by Young-Suk Grace Kim and Steve Graham
Original article: LINK
When we talk about developing children’s writing, it’s not just about teaching them how to transcribe words onto paper. There are different parts to it, like how much they know (and care) about their writing topic, how to organise their ideas, and how fluent their handwriting is.
When researchers look at how young people write, they find that some skills are really important for making their writing really good. For example:
- Being able to understand things deeply
- Seeing things from different readers’ perspectives
- Knowing lots of words so you can say exactly what you mean
- Checking over your manuscript to make sure it makes sense
You’ll notice that these skills also overlap into the reading classroom.
So, what does this mean for teachers? It means we need to pay attention to all these different aspects of writing when we’re teaching it. We need to make sure our writing and reading approaches improve these skills because they go hand in hand.
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When we write something, it’s not just about putting words on paper. It’s a whole process that involves coming up with ideas, expressing them verbally, putting them into writing, and then going back to fix or otherwise improve what we’ve written. This process uses a bunch of different skills and knowledges, and is influenced by our environment and the people we’re interacting with.
Some researchers came up with a model called the Direct and Indirect Effects Model of Writing to explain all these different things that play a part in writing. They say that there are specific skills and knowledges that contribute to each step of the writing process and how well we write overall. You can read more about this in our book The Science Of Teaching Primary Writing.
In this particular study, the researchers wanted to expand on their model by adding in some new ideas. They’re looking at how reading skills affect children’s writing. They tested these ideas with data taken from 7-8 year old students.
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Reading is crucial to children writing well. When they revise their writing or use source materials, reading naturally comes into play. If they’re revising their own manuscripts, they need to fully understand it to make meaningful changes.
Research shows that reading and writing share many of the same skills. For example, both require understanding how language works, knowing about different topics, and being able to use knowledge effectively. So, including reading as a part of the writing process makes sense.
In this study, they looked at how reading skills relate to different aspects of writing, like quality and quantity. They found that as students develop their reading skills, they become better at understanding and using language, which in turn helps them write better.
Overall, the relationship between reading and writing is dynamic and changes as students develop. At first, reading comprehension is closely tied to foundational reading skills like word recognition. But as students progress, their reading comprehension becomes more independent of these skills and relies more on understanding language and thinking deeply about what they’ve read. This deeper understanding of reading then helps when it comes time to write.
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The study found that reading comprehension plays a significant role in writing quality, aligning with previous research highlighting the importance of strong reading skills for effective writing. Oral language and handwriting fluency also had substantial impacts on writing quantity and quality. The study certainly underscores the multifaceted nature of writing and the diverse set of skills children need.
The study highlighted the interconnectedness of reading and writing, suggesting that improving children’s reading comprehension may also have positive effects on writing quality.
- Children’s abilities to infer and take the perspective of their readers is particularly important if we want children to write with real quality.
- Developing children’s transcriptional and compositional skills has significant effects on the quality of their writing, indicating a need to interconnect children’s development in both.
In summary, this research highlights the need for a comprehensive understanding of the various skills and processes involved in helping children write.