Improving 3–6-year-old children's emergent writing abilities in China's border regions: A study of teachers’ emergent writing cognition and instructional support

Abstract

Preschool teachers’ pedagogical cognition and instructional support of emergent writing significantly shape the development of children's emergent writing abilities. In the linguistically complex border regions of China, where 3–6-year-old children often lack familial cultural capital, preschool teachers’ emergent writing cognition and instructional support play an even more critical role in shaping children's emergent writing abilities development. This study examined children's emergent writing abilities and teachers’ emergent writing cognition and instructional support through standardized assessments and questionnaires, involving 250 children (aged 3–6 years) from 55 classrooms and 110 preschool teachers in China's border regions. The study identified three distinct profiles of preschool teachers’ emergent writing cognition and instructional support: (1) cognitively underdeveloped class; (2) cognition-preceded support class; and (3) moderately balanced class. Children's emergent writing abilities showed significant positive correlations with both teachers’ emergent writing cognition and instructional support. Notably, the association between preschool teachers’ emergent writing cognition and children's emergent writing outcomes was stronger than that between emergent writing support and children's emergent writing. Preschool teachers in China's border regions should establish scientifically grounded conceptions of emergent writing, increase research-based instructional support, and effectively translate pedagogical knowledge into supportive behaviors to achieve cognition–support alignment, thereby promoting children's emergent writing abilities.