Abstracts
Abstract
This article reports on the results of a literature review addressing the research questions: What strategies for writing instruction have proven to be effective in promoting writing development in preschool-primary aged children? What research on writing instruction has been conducted within Canada on preschool-primary aged children? An examination of Canadian research reveals a significant lack of studies in the area of preschool-primary writing instruction. Theories of writing pedagogy are situated within a framework of six discourses: skills, creativity, process, genre, social practices, and sociopolitical. While the Canadian research represented all discourses, it was lacking in number and did not yet address such important areas as the literacy achievement gaps between urban / rural and Aboriginal / non-Aboriginal students.
Résumé
Cet article résume les résultats d’une revue des écrits portant sur les questions suivantes : Dans le domaine de l’enseignement de l’écriture, quelles stratégies se sont avérées efficaces pour développer les habiletés en écriture des élèves de niveaux préscolaire et primaire ? Quelles recherches portant sur l’enseignement de l’écriture ont été réalisées auprès des enfants d’âge préscolaire et primaire ? La recension des recherches canadiennes démontre que peu de projets de recherche portent sur l’enseignement de l’écriture au préscolaire-primaire. Les courants pédagogiques en enseignement de l’écriture se retrouvent au sein des six axes suivants : habiletés, créativité, processus, genre, pratiques sociales et sociopolitique. Bien que les recherches réalisées au Canada représentent tous les axes, elles étaient peu nombreuses. De plus, des problématiques importantes comme le fossé existant entre les communautés urbaines / rurales et les élèves d’origine autochtone / non-autochtones en terme de réussite scolaire ne sont pas explorées.
Download the article in PDF to read it.
Download
Appendices
Biographical note
Denise Hudspith Heppner is a doctoral candidate in the Ph.D. program in the department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, at the University of Toronto. She currently teaches courses online for the Post Degree Special Education Certificate at the University of Saskatchewan.
Bibliography
- Adkins, M. H., & Gavins, M. V. (2012). Self-regulated strategy development and generalization instruction: Effects on story writing and personal narratives among students with severe emotional and behavioral disorders. Exceptionality, 20(4), 235-249.
- Alberta Education. (2008). First Nations, Metis and Inuit education policy framework, progress report. Edmonton, AB: Author. Retrieved from https://open.alberta.ca/publications/2895375
- Anderson, J., Anderson A., Friedrich, N., & Kim, J. E. (2010). Taking stock of family literacy: Some contemporary perspectives. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 10(1), 33-53.
- Berninger, V. W., Vaughan, K., Abbott, R. D., Begay, K., Coleman, K., Curtin, G. … Graham, S. (2002). Teaching spelling and composition alone and together: Implications for the simple view of writing. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(2), 291-304.
- Bintz, W. P., & Dillard, J. (2004). Seeing writing instruction differently: Lessons with lasting impressions. Language Arts, 82(2), 110-119.
- Britsch, S. J. (2005). ‘But what did they learn?’ Clearing third spaces in virtual dialogues with children. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 5(2), 99-130.
- Brown, T. (2005). Beyond constructivism: Exploring future learning paradigms. Education Today, 2. Retrieved from http://www.bucks.edu/media/bcccmedialibrary/documents/academics/facultywebresources/Beyond_constructivism.pdf
- Campbell, R. (1994). Teaching writing: Syntax and grammar in the first year of school. Learning and Instruction, 3(4), 251-268.
- Canadian Council on Learning. (2006). Lessons in learning: The rural-urban gap in education. Ottawa, ON: Report on Learning in Canada. Retrieved from http://www.ccl-cca.ca/pdfs/LessonsInLearning/10-03_01_06E.pdf
- Castagno, A., & Brayboy, B. M. J. (2008). Culturally responsive schooling for Indigenous youth: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 78(4), 941-993.
- Chase, M. (2012). Revision process and practice: A kindergarten experience. Language Arts, 89(3), 166-178.
- Cutler, L., & Graham, S. (2008). Primary grade writing instruction: A national survey. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100(4), 907-919.
- Dix, S., & Amoore, L. (2010). Becoming curious about cats: A collaborative writing project. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 33(2), 134-150.
- Dunn, M. W. (2011). Ask, reflect, text: Illustrating story plans with art. Journal of Research on Childhood Education, 25(4), 376-389.
- Dyson, A. H. (2008). The pine cone wars: Studying writing in a community of children. Language Arts, 85(4), 305-315.
- Flower, L., & Hayes, J. R. (1981). A cognitive process theory of writing. College Composition and Communication, 32(4), 365-387.
- Frank, C. R. (2001). “What new things these words can do for you”: A focus on one writing-project teacher and writing instruction. Journal of Literacy Research, 33(3), 467-506.
- Genishi, C., Stires, S. E., & Yung-Chan, D. (2001). Writing in an integrated curriculum: Prekindergarten English language learners as symbol makers. The Elementary School Journal, 101(4), 399-416.
- Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (2005). Improving the writing performance of young struggling writers: Theoretical and programmatic research from the center on accelerating student learning. The Journal of Special Education, 39(1), 19-33.
- Graham, S., Harris, K. R., & Mason, L. (2005). Improving the writing performance, knowledge, and self-efficacy of struggling young writers: The effects of self-regulated strategy development. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 30(2), 207-241.
- Graham, S., MacArthur, C. A., & Fitzgerald, J. (2007). Best practices in writing instruction. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
- Graves, D. (2004). What I’ve learned from teachers of writing. Language Arts, 82(2), 88-94.
- Gunderson, L., & Shapiro, J. (1988). Whole language instruction: Writing in 1st grade. The Reading Teacher, 41(4), 430-437.
- Hansen, J. A. (2007). First grade writers revisit their work. YC Young Children, 62(1), 28-33.
- Hare, J. (2012). ‘They tell a story and there’s meaning behind that story’: Indigenous knowledge and young indigenous children’s literacy learning. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 12(4), 389-414.
- Harris, K. R., Lane, K. L., Driscoll, S. A., Graham S., Wilson, K., Sandmel, K. … Schatschneider, C. (2012). Tier 1, teacher-implemented self-regulated strategy development for students with and without behavioral challenges. The Elementary School Journal, 113(2), 160-191.
- Heffernan, L., Lewison, M., Tuyay, S., Yeager, B., & Green, J. (2005). What’s lunch got to do with it? Critical literacy and the discourse of the lunchroom. Language Arts, 83(2), 107-117.
- Heskial, J., & Wamba, N.G. (2013). Lifting kindergarteners’ writing to meet the common core learning standards: A collaborative inquiry. Canadian Journal of Action Research, 14(2), 51-64.
- Hibbert, K. M., Scheffel, T., Rich S., & Heydon, R. (2013). Orchestrating expertise in reading and writing. Education 3-13, 41(2), 125-137.
- Ivanic, R. (2004). Discourses of writing and learning to write. Language and Education, 18(3), 220-245.
- Juliebo, M. F., & Edwards, J. M. (1988). The effect of topic choice on narrative writing, grades 1- 6. Canadian Journal of Education, 13(3), 437-440.
- Kendrick, M., & McKay, R. (2004). Drawings as an alternative way of understanding young children’s constructions of literacy. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 4(1), 109-128.
- Kovach, M. (2009). Indigenous methodologies: Characteristics, conversations, and contexts. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
- Lotherington, H. (2005). Writing postmodern fairy tales at Main Street School: Digital narratives and evolving transliteracies. McGill Journal of Education, 40(1), 109-119.
- Lotherington, H., & Chow, S. (2006). Rewriting “Goldilocks” in the urban, multicultural elementary school. The Reading Teacher, 60(3), 242-252.
- Luke, A., & Elkins, J. (1998). Reinventing literacy in ‘new times.’ Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 42(1), 4-8.
- Lynch, J. (2010). Kindergarten teachers’ beliefs about students’ knowledge of print literacy and parental involvement in children’s print literacy development. The Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 56(2), 157-171.
- McCloskey, E. (2012). Conversations about jail: Inclusive settings for critical literacy. Early Childhood Education Journal, 40(6) 369-377.
- McKee, L. L., & Heydon, R. M. (2014). Orchestrating literacies: Print literacy learning opportunities within multimodal intergenerational ensembles. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 15(2), 1-29.
- McQuitty, V. (2012). Emerging possibilities: A complex account of learning to teach writing. Research in the Teaching of English, 46(4), 358-389.
- National Commission on Writing in America’s Schools & Colleges. (2003). The neglected ‘R’: The need for a writing revolution. New York, NY: College Entrance Examination Board. Retrieved from http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/writingcom/neglectedr.pdf
- National Council of Teachers of English. (2008). Writing now: A policy brief. Council Chronicle, 18(1), 15-22.
- Newkirk, T. (2000). Misreading masculinity: Speculations on the great gender gap in writing. Language Arts, 77(4), 294-300.
- Nystrand, M. (1982). Rhetoric’s audience and linguistics speech community: Implications for understanding writing, reading, and text. In M. Nystrand (Ed.), What writers know: The language, process, and structure of written discourse (pp. 1-28). New York, NY: Academic Press.
- Nystrand, M. (2006). The social and historical context for writing research. In C. A. MacArthur, S. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of writing research (pp. 11-27). New York, NY: The Guildford Press.
- OECD Directorate for Education. (2004). Early childhood education and care policy: Canada country note. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/canada/33850725.pdf
- Pantaleo, S. (2010). Developing narrative competence through reading and writing metafictive texts. Literacy Research and Instruction, 49(3), 264-281.
- Peterson, S. S. (2008). Writing across the curriculum: All teachers teach writing. Winnipeg, MB: Portage & Main Press.
- Peterson, S. S. (2012). An analysis of discourses of writing and writing instruction in curricula across Canada. Curriculum Inquiry, 42(2), 260-284.
- Peterson, S. S., & McClay, J. (2014). A national study of teaching and assessing writing in Canadian middle grades classrooms. McGill Journal of Education, 49(1), 17-39.
- Peterson, S. S., & Portier, C. (2013). Teacher feedback and student writing revision in a grade 2 classroom. Ohio Reading Teacher, 43(1), 29-40.
- Peterson, S. S., & Portier, C. (2014). Grade one peer and teacher feedback on student writing. Education 3-13, 42(3), 237-257.
- Peterson, S. S., McClay, J., & Main, K. (2010). Teaching writing in Canadian middle-grades classrooms: A national study. Middle Grades Research Journal, 5(2), 77-90.
- Prior, P. (2006). A sociocultural theory of writing. In C. A. MacArthur, S. Graham, & J. Fitzgerald (Eds.), Handbook of writing research (pp. 54-66). New York, NY: The Guildford Press.
- Saint-Laurent, L., & Giasson, J. (2005). Effects of a family literacy program adapting parental intervention to first graders’ evolution of reading and writing abilities. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 5(3), 253-278.
- Statistics Canada. (2013). Structure and change in Canada’s rural demography: An update to 2006. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/21-006-x/21-006-x2007007-eng.htm
- Taylor, L. K., Bernhard, J. K., Garg, S., & Cummins, J. (2008). Affirming plural belonging: Building on students’ family-based cultural and linguistic capital through multiliteracies pedagogy. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 8(3). 269-294.
- Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Wolf, S. A. (2004). Interpreting literature with children. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
10.7202/1025770arAppendices
Note biographique
Denise Hudspith Heppner est doctorante au department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning de l’Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, à la University of Toronto. Elle enseigne actuellement des cours en ligne dans le cadre du certificat Post Degree Special Education offert par la University of Saskatchewan.