The writing development of six grade one students : a journey to literacy
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Date
1998
Authors
Chruscinski, Theresa
University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Education
Journal Title
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Abstract
The main purpose of this seven-month study was to focus on the writing development
of six Grade 1 children. The children, ranging in age from five to seven year, were tracked
over a seven-month period, beginning in September and running through to the second
reporting period at the end of March. Their abilities ranged from "struggling" to "strong".
Through a case study approach, data was gathered in the form of writing samples,
observations and informal interviews. Writing samples were taken from journals, self-chosen stories, stories done at home and brought to school for show and share time messages, entries in a concern book, and some pattern writing activities. Writing instruction followed a curriculum as outlined by Alberta Edcation. Interviews were typically short conversations, which were mostly student-initiated. Teacher-initiated conversations are identified in the data analysis section of the paper. The data was subjected to a search for patterns. Drawing and the autobiographical nature of students' stories in the early stages were common threads. For the most part, however, no significant patterns were found. Each child appeared to be dealing with his or her understanding of written language in different ways at different times throughout the study. No common sequential pattern of development was found. Other stages of writing development, which appeared somewhat sequential, were not static or fixed and
there was considerable overlap between the stages. In fact, some of the children were found to be experimenting with several ideas from different stages of writing development as would be outlined typically in the curriculum. Each child's progress was seen to be unique. There were no similar spelling behaviors exhibited at nay one time, and punctuation was dealt with differently by each child. Story development, too, was unique to each child and his/her experience.
Description
vii, 77 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm
Keywords
Children -- Writing , Children -- Writing -- Case studies , Literacy , Creative writing (Primary education) , Children -- Language -- Case studies , Writing -- Evaluation