Brazilian Portuguese Writing 2.3.3 Unconventional Lexical Segmentation in Brazilian Portuguese Writing 2.4 Cognitive Skills for Learning to Spell in Brazilian Portuguese 2.5 Final Remarks References Chapter 3: Grammar as a Resource for Developing Metalinguistic Understanding About Writing 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Theoretical Framework 3.2.1 Grammar as Choice 3.2.2 Metalinguistic Understanding 3.3 Methodology 3.3.1 Sample 3.3.2 Collaboration with Teachers 3.3.3 Data Collection and Data Sources 3.3.4 Data Analysis 3.4 Findings 3.4.1 Improving Writing Through Grammatical Choices 3.4.2 Lexical Choice as ‘Better Words’ 3.4.3 Articulating the Grammar-Meaning Link 3.5 Discussion 3.5.1 The Impact of High-Stakes Assessment on the Power to Choose 3.5.2 Informed Choices 3.5.3 The Locus of Control 3.6 Final Remarks References Chapter 4: The Role of Grammar and Vocabulary for Writing Instruction in School 4.1 Introduction 4.1.1 The Debate About Teaching Grammar in the Spanish-Speaking World 4.1.2 Grammar in the Curriculum of Latin America 4.1.3 Grammar Teaching Integrated with Writing 4.1.4 Teaching Vocabulary as Part of Writing 4.1.5 Writing Problems Related to Grammar and Vocabulary 4.2 The Activity: Teaching Grammar and Vocabulary Integrated to Writing 4.2.1 Participants 4.2.2 The Writing Activity 4.2.3 Writing Tests to Evaluate the Impact of the Activity 4.2.4 Analysis of the Written Texts 4.2.4.1 Grammar 4.2.4.2 Vocabulary 4.2.4.3 Textual Structure 4.3 Results 4.3.1 Differences Between the Groups in the Pretest 4.3.2 Descriptive Results 4.3.3 Analysis of Impact Results 4.3.4 Further Analysis 4.4 Discussion 4.5 Final Remarks References Part II: The Composition Processes of Writing Texts Chapter 5: “Who Is Going to Read the Story That I Have Written?” The Role of the Audience in Textual Revision Made by Children 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Revision and the Writing Process 5.2.1 Revision Operations and the Nature of the Changes Made by the Writer 5.2.2 Revision and Moments of Text Writing 5.2.3 Reasons for Making Changes 5.2.4 The Role of the Interlocutor 5.2.4.1 The Interlocutor as a Partner in Writing Texts 5.2.4.2 The Interlocutor as an Audience in Writing Texts 5.3 “Who Is Going to Read the Story That I Have Written?” A Study on the Role of the Audience in Textual Revision Made by Children 5.3.1 Characteristics of the Changes Made 5.3.2 Reasons for Making Changes 5.3.3 Change of Reader 5.4 General Discussion 5.5 Final Remarks References Chapter 6: The Effect of Low-Level Writing Process on Written Narrative Textual Competence in Kindergarten and Primary School Children 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Low-Level Processes of Writing: Transcription 6.3 High-Level Writing Processes: Text Writing 6.4 Relationships Between High- and Low-Level Production Processes in Written Composition 6.5 What Research Tells Us 6.6 Low-Level Writing Ability and Textual Competence in Emergent Literacy 6.7 Narratives in Emergent Literacy 6.7.1 Measuring “Writing Before Writing” 6.7.2 Measuring “Narrative Competence” 6.7.3 Lower-Level Writing Skills and Textual Narrative Competence in the Novice Writer 6.8 Starting Formalized Literacy: Novice Writers 6.9 To Tell a Story, To Write It: The Bridge Between Oral and Written Language 6.9.1 Measuring Transcription Ability 6.10 The Development of Narrative Textual Competence Across Oral and Written Language in the Transition 6.11 Lower-Level Writing Skills and Textual Narrative Competence in Expert Writers 6.11.1 Progress in Spelling 6.11.2 Progress in Writing Narrative Text 6.12 Final Remarks References Chapter 7: Grammatical Choices and Narrative Quality in the Collaborative Writing of Primary School Students 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Metalinguistic Knowledge and Metalinguistic Activity 7.3 Teaching Writing and Grammar in Portugal: Guidelines Since 2009 7.4 Collaborative Writing 7.5 Evaluating Writing Quality at School 7.6 Methodology 7.6.1 Didactic Protocol and Data Collection 7.6.2 Material and Categories of Analysis 7.7 Results 7.7.1 Children’s Metalinguistic Activity 7.7.2 Narrative Quality and Metalinguistic Activity 7.8 Final Remarks References Chapter 8: The Development of Rhetorical Preferences in the Analytical Writing of Spanish Students from Elementary to Higher Education 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Selected Illustrations of Rhetorical Options 8.3 Linguistic and Rhetorical Features of Analytical Essays 8.4 Study Goals and Methodological Approach 8.5 Pedagogical Input 8.6 Text Analysis 8.7 Results 8.7.1 Development of Rhetorical Preferences by School Level (Goal 1) 8.7.2 Influence of Pedagogical Work on Rhetorical Preferences (Goal 2) 8.7.3 Developmental and Tutored Changes in Analytical Text Writing 8.8 Final Remarks References Part III: Difficulties in Acquiring and Developing Writing Skills Chapter 9: Morphological Analysis and Its Impact on Written Language Development in Children With and Without Language Disorders 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Written Language Development 9.2.1 From a Constructivist Approach 9.2.2 From a Cognitivist Approach 9.3 Written Language Development in Children with Language Disorders 9.4 Morphology and Its Impact on Written Language Development 9.5 Experiences from Intervention 9.6 Morphological Intervention with Three Cases of Children with Language Disorders 9.6.1 Planning Intervention Tasks 9.6.2 Interventions from the Practice 9.7 Discussion 9.8 Final Remarks References Chapter 10: Difficulties in Acquiring and Developing Writing Skills 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Describing the Production of Written Text 10.2.1 Word-Level Skills 10.2.2 Sentence-Level Skills 10.2.3 Text-Level Performance 10.3 Children Learning to Write 10.3.1 Languages They Write 10.4 Writing Pedagogy and Interventions 10.5 Final Remarks References Part IV: Writing Practices in Different Social Environments Chapter 11: Nurturing Writing of Narrative and Expository Texts at the Preschool Level 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Literacy, Texts, and Genres 11.3 Writing Instruction 11.4 Storytelling as a Triger for Writing 11.4.1 Dictating Stories 11.4.2 Writing Stories 11.5 Producing Expository Texts 11.5.1 The Characteristics of Expository Texts 11.6 Nonverbal Graphic Representations 11.6.1 A World of Pests in a Spice Garden 11.7 Producing a Table to Gather Information and Compare Between Countries 11.8 Final Remarks References Chapter 12: Writing Technique or Writing Culture? Representations of Writing Among Children and Teachers at High-Achievement Schools in Chile 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Methodology 12.3 Data and Participants 12.4 Procedures 12.5 Results 12.5.1 Writing Activities That Children Frequently Complete at Home and School 12.5.2 Description of Preferred Writing Activities 12.5.3 Children’s Beliefs About Writing 12.5.4 Image of Parents as Models of Writers 12.6 Final Remarks Appendix Appendix A Appendix B References Chapter 13: Rewriting the Book: New Literacy Practices and Their Implications for Teaching and Evaluating Writing 13.1 Introduction 13.2 From Socrates to Vygotsky and Beyond 13.3 (Not so) New Literacy Practices 13.3.1 The Fanfiction Phenomenon 13.3.2 The Wattpad Revolution 13.3.3 The Wiki World 13.4 Best Practices, Old and New 13.4.1 What the Research Says About Writing Instruction 13.4.2 Pedagogical Implications and Directions 13.5 Final Remarks References Part V: Teaching and Learning Writing in the Classroom Chapter 14: Teaching Writing Through Discourse Genres 14.1 Introduction 14.2 The Writing Models: From the Cognitive to the Socio-cognitive Perspective 14.2.1 Writing as a Process 14.2.2 Writing as Situated Activity 14.3 The Genres of Discourse 14.3.1 Diversity in Discourse Genres 14.3.2 The Texts and the Basic Types 14.3.3 Genre in Language Teaching 14.3.4 Academic Writing from the Perspective of Discourse Genres and the Theory of Activity 14.4 Teaching Writing Through Genres in the Didactic Sequences 14.4.1 The Genre-Based Pedagogy and the Didactic Sequence as Genre in the Sydney School 14.4.2 The Didactic Sequence Model of the Geneva School 14.4.3 Didactic Sequences for Learning to Write by Camps 14.4.4 Academic Writing and the Didactic Sequence Model of the Didactext Group 14.5 Conclusions References Chapter 15: Teaching of Argumentative Writing in Romance Languages: A Meta-Analysis 15.1 Introduction 15.2 Purpose of the Study 15.3 Method 15.3.1 Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria 15.3.2 Search Procedure 15.3.3 Coding of Study Features 15.3.4 Calculation of Effect Sizes and Statistical Analyses 15.4 Results 15.4.1 Treatments 15.4.2 Quality Scores 15.4.3 Effect Sizes 15.4.4 Text Structure 15.4.5 Strategy Instruction 15.4.6 Publication Bias 15.5 Discussion 15.6 Educational Implications 15.7 Limitations 15.8 Final Remarks References Chapter 16: The Chilean National Writing Plan: Rationale, Actions, and Preliminary Results 16.1 Introduction 16.1.1 Why Begin a Writing Education Policy with a Pedagogy for Motivation? 16.1.2 How Can Writing Performance Results Be Explained? 16.1.3 What Is the Relation Between Writing Motivation and Writing Performance? 16.1.4 What Causes Writing Motivation to Decrease Across Grade Levels? 16.1.5 What Is the Role of Teachers in Students’ Writing Motivation and What Do We Know About Chilean Teachers’ Conceptions and Performance in Writing? 16.1.6 How Can Writing Motivation Be Fostered in the Classroom? 16.2 The Hypotheses 16.2.1 The Chilean National Writing Plan: A Recollection of the Actions Implemented Between 2019 and 2021 16.2.2 Preliminary Results of the Chilean National Writing Plan 16.3 Final Remarks References Untitled Chapter 17: Effects of Research-Based Teacher Training on Writing Instruction Practices 17.1 Introduction 17.2 Theoretical Framework 17.2.1 Effective Writing Instruction Practices 17.2.2 Changing Teacher Practices 17.2.3 Training Teachers in Research and by Doing Research 17.3 Method 17.3.1 Participants 17.3.2 Training Teachers in Effective Practices for Teaching Writing 17.3.3 Data Collection and Analysis 17.4 Findings 17.4.1 Participants’ Practices Before the Training 17.4.2 Four Effective Practices Being Implemented by All Participants After the Training: Rewriting, Scaffolding, Feedback, and Attention to the Writer 17.4.3 Two Important but Complex Transformations: Peer Evaluation and the Elicitation of Metacognition 17.4.4 Rigid or Adaptive Use of the Instructional Program for Students 17.4.5 Research as a Stimulus and Awareness 17.4.6 Teachers as Knowledge Ambassadors and Resources in Their Schools 17.5 Discussion and Conclusion 17.6 Final Remarks References Chapter 18: Writing to Understand and Being Understood: Basic Design Principles for Writing Instruction 18.1 Introduction 18.1.1 Understanding and Being Understood 18.1.2 Professional Development Trajectory 18.2 Instructional Design: Three Phases of Increasing Complexity 18.2.1 Phase 1: The Simple Theory of Writing Education: Write, Read, and Communicate 18.2.2 Phase 2: Writing Processes: Procedural Knowledge in Action 18.2.3 Phase 3: Adapting to Differences: Conditional Knowledge in Action 18.3 Instructional Designs: Examples from Practices 18.3.1 Design Phase 1: Margarita and Joanna 18.3.1.1 Comparative Analysis 18.3.1.2 Critical Analysis of Margarita’s and Joanna’s Designs 18.3.2 Design Phase 2: Anouk and Edith 18.3.2.1 Comparative Analysis 18.3.2.2 Critical Analysis 18.3.3 Design Phase 3: Liselore and Lieke 18.3.3.1 Comparative Analysis 18.3.3.2 Critical Analysis 18.4 Final Remarks 18.4.1 Understanding and Being Understood 18.4.2 The Concept of Design Phases References Index