In their Own Words: Children's Perceptions of Learning to Write

Abstract

Research into children's writing has concentrated more on the development of competence than on children's conscious understanding about the process of learning to write. However, teachers need information about children's understanding in order to establish a foundation for new learning. For this reason the research reported here is based on interviews with school beginners about their perceptions of learning to write. The children's responses, drawing on home and school experiences, reveal their developing concepts about the nature of writing and the strategies they use when learning to write. The study showed variation in metacognitive and metalinguistic awareness, and a high degree of concurrence between the children's responses and syllabus recommendations on teaching/learning strategies for writing. Some useful teaching/learning strategies for writing instruction in the first year of school are discussed.