Writing experiences in early childhood classrooms where children made higher language gains

Abstract

Although early writing is considered an essential pathway to language and literacy development for preschool-age children (i.e., 3- to 5-years-old), it tends to receive less priority when compared to reading in early childhood (EC) education. To bolster teachers’ early writing practices, researchers have closely examined the nature of the writing instruction and experiences that occur in EC classrooms. In this multiple methods study, we capitalized on a purposeful sample of 30 classrooms where children demonstrated higher language gains to examine and describe how early writing experiences were implemented in these contexts. Using deductive and inductive approaches, we explored various characteristics of writing events that occurred, including the grouping format, activity setting, instructional foci, and teachers’ supportive strategies to understand how these characteristics worked together to shape teacher-child writing interactions. We found that the written product and instructional foci were linked to teachers’ use of specific strategies, which ultimately shaped children’s participation in writing, particularly children’s engagement with different components of writing (i.e., handwriting, spelling, and composing). Findings of this study provide important insight into the dynamic interplay of environmental, instructional, and interactional factors that shape writing instruction and experiences in EC classrooms.