Mother-Child Joint Writing as a Learning Activity

Abstract

We discuss a model of three contextual layers relating to early literacy development. These layers assessed mothers’ beliefs and the nature of their actual literacy interactions with their children. The layers (from the farthest to the nearest) are: mothers’ general pedagogical beliefs regarding literacy, mothers’ specific estimation of their children’s early literacy, and the nature of the actual mother-child writing interactions. We tease apart the relative contribution of these layers in predicting early literacy. In general, mothers value literacy knowledge and literacy activities at home and these pedagogical beliefs predicted children’s literacy. The mothers’ estimation of their children’s literacy contributed to all literacy skills beyond the contribution of mothers’ pedagogical beliefs. The mothers varied widely in the nature of their writing guidance. Writing mediation measures correlated significantly with the children’s early literacy skills and predicted the children’s literacy after controlling for the mothers’ pedagogical beliefs and estimation of the children’s literacy. We discuss the merits of writing interactions in light of the increasing significance attributed to early literacy.

Appendix

Please read each sentence and rate your agreement level on a 5-points scale from (1) disagree completely to (5) agree completely.

1. It is good for kindergartners to identify the letters of the alphabet (e.g., can recognize the letter B in a word, such as ‘baby’)	1	2	3	4	5
2. Parents should direct their children’s attention to the sounds in the language (e.g., note that the words ‘bag’ and ‘book’ start with the same sound)	1	2	3	4	5
3. There is no need to engage in writing activities with kindergarten children	1	2	3	4	5
4. Kindergartners can succeed in separating a word into its sounds (e.g., the word ‘bag’ is composed of /b/ /a/ /g/)	1	2	3	4	5
5. When kindergartners write words with their parents, parents should encourage correct writing (e.g., that the child should write all the letters that should appear in the word without omitting any)	1	2	3	4	5
6. There is no point in parents saying the names of letters to their children or asking them to say the letter names (e.g., “here is the letter A” or “which letter is this?”)	1	2	3	4	5
7. Kindergarten children should already be able to identify the opening sound in a word (e.g., ‘rock’ starts with /r/)	1	2	3	4	5
8. When a child asks the parent to write something, the parent can teach the child about the letters and how to write them	1	2	3	4	5
9. Kindergartners do not need to be able to identify the letters of the alphabet	1	2	3	4	5
10. Parents should engage with their kindergartners in writing activities (e.g., writing a birthday invitation)	1	2	3	4	5
11. Kindergarten children do not yet need to recognize the names of the letters in their name	1	2	3	4	5
12. It is hard for kindergarten children to say the sounds that comprise the name of a friend (e.g., the name TOM is comprised of /T/ /O/ /M/)	1	2	3	4	5
13. During joint writing, parents should not correct their children (e.g., erasing or adding a letter)	1	2	3	4	5
14. Kindergarten children should know how to write the names of their family members	1	2	3	4	5
15. It is not recommended that parents separate words into their component sounds for their children (e.g., ‘black’: /bl/ /a/ /ck/)	1	2	3	4	5
16. During joint writing, parents should let their children act independently while the parent monitor the children’s activities	1	2	3	4	5
17. It is important that kindergarten children should know how to name letters (e.g., when they see a B, they should be able to say ‘bee’)	1	2	3	4	5
18. Parents should engage their children in activities of letter identification and naming to help the children advance	1	2	3	4	5
19. Kindergarten children do not need to recognize that two words begin with the same letter (e.g., book and bake)	1	2	3	4	5
20. Kindergarten children do not need to know how to write words	1	2	3	4	5