One persistent belief in writing education is that if children are allowed to write with errors – whether in spelling or punctuation – they will form bad habits that are difficult to break later. As a result, some teachers may feel compelled to restrict opportunities for children to write independently, or else correct every single mistake as soon as it appears. This is called the ‘earning your right to write’ orientation towards writing teaching (Young & Ferguson 2021). However, contemporary research strongly challenges this notion. The reality is that writing exists on a continuum of proficiency. Errors play a crucial role in learning but not in habit formation.
In this article, we will unpack the research that debunks this common edu-myth and explore why allowing space for children to write independently can actually strengthen their writing skills over time.
Writing development exists on a continuum of proficiency
Students do not simply succeed or fail at writing. Rather, they progress through various levels of proficiency, continually expanding their ability to express ideas with precision, originality, flair and coherence (see Visualising The Science Of Writing: The Writing Map Explained for more details).
Informed spellings support children’s reading and writing
Children’s writing abilities develop in stages, from emergent scribbles to phonetic spelling, and eventually to conventional forms. This staged progression is well-documented in the work of Gentry (2004), who outlined five developmental stages of spelling: precommunicative, semiphonetic, phonetic, transitional, and conventional. Errors at each stage reflect the child’s current understanding of the language system and should be seen as milestones of growth rather than signs of ingrained bad habits.
Research has consistently shown that using ‘informed spelling’ — where children approximate the spelling of words based on their phonological knowledge — actually enhances children’s reading and writing development. Ouellette & Sénéchal (2008) found that children who used informed spelling significantly improved their later reading and conventional spelling skills. Far from cementing errors, this process promotes deeper engagement with phoneme-grapheme relationships and encourages phonological awareness, which is foundational for proficient reading and writing (again, see Visualising The Science Of Writing: The Writing Map Explained for more details).
Punctuation errors are part of writing growth
Just as spelling errors are developmental, so too are punctuation errors. Myhill (2012) emphasises that punctuation is not an isolated skill but is learned contextually as children continue to understand its communicative purpose. Early punctuation errors — such as missing full stops, inconsistent capitalisation, or ‘creative’ use of commas — are common, particularly in children’s early drafts or in their less formal writing. These errors disappear with explicit writing teaching, increased writing experiences and exposure to written language conventions through reading (again, see Visualising The Science Of Writing: The Writing Map Explained for more details).
Research by Dockrell et al. (2015) shows that punctuation accuracy improves over time with instruction. Early errors do not form rigid habits; they are part of the trial-and-error process that builds mastery.
The risks of over-correction
Avoid overcorrection that disrupts fluency, overly rigid marking, or error fixation during drafting stages. Over-emphasising accuracy too early in a children’s writing process can be counterproductive. Myhill et al. (2013) and Young & Ferguson (2021) argue that focusing on correctness from the outset of a child’s writing process can undermine student confidence, reduce their willingness to take creative risks, and result in children writing the bare minimum to get by. Essentially, children learn that it is better to draft error-free writing than to craft good writing. As a result, children miss out on opportunities to develop their writing fluency – so fundamental to their future writing success. Constant correction and limiting children’s opportunities to write independently inhibits children’s attempts to build fluency and stamina (again, see Visualising The Science Of Writing: The Writing Map Explained for more details).
Writing habits are flexible, not fixed
The notion that early errors become permanently ingrained is not supported by the evidence. Ehri’s (1997) research on orthographic learning shows that children’s spelling patterns evolve as they build automaticity with word forms. Writing habits are malleable and responsive to effective instruction, feedback, and exposure to meaningful reading and writing experiences. The key is not to eliminate errors prematurely but to continually guide students toward conventional forms over time.
Conclusion
Teachers should feel confident in allowing children opportunities to write independently, knowing that early errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation are not indicators of long-term bad habits. These errors are actually valuable windows into what a child can actually do when writing on their own and offer teachers valuable opportunities for targeted and responsive teaching.
Top tips
- Just as we provide children with opportunities to read independently, it is advantageous to offer children some opportunities to write independently too – safe in the knowledge that children won’t develop bad habits (see our book A Guide To Personal Writing Projects for more details).
- Explicitly teach children how to proof-read (see our book No More: My Class Can’t Edit for more details).
- Provide daily verbal feedback during the proof-reading stage. Provide general written feedback once children have proof-read for themselves. Give children a proof-reading session to attend to your written feedback (see our book No More: My Class Can’t Edit for more details).
- Explicitly teach phonics, encoding strategies, and spelling lessons (see our Spelling Provision Checklist for more details).
- Encourage children to write ‘informed spellings’ when drafting (see this article for more details).
- Develop children’s writing fluency as a matter of priority (see this article for more details).
- Teach children about the functional purpose of punctuation marks and sentence types (see our book Grammar Mini-Lessons For 3-11 Year Olds and our Sentence-Level Curriculum for more details).
References
- Dockrell, J. E., Connelly, V., Walter, K., & Critten, S. (2015). Predicting the quality of composition and written language bursts from oral language, spelling, and handwriting skills in children with and without specific language impairment. Written Communication, 32(3), 306–329. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088315591315
Highlights how punctuation and writing accuracy develop over time with instruction, even for students with language difficulties
- Ehri, L. C. (1997). Learning to read and learning to spell are one and the same, almost. In C. A. Perfetti, L. Rieben, & M. Fayol (Eds.), Learning to spell: Research, theory, and practice across languages (pp. 237–269). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Demonstrates that spelling habits are flexible and evolve as children develop automaticity with written words.
- Gentry, J. R. (1982). An analysis of developmental spelling in GNYS AT WRK. The Reading Teacher, 36(2), 192–200.
Introduces the developmental stages of spelling, showing that errors reflect stages of development rather than bad habits.
- Myhill, D. (2012). The ordeal of deliberate choice: Metalinguistic development in secondary writers. In V. Berninger (Ed.), Past, present, and future contributions of cognitive writing research to cognitive psychology (pp. 247–274). Psychology Press.
Emphasises that punctuation is learnt contextually and improves over time in the context of explicit instruction and meaningful writing experiences.
- Myhill, D., Jones, S., & Watson, A. (2013). Grammar matters: How teachers’ grammatical knowledge impacts on the teaching of writing. Teaching and Teacher Education, 36, 77–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2013.07.005
Warns against overcorrecting and shows that an excessive focus on accuracy at the wrong time in a child’s writing process can undermine their confidence and risk-taking.
- Ouellette, G., & Sénéchal, M. (2008). Pathways to literacy: A study of invented spelling and its role in learning to read. Child Development, 79(4), 899–913. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01166
Finds that using ‘informed spellings’ actually supports children’s reading and spelling development, rather than harming it.
- Young, R., Ferguson, F. (2021). Writing for pleasure: Theory, research & practice London: Routledge
Outlines the ‘earning your right to write’ myth and advocates for a centralist approach to writing development. Suggests that transcriptional accuracy should be held in the highest regard – so much so that it ought to be explicitly taught through handwriting, spelling, and proofreading lessons.