By Dominic Wyse and Charlotte Hacking
Original article: LINK
This paper introduces a new theory and model for teaching writing and reading.
The topic of how young children should be taught to write and read has long been a subject of extensive research, media attention, and educational policy focus worldwide. While there’s some agreement on the important elements for learning to write, there’s less agreement on how best to teach these elements [LINK and LINK]. Existing models often explain how children might learn to write but don’t always provide clear guidance on teaching methods [see LINK and LINK for more].
The Simple View of Writing suggests that effective teaching must address multiple components of writing, including transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (ideas and organisation). Another writing model, developed by Hayes in 2006, includes not only the cognitive aspects of writing but also the social environment and the writer’s motivation.
While these models highlight important aspects of learning to write, they have limitations for teaching. For example, some models wrongly assume that reading and writing are unrelated (though not the Interactive Dynamic Literacy Model!).
The historical focus on teaching reading over writing might be why their interconnections have too often been overlooked [LINK for more details on how writing and reading connect in the classroom].
The double helix of reading and writing: Key concepts explained
The Double Helix Model emphasises how, when we are teaching phonics, reading or writing, we can always be making connections. These connections help children understand how writing and reading support each other, enhancing their learning experiences as a result. For example:
Children’s experiences outside of education systems
Babies first encounter language through sounds, often from their parents and caregivers. These early sound interactions eventually help children understand speech. Later, they realise that these sounds can be turned into written language. At the same time, children are interacting with objects in their environment and begin making marks with tools. These marks begin to carry meaning – meanings that are to be shared with others [LINK, LINK and LINK for more].
Language and languages
Learning to write and read is closely tied to oral language [LINK]. Many children speak more than one language or are exposed to multiple languages in their communities. This multilingual exposure can be beneficial. The growing number of multilingual children in schools emphasises the importance of acknowledging children’s language skills in the writing classroom [see our book A Teacher’s Guide To Writing With Multilingual Children for more details].
Meaning and composition
The primary purpose of writing is to make and share meaning with ourselves and others. Influential models assert that without composition (children making/composing/authoring texts) writing isn’t occurring [LINK].
Making and sharing meaning is at the heart of both writing and reading. Understanding and teaching the processes involved in creating and interpreting meaning are crucial to children’s literacy development.
Writing and reading as connected processes
The teaching of reading continues to receive more attention than the teaching of writing in research, policy, and media. However, recent evidence has shown that teaching writing can improve children’s reading and vice versa. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses have provided strong evidence for this connection. For more details, see LINK and LINK.
Increasing students’ interactions with texts in the writing classroom – whether by reading, analysing, or observing – boosts both their reading and writing abilities. This interconnected approach suggests that inviting children to write about their reading in reading lessons and having children read and discuss a variety of high-quality mentor texts in the writing classroom can lead to better literacy outcomes for all students. For more on reading in the writing classroom, click here.
Phonological awareness, morphemic awareness, and learning about the alphabetic code
Learning to encode: Young children start learning to write conventionally by understanding how sounds (phonemes) can be represented as letters on the page. This process, known as encoding, begins with recognising the sounds in spoken language. For more on teaching children how to encode, see our book Getting Children Up & Running As Writers.
Contextualised phonics teaching: With encoding in mind, effective phonics instruction should always be looking to make connections with writing, rather than just being taught in isolation. Research shows that making connections between phonics and writing can bring about many reading and writing benefits (LINK and LINK).
Complexity of English orthography: However, English spelling is complex. After children grasp basic phoneme-to-letter relationships, spelling instruction should also focus on orthography and morphology (see LINK and LINK for more on this).
Social and cultural contexts
You’ll notice the top and bottom sections of the model represent the child’s language and environment(s). On how this influences the writing classroom, consider reading our Writing Realities framework.
Central role of motivation and meaning
The central part of the model highlights the importance of motivation, meaning, comprehension, and composition. This central focus drives development in all other areas. Effective teaching recognises that children need to be motivated to write. For more on motivating young writers, see our book Writing For Pleasure: Theory, Research & Practice.
Organic learning
Finally, the model’s design, inspired by the double helix of DNA, symbolises the living nature of learning to write. Wyse & Hacking remind us all that literacy development involves the cognitive, emotive, linguistic and the social. The child and their literacy environment are made central to their model. They highlight the importance of motivation, curiosity and wanting to make and share meanings with, and for, others.
Finally, let’s not forget that children bring a whole suitcase full of knowledge and experiences to our writing classrooms, all of which can profitably shape their reading and writing journey. This is a beautiful thing.
