Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background
This chapter provides the quality of students’ writing instruction in kindergarten has a significant effect on their future writing ability during the elementary years. To become active writers during the elementary years and beyond, children need a strong literacy foundation during their early childhood years (Kissel, 2008). For many years, researchers have paid much attention to early reading development, while giving limited attention to early writing development (Clay et al., 2001), (Dobson, 1988) (Fayol, 1992). The ability to write during the early childhood years can be a difficult and challenging task (Lienemann et al., 2006).
In the early childhood classroom, teachers ask students to write, and teachers tell students that writing is most natural when writing about personal experiences. Most children at this level have little or no experience in writing and have limited life experiences from which to choose a writing topic. There has been much research on the importance of the emergent writing stage for children, and the growth of writing development children undergo as emergent writers (Calkins, 2003), (Freeman et al., 1989), (McGee., 1997), (Morrow et al., 1993), (Bus et al., 2001).
The study examined individual student writing conferences and other writing instruction strategies used at the emergent level. The researcher has found minimal research in these two areas.
In the late 2017 schools shifted from Abu Dhabi Council of Education (ADEK) to the Minister of Education (MOE) who announced a strategy plan to improve the quality of education in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Traditional beliefs about literacy learning and the heritage of oral language and memorization skills are possibly still noticeable in the teaching of literacy in the UAE. Even as recently as 2000, Toaimah reflected that children could not write until they had learned to read and had developed their fine motor skills or muscle control. (Toaimah, 2000) and (Al Nashef, 1996) recommend the importance of children’s readiness to write; Al Nashef, for example, claims that children “must be able to hold/ have a grip of the pencil, and be able to form as sequence of recognizable shapes and patterns” (Al Nashef,1996) before beginning to write.
For emergent writing children’s’ first effort is to make marks that are meaningful to them, scribbles that they only can organize the meaning of their writings. children need effective strategies to develop these skills. Teachers needs to implement strategies that are meaningful and enjoyable.
The Purpose of the Study
This research will conduct a qualitative collection case study exploring the experience of individual student writing sessions and the use of other writing instruction strategies in one kindergarten classroom through one hour daily. The study will investigate individual student writing sessions and other writing instruction strategies in one kindergarten classroom through kindergarten teacher description and researcher observation of the individual student writing session and the other writing strategies used in kindergarten classroom to motivate students to write and improve individual writing abilities.
Through one-to-one teacher –participant interviews, the researcher explores other teacher’s perception of their individual student writing and the writing strategies they use to motivate their students and to meet their student’s individual needs in writing. The researcher will conduct observations in the classrooms of each teacher participation as part of the study.
1.3 Statement of the problem
In the United Arab Emirates schools writing is a critical skill, kindergartener need teacher instructional support to improve their wiring as they likely write from right to left as in Arabic written or they write letters backwards. As An active learning foundation must build during the early years enables students to be successful in writing, if children are successful at writing and enjoy it at an early age, they will continue along the path in future school years (Routman, 2005). For kindergarten students to establish a strong foundation in writing, they must have teachers who deliver high-quality writing instruction.
Through the case study, the researcher will explore teacher’s description of their student writing based on the needs of their students and the writing strategies they will use to meet their students’ own writing needs. (see MOE outline) guided writing. High cost of providing education including, teaching children how to write, still remains a challenge(Gokulan, 2020). Another rising issue that forms a barrier to effective writing among the students, is that the current curricula is outmoded (“United Arab Emirates – Summary”, 2020).
1.4 The Research questions
This study will answer the following questions:
1.How teachers describe their student writing and the other writing strategies they implement to improve student’s writing abilities and to increase their student’s motivation to write?
2.How do teachers describe the writing habits of their students?
3.what are the strategies used to motivate students to write?
1.5 Significance of the study
Many kindergarten students enter school without the necessary language opportunities to ensure future learning success (Assel et al., 2007). Because they have missed opportunities for language development during the preschool years, these students begin school already behind their peers.
When kindergarten classroom instruction begins, a learning gap already exists for these students. If this gap is not addressed, these students will remain behind and likely struggles in upcoming grades. (emergent writing – stages of writing)
Considering the expectations placed upon students in the elementary grades as well as the importance of learning a meaningful writing ability through one’s schooling and continuing through life, a crucial need exists to provide developmentally appropriate effective instruction at early childhood level that is delivered in the form of individual conferencing.
Early childhood educators are aware of the lack of providing developmentally appropriate effective guidance and are continually in search of instructional strategies to put into practice that can help lessen the language development gap.
Kindergarten teachers continuously explore the best strategies to provide their students the opportunities to be successful in reading and writing. For kindergarten student to develop the ability to think while writing quality papers of various real-world purposes they reach the elementary years, they need teachers with a variety of strategies which provide high-quality writing instruction in a supportive environment. When young children are successful writers in their kindergarten year, they will continue their love of writing in future school years.
For this reason, early-childhood educators are always in search of instructional strategies that can help decrease the language development gap to give students an opportunity to be successful in reading and writing in their future academic years. (Clay, 1967) has agreed that children who struggle and receive early intervention or individual instruction have a better chance of catching up with their peers and achieving success through school years.
Limitations
Despite the strengths of this study, which include a relatively large sample of children, measurement of a broad array of children’s emergent writing skills, and a hypothesis-driven analytic approach, there were a number of limitations to the study worth noting. First, a small number of items were used for some tasks measuring conceptual knowledge (e.g., universal principles, concepts about writing), and perhaps the knowledge assessed was not comprehensive or representative of the knowledge possessed by young children in these two skill areas. Second, internal consistencies for the conceptual knowledge tasks were lower than desirable, most likely reflecting of the small number of items used to measure these skills. Despite these lower internal consistency estimates, however, the tasks loaded strongly on the Conceptual Knowledge factor. Expanding the number of these items will both improve the reliability of these tasks and increase the content coverage. Third, several of the younger children were unable to complete the generative knowledge tasks, resulting in floor effects on these measures for younger children. The scoring system used, however, was able to capture knowledge about early generative knowledge skills (e.g., linearity, left-to-right orientation) that children possess even when they are unable to write conventionally. The fact that the same three-factor model fit the data for younger and older children indicates that floor effects were not a major limitation. Fourth, none of the tasks directly assessed children’s letter-sound knowledge. Letter-sound knowledge was not included because preschool children are usually more knowledgeable about letter names and letter shapes than letter sounds (Levin, Shatil-Carmon, & Asif-Rave, 2006; Treiman, Kessler, & Pollo, 2006). However, inclusion of such measures is likely an important step for understanding the role of phonological processes in emergent writing. Finally, these data were cross-sectional. Consequently, although the analyses address questions of the dimensionality of emergent writing, they cannot address causal relations between these dimensions. As noted above, longitudinal studies are needed both to understand within and between domain influences and to understand the developmental significance of skills in each domain on later conventional writing skills.
Definitions of terms
Strategy – Is the referral of methods that are used to aid learners know desired course contents to enable them achieve goals in the future. (Armstrong & Armstrong, 2020)
Emergent Writing – It is the first attempt of writing process by young children, (“Promoting Preschoolers’ Emergent Writing | NAEYC”, 2020)
Emergent literacy – process in development beginning at birth, in which children get to know basics of reading and writing (Hatton, Literacy & TBE, 2020)
Implementation – Refers to process of putting plans into actions so as to accomplish strategic goals and objectives. (“Strategic Implementation”, 2020)
Development- It refers to the systematic application of both scientific and technical knowledge to achieve certain set objectives (“What comes after those ellipses?”, 2020).
Motivation – It entails the desire to act in service of a goal (“Motivation | Psychology Today”, 2020).
1.8 Summary
As writing is such an important skill required for life, building a strong foundation for it is imperative (Graham et al, 2008). When students build a strong learning foundation during early childhood years, it enables them to be successful learners later in life. Writing during these emergent years helps build students’ strong foundation in learning and enables them to be successful writers.
Chapter 2: Review of Literature
2.1Introduction
The areas of importance to the study relate to providing students quality early childhood writing instruction. As such, the researcher will review the following areas of literature: social interaction, environment, emergent writing, and writing instruction. The emergent learning topics include emergent literacy and writing development. The writing instruction topic includes emergent writing instruction, daily writing, modeling and teacher self-efficacy.
2.2 Social Interaction and Learning
(Vygotsky,1978) social constructivist theory emphasized the need for social interaction in the learning process. Children construct meaning and gain knowledge in new concept during social interaction with others (Vygotsky,1978). They begin to learn skills through exposure to those skills during social interaction. Listening to and observing others is a major part of learning new concepts. For learning to take place, instruction must occur first through social interaction before a learner internalize and individualize it (Vygotsky,1978). As children interact with each other’s new concepts, as an example, during their writing development, learning takes place and meaning is constructed.
The social interaction component regarding this particular study relates to kindergarten students interacting with an adult during individual student writing conduct by the teacher. When this particular interaction occurs, the teacher is instructing the child with his “zone proximal development” defined by (Vygotsky,1978) as “the distance between the actual developmental level and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under teacher guidance or in collaboration with peers” (Vygotsky, 1978).
While instructing students during individual student writing, the teacher provides one-to-one instruction in the area between what a learner already knows and what the learner can be taught by others (Vygotsky,1978). During individual student writing workshop, the teacher is teaching the student within learner potential area of learning and helping him move to a higher level of learning (Gentry, 2005). While one-to-one, the teacher is providing individual students that instruction needed based on their current level of performance to assist them in reaching their potential. Furthermore, when the teacher provides students with the one-to-one instruction, they are empowering their students to achieve at higher ability levels.
2.3 Environmental Influences on Literacy
Literacy development begins as young children are exposed to it through their environment and surrounding (Teale, 1988). The developmental process of listening, speaking, reading and writing all begin through everyday interaction with others and the environment. This can be very early in the life of the child. During preschool years, the necessary components of reading development in the course of everyday interaction with others and the environment. “children learn to read and write in the context of their everyday lives” (Swan, 2008).
Everyday interaction with others and the environment significantly affects the development of emergent literacy concepts during children’s preschool years. Routine home activities with an adult such as conversation, stories, and drawing activities also can expose children to literacy. A high-quality home literacy environment increases emergent literacy growth (Swan, 2008).
Emergent literacy skills of preschool children will develop quicker if they exposed to books and writing materials and if literacy is valued in the home beginning at a very young age. Because literacy development starts so early in life and depends upon exposure, many children, unfortunately, miss essential language opportunities through this critical phase of development by the time they enter kindergarten (Clements, 2007). A student who comes to kindergarten with low literacy development will have a hard time catching up to their peers in
reading development because they will continually be exposed to less text due to their lack of reading skills, their level of literacy and their home environment. This is why it is overbearing for kindergarten with low literacy teachers to implement strategies and teaching techniques to help fill this gap. For this to happen, more research is needed in the area of instructional strategies for writing at the early childhood level.
2.4Emergent Literacy
In 1966, Clay, as cited in (Ramsburg,1988), introduced the term “emergent literacy” to describe the observed behaviors of young children who cannot yet read and write but they imitate the actions of reading and writing as they interact with written materials such as books. These imitations are the beginning stages of literacy development and can occur long before schooling (Allington., et al 1996) (Griffin., et al 1999). Emergent literacy has been described as a phase in which children begin to understand that symbols carry meaning and that people communicate ideas through the use of symbols (Koenig, 1992). Children literacy development in the early years is fostered through social interaction with adults and exposure to written texts (Sulzby, 1991).
Children begin to acquire reading and writing knowledge while learning to speak and while observing others reading and writing. Some expand the term “emergent literacy” to include reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking (Cooper, 1997). Emergent literacy development is ongoing and occurs throughout everyday life and actions at home and in the community (Morrow, 1997). Emergent literacy has been described to include all the reading and writing behaviors that will eventually develop into general reading and writing (Sulzby, 1989). During the emergent literacy phase, reading and writing concepts develop because of interactions with readers and writers and through experiences of attempting to read and to write (Sulzby., et al 1991).
Emergent literacy includes the years from birth to kindergarten as children learn about the world around them through literacy experiences such as having conversations, being read to, observing labels, noticing environmental print and listening to others (May, 1998). Emergent literacy has also been explained as the behaviors young children carry out when beginning the first learning stages of reading and writing or when imitating real reading and writing while interacting with various reading and writing materials (May, 1998). When children are in the foundational learning stage of reading and writing, they imitate real reading and writing. Emergent literacy has also been described as an interactive and constructive developmental process built around meaning (Clay, 1991).
2.5Writing development
Children much younger than kindergarten age show an interest in writing and in writing resources such as crayons, markers, or pencils (Gibson, et al 1975). Before most children are two years old, they are aware that specific items, such as pencils and crayons, make marks, and they scribble on paper and other materials. Between the ages of two and four years old, most children know the difference between drawing and scribbling and begin to develop motor control (Brenneman., et al 1996). Most children by the age of three know the difference between drawing and scribbling, and they can do both. By the time most children are five, they realize that marks on paper mean something (Marie, 2001).
Children’s beginning of an understanding of letters and sounds and the connection of sounds to spoken and written words is acquired through informal adult interaction and instruction (Anbar, 1986). By kindergarten, most children realize print carries meaning and writing on paper is a way of communicating. They are now at the point where they realize spoken words can be written on paper and symbols written on paper represent the spoken words. Writing development has been described as a complicated and challenging process of symbolic illustration that develops through combinations of talking, drawing, and playing (Brindley, 2002).
Children begin experimenting with the writing process through conversations, role-playing of writing actions, and drawing pictures to tell a story or represent an event. They then start to scribble and make letter-like forms. Eventually, they progress, and their scribbles and letter-like forms develop into ordinary letters and then into random-letter strings. They are trying to communicate with others and create meaning through their emergent writing. An essential component in quality early childhood surroundings is providing activities that involve writing (Love et al., 2007).
Children in early childhood years need activities that involve writing to obtain the highest possible background in literacy. During these years, students are in the emergent phase of writing where they are developing the critical foundational skills necessary for future writing development (Kissel, 2008) Love., et al 2007).
2.6Emergent Writing Instruction-Teaching Writing
Writing is a complex skill comprised of many different smaller skills including spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation (Berninger., et al 2003). Children begin their journey of writing through scribbles that imitate writing, moving on to letter strings, and eventually writing words and sentences (Graves, 1975). The scribbles and strings of letters children write represent their attempts to express themselves through writing. They require guidance and support as they progress through the stages in the development of the writing process. Educators must guide students through these stages by nurturing, encouraging and supporting their students’ interest and individual development in the written language.
Instruction in writing at the early childhood level begins with the writing of one’s name and the names of other family members. Teachers attempt to provide effective instruction to every student based on their individual needs. A kindergarten classroom contains many students. Some students have been exposed to a significant amount of print and informal indirect instruction in reading and writing. When varying levels exist within a classroom, small group and individual instruction are the only solutions to providing students effective instruction.
Instruction in writing at the emergent level is an interactive activity in which modeling and observation are essential for development. Daily teacher modeling of writing along with regular writing opportunities are crucial in a supportive writing environment (Behymer, 2003). To construct and promote a supportive writing environment, kindergarten teachers should provide daily writing instruction along with daily opportunities for students to write. Students who participate in daily planned writing sessions will write twice as much and have twice the amount of ideas as students who only write when they want to write (Routman, 2005).
For children to make growth in writing, they must be given many writing opportunities (Mayer, 2007). Growth in writing is the goal in kindergarten, so providing many opportunities along with communicated expectations, strategy instruction, and modeling of writing must be present. Based on their study of providing more opportunities and materials for writing, (Clark., et al 2005) concluded that teacher modeling is needed for any chance of student improvement in writing performance. Besides writing opportunities and instruction, students also require an abundant amount of writing modeled by the teacher.
Teacher modeling provides the scaffolding required for students to learn within their zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978). In writing, as in all areas of learning, teachers want their students to progress to higher levels of ability and independence. When teachers provide support besides their instruction, they make it possible for children to achieve more challenging skills than they can produce independently (Bruner, 1966). This support can be in the form of conversations, modeling, and feedback related to the instruction. When learning to write, the most critical way to support children require is modeling (Bodrova., et al 2006). Observing others perform a problematic task provides the learner the first steps to understanding it. (Dyson,1985) researched how copying of text affected student development and concluded that the practice helped to improve students’ letter formation but did not affect growth in the writing process or comprehension. When kindergartners are treated as writers and expected to write from the first day, they then believe they are writers (Freeman, 2003).
2.7 Summary
In today’s world, writing is a critical skill (Graham, 2008). Success in later years is dependent upon a strong foundation being built during the early childhood years (Love., et al 2007). Being a strong writer during the emergent years supports the constructing of a well-built foundation in literacy and other areas of learning (Juel,1988). An active learning foundation in literacy built during the early childhood years leads to success later in school and life (Love., et al 2007). At the beginning of kindergarten, many students have already missed essential language opportunities during their early years, which comprise a critical stage of language development (Clements, 2007). For these reasons, kindergarten teachers must be well informed of strategies or best practices for literacy instruction, including writing instruction.
CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter will describe the methods and procedures used to carry out the study. The study examined the individual student writing sessions of three kindergarten teachers and the writing strategies the teachers used to instruct students’ in writing and motivate them to write. This was accomplished through a qualitative study that implemented a common case method. The methods of data collection that were used for the study included teacher interviews and classroom observations. This chapter will discuss research methodology, research setting, research participants, research questions, data collection processes, and data analysis.
Context of the study
In kindergarten, the sooner a student’s areas of need are addressed, the sooner the student is on the road to success (Clay, 1967). In addition to extensive group-writing instruction, many kindergarten students also need small group and one-on-one instruction to reach their highest writing potential. Many kindergarten students are resistant writers in need of teacher support to be successful in writing. For many kindergarten students, motivation to write is due to focused attention received during one-on-one writing instruction, in addition to whole group writing instruction. The earlier this additional instruction or writing intervention begins, the sooner the motivation will occur. The study examined large group and one-on-one writing instruction practices currently used in three kindergarten classrooms.
To explore the writing instruction efforts in the normal setting of a kindergarten classroom, the method of research used for the study was qualitative. (Creswell,1998) defines qualitative research as a method that explores a topic through investigation in order to provide a comprehensive description of that given topic. Researchers have used qualitative research to gain meaning and understanding of a topic through its participants’ 100
meaning and understanding of the same topic (Creswell, 1998). When conducting qualitative research, the researcher creates a comprehensive understanding and an accurate description of a topic through research conducted in its normal setting.
This qualitative study explored writing instruction in one kindergarten classroom during the seven weeks using a collective case study approach. (Creswell, 2007) described collective case study as a method in which the researcher chooses multiple cases that are suitable to explore the one topic being researched by the study. Case studies are descriptions of real-life experiences related to the topic being researched. For the study, case studies were developed through teacher interviews related to their own real-life classroom experiences involving writing instruction along with classroom observations of the same teachers during their regularly scheduled writing instruction times.
In order to explore individual student writing sessions and other writing instruction strategies in the kindergarten classrooms, the researcher interviewed each of the three participants a total of two times during the seven weeks and also observed each teacher participant two times during the same seven-week period. Data collection occurred through teacher interviews and classroom observations. The main collection instrument for the study was the researcher. The researcher observed, took notes, talked to people, conducted interviews. of these are skills that the researcher learned before going to the field. According to Helfferich (2019), a good interviewer needs the following skills: Technical competence, Interactive competence: attention and steering, competencies in communication theory and knowing how to deal with previous knowledge and personal bias. While collecting and analyzing data, the researcher made every effort not to interfere with the natural setting of the kindergarten classrooms, nor with the practices and viewpoints of each teacher.
Research Setting
This research study was conducted at a government school in Al Ain City that holds approximately 500 kindergarten students. The community for this government school has a population of about 766٬936. The particular school for the study included 17 kindergarten classrooms, 7 KG2 classes, and 10 KG1 classes.
Participants
This part of the study relates to the individuals who take part in the study and interviewingprocess and observation on the work upon students.
In kindergarten, the sooner a student’s areas of need are addressed, the sooner the student is on the road to success (Clay, 1967). In addition to extensive group-writing instructions, many kindergarten students also need small group and one-on-one instructions to reach their highest writing potential. Many kindergarten students are hesitant writers in need of the teacher’s support to be successful in writing. For many kindergarten students, motivation to write comes from focused attention during one-on-one writing instructions, in addition to whole group writing instructions. The earlier this additional instruction or writing intervention begins, the sooner the motivation will occur. The study examined large group and one-on-one writing instruction practices currently used in five kindergarten classrooms.
This chapter will describe the methods and procedures used to carry out the study. The study examined the individual student writing sessions of five kindergarten teachers and the writing strategies these teachers used to instruct their students in writing and motivating them to write. This was accomplished through a qualitative study that implemented a common case method. The methods of data collection that were used for the study included teacher interviews and classroom observations. This chapter will discuss the research methodology, research setting, research participants, research questions, data collection processes, and data analysis.
To explore the writing instruction efforts in the normal setting of a kindergarten classroom, the method of research used for the study was qualitative. (Creswell, 1998) defines qualitative research as a method that explores a thorough topic investigation in order to provide a full description of that given topic. Researchers have used qualitative research to gain meaning and understanding of any issue through its participants’ 27, meaning and understanding of the same topic (Creswell, 1998). When conducting qualitative research, the researcher creates a comprehensive agreement and an accurate description of a topic through research conducted in its standard setting.
This qualitative study explored writing instruction in one kindergarten classroom for seven weeks using a collective case study approach. (Creswell, 2007) described a collective case study as a method in which the researcher chooses multiple cases that are suitable to explore the one topic being researched by the study. Case studies are descriptions of real-life experiences related to the topic being researched. For the study, case studies were developed through teacher interviews linked to their own real-life classroom experiences involving writing instruction along with classroom observations of the same teachers during their regularly scheduled writing instruction times.
The multiple case participants were three kindergarten teachers from a public school that got kindergarten students. In order to explore individual student writing sessions and other writing instruction strategies in kindergarten classrooms, the researcher interviewed each of the three participants for a total of two times during the seven weeks, while also observing each participating teacher two times during the same seven-week period.
Data collection occurred through teacher interviews and classroom observations. The main collection instrument for the study was the researcher. While collecting and analyzing data, the researcher made every effort not to interfere with the natural setting of the kindergarten classrooms, nor with the practices and viewpoints of each teacher.
This study was conducted at a government school in Al Ain City, which has approximately 500 kindergarten students. This government school has a population of about 766٬936. It included 17 kindergarten classrooms, 7 KG2 classes, and 10 KG1 classes.
The study’s participants were five kindergarten teachers from a government kindergarten school. The study’s purpose was to examine individual student writing sessions and other writing instructional strategies at the kindergarten level.
The participating teachers were given false names, for the purpose of anonymity. The names used for the three teachers in the study were Jessica, Hessa, and Aysha. The three participants had different levels of experience: Jessica has taught in kindergarten for 20 years, Hessa has taught for six years in kindergarten, and Aysha has taught in kindergarten for a total of seven years. The teachers’ participation in the study was voluntary. The participants understood that they were to be interviewed and observed in their classrooms during the investigation, and they had the option of dropping out of the study at any time. All of the participants signed consent forms before participating in the study.
The students were randomly assigned to each classroom, creating classes that were mixed and contained different learning abilities. The Minister of Education determines schools’ kindergarten writing curriculum in the United Arab Emirates. At the classroom level, the curriculum for instruction is based on district and state curriculum guidelines. Nevertheless, the teachers’ presentation of the curriculum was customized to meet the needs of the class and the individual students through large groups and one-on-one instruction. Each kindergarten teacher provided daily writing instruction for 45 minutes a day. During writing instruction time, the whole group was supplied with writing instruction, which was needed for the majority of the students. Each teacher decided what was to be taught during the group instruction based on students’ needs, which were determined by their previous writing samples. After a few minutes of whole group instruction, the teachers then had students write independently. While students wrote independently, each teacher conducted individual student writing feedback.
The writing instruction that occurred was the main reason the researcher chose it for the study. Writing instruction at the kindergarten level was a priority in the kindergarten, and the students are expected to be successful, independent writers by the end of the year. Every kindergarten teacher in the school provided daily writing instruction, as well as daily individual student writing sessions. During the individual student writing session, the teachers individually instructed students based on the student’s writing needs.
Data Analysis
In this part, I will show how the data obtained was managed, then followed by an explored, and lastly, the efforts taken to maximize credibility.
Each interview was audiotaped and transcribed. I chose to transcribe all of the interviews as it gave me the opportunity to fill in unclear passages and to insert explanations or clarifications (Padgett, 2008). Completing my own transcriptions was also cost-efficient though it was time-consuming. The amount of time I spent with the data was increased by listening to each transcription multiple times to make sure that I did not miss any information. Through this process, I became more familiar with participant voices and was allowed the opportunity to hear the transcription with a new perspective after starting my codebook.
I transcribed the first two interviews directly from the tape recorder, and the remaining eighteen were transcribed utilizing the Transcribe software (https://transcribe.wreally.com/). This software allowed me to upload each audio interview, and it provides a text editor that simplifies the playback options (pause, play, fast-forward, rewind, and timestamp) while transcribing the interview in one place instead of going between your tape recorder and a word document. Transcribe allowed me to cut down on the amount of time that it took to transcribe the remaining interviews. The audio worked off my local browser, and I never had to send the interviews to a third party, thus maintaining participants’ confidentiality. The software also allowed me to export the text to a Word document, making it easier to keep up with all the transcriptions. The software has a diction option, but I choose not to utilize it due to time constraints.
After the interviews were transcribed, I reviewed them for accuracy and then changed and participants’ names so that they would not be easily identified. All participants were given a pseudonym in order to disguise participants (Padgett, 2008) fully. Each participant was then sent their corresponding transcription and was asked to review it for accuracy and clarity. They were also encouraged to make any changes using notes in Microsoft Word.
After the interviews were transcribed, the analysis was conducted by the researcher without using any software. The process of analysis was time-consuming. It was also challenging and required a lot of organization and support from my committee and fellow researchers. Conducting the analysis allowed me the opportunity to gain coding experience, interpret the data, and identify words or phrases that are not used in the English dictionary (Bright & Connor, 2007). In addition, the software can be expensive and time-consuming to learn how to use the software appropriately. I started with some predetermined categories for data coding, though some of the codes changed during analysis.
Each phase of the data analysis entailed the following: data reduction, where collected data was brought into manageable chunks, and interpretation by bringing meaning and insight to the words and acts of the participants in the study (Marshall & Rossman, 2011). I started with first-level coding by coding each transcription sentence-by-sentence, which included single terms (Miles & Huberman, 1994). There were 201 codes following the first cycle of coding. Some examples of codes include; self-confidence, perseverance, support, sacrifice, shock, financial capital, distraction, insecurity, balance, power, financial security, overwhelmed, ownership, dual role, and safe space.
I then engaged in second-level coding, also known as pattern coding, in which the codes were combined into smaller number sets (Miles & Huberman, 1994). In order to do this, codes were organized under categories and color-coded on large sheets of drawing paper and posted on the wall. Codes that were redundant were eliminated while others with the same meanings were combined. Themes were developed from the categories that came forth from the data and were constant in all the interviews. Overall, five themes were identified, and codes were reduced to 56. Codes were reviewed again and eliminated based on the number of times it was mentioned; this produced five themes, twenty-five (25) secondary themes, and twenty-two (22) subthemes.
In keeping with the nature of phenomenological research, a synopsis of each study participant’s experiences, the examination of the context and setting of these experiences, and condensation or summary of major themes with associated excerpts from the interview were developed. (Padgett, 2008).
Results
In this section, I will both present and discuss the various results that were observed after conducting the research on the case study. The findings are set out as a result of various data collection techniques, such as questionnaires and interviews. It will then be followed by a critical discussion of the projected findings and their linkages to the present literature and research in order to determine if the new data supports or opposes the existing information. The chapter thus presents principal findings from the primary research.
1. How teachers describe their student writing and the other writing strategies they implement to improve student’s writing abilities and to increase their student’s motivation to write?
From the research study, it was seen that the teachers described their student writing as being placed into a first priority level. The teachers, implemented various writing strategies so as to improve the students writing abilities, they included :the teachers presentented a customized curriculum, which was intended to meet the different requirements of the learners. The rquirements were tobe achieved by, individual students via large groups instructions and also in one-on-one instruction.
Furthermore, during writing instruction period, the whole group were given various instrumental instructions required by the majority of the students. Each teacher also had the right to decide what to teach during the group instruction based on meeting their students needs. The teachers then made the students to write independently, while each teacher conducted individual student writing feedback.
Every teacher besides, provided daily writing instructions to the leaners plus daily individual writing instructions, these enable effective writing learning that enabled achievement of emergent writing developments.
2. How do teachers describe the writing habits of their students?
Based from the outcome of the research findings, it was observed that the teachers described the students writing habits as being willing to grasp every bit of the writing skills they were being given. The students were described as being academic thirsty in their yearning to get the details presented by their teachers. They were also described to be hesitant writers who were in need of their various teachers support.
3.What are the strategies used to motivate students to write?
One of the best strategies used by the teachers in motivating the students to write, was giving them focused attention during one-on-one writing instructions. They were also presented with the focus in their learning groups.
Discussion
From this study, I got to know that emergent writing is usually a progress with the relationship between the teacher and learner being extremely fundamental. It is also in two way directional as the teacher facilitates the learners to acquire important writing abilities while the leaner benefitting from this. This makes the young learner to get to know the knowledge of writing. The young children can go through various emergent writing stages, while being guided by their teachers.
Emergent writing stages can be described as basic theories of literacy development (“Emergent Writing Stages and History of Emergent Writing”, 2020). They can in addition, details all the overlapping stages of children’s writing abilities that they go through before being regarded as conventional writers. The various stages can be:
Drawings
According to (“Emergent Writing Stages and History of Emergent Writing”, 2020), children use markers and crayons to draw images way before they learn to write. It is thus the beginning stage of literacy development; the children use pictures to communicate to others or to themselves.
Scribbling
The young learner proceeds to familiarize with the concepts of both reading and writing as their abilities to draw changes, the drawings are transformed to have scribbles of rough handwriting, (“Emergent Writing Stages and History of Emergent Writing”, 2020). The scribbles can be horizontal oriented depicting words found in a book.
Mock letters
This is the next stage and is crucial in a child’s literacy development (“Emergent Writing Stages and History of Emergent Writing”, 2020). At this point, the child comes to know that words are actually groups of individual letters, before the scribbles they make starting to take shape and letter patterns.
Letters and Letter strings
The scribbles and mock letters start changing into actual words that the children are familiar with (“Emergent Writing Stages and History of Emergent Writing”, 2020). Most cases involve the children writing down their names.
Invented spelling
It is known as one of the most pivotal stages in emergent writing as according to (“Emergent Writing Stages and History of Emergent Writing”, 2020). Children use broad letters in creating words yet they know little concerning phonetics.
Phonetic Spelling
(“Emergent Writing Stages and History of Emergent Writing”, 2020) explains that, children start forming mental associations between letters and sounds as they start to form words using that knowledge. Th e words can have both capital and small letters.
Conventional Spelling
The child’s estimated spelling of words eventually changes into conventionally spelled words (“Emergent Writing Stages and History of Emergent Writing”, 2020). In most cases the first words formed by the child can be short in structure. With the growth of child’s vocabulary, they increase through levels of emergent writing steps and are able to eventually able to form literate real words writing.
Reliability and Validity Test
In order to test on the validity of the data gathered during this research, the
researcher basically conducted a pilot study based on pre -school not established
within the geographical area covered by the study, thus the selected region for the pilot
study was Ras Al Khaimah due to its close proximity to the area under study. Due to the
close proximity of this area, it was selected because it was likely to exhibit similar
characteristics.
Data Gathering Procedures
The researcher secured the services of two research assistants who personally did
the distribution and collection of the questionnaires from the respondents. The
questionnaire were distributed to all the samples and administered to the teachers
Conclusion
From this research , we are able to describe what emergent writing is all about and the various impacts of learning strategies in place helping young children to acquire literacy. The mechanisms that were used by the teachers in UAE, are some of the best when it comes o implementing the strategies to effectively aid young learners to develop writing and reading literacy.
Children are seen to be hesitant writers as from this study, therefore, the use of various motivation methods such as in case of them being given focused attention through individual and group efforts. Is thus essential. The case study involved both the children and their respective teachers; this was important as it ensures both groups were involved subjected to the study ensuring an accurate result.
Participation of both groups also helped in preventing biasness. I was able to get firsthand account information through observation means, this ensured that the results were not interfered with. It is clear that the UAE, is putting in place good measures that are effective at achieving the targets of education such as removal of barriers to effective education. The use of direct teachers to young learners’ contact can motivate the children into adopting faster means of tackling writing and reading tasks.
It is also recommended for the education ministry to offer aid to teachers who handle the young children. It will be helpful for the curriculum to be modified I a typical way, that the learners are given facilities that provide ease in moving through steps of emergent writing. The ministry can provide extra educating materials such as books, crayons and learning chart to schools, so that the teachers can easily help the young ones to go through emergent writing.
Building of more centers that have facilities suitable for teaching young children is also another score. The government through ministry of education, can aid in reducing the cost of learning. This will ensure more children are able to go through emergent writing programs.
During the study, it was observed that majority of the children, were each having special needs when it comes to literacy developments. These should be taken into account, as the children are from different backgrounds thus require extra care. It is highly important for the teachers taking these children through to consider that, emergent writing or reading is one of the earliest forms of the children to try to communicate. If they are handled without care, their future learning abilities can then be distorted.
Conceptual knowledge is seen as learning the function of writing. Children should benefit from having multiple opportunities from both teachers and even their family members. It is during the early stages of learning in regard to emergent writing, that teachers lay and form a concrete foundation for conventional learning.
The children should be constantly exposed to various learning materials, besides the teachers can add other learning strategies in the classroom to promote easy learning. The teachers should be aware of their children’s progress so as to allow easy development of the learners’ abilities in both reading and writing. The act of name writing practice should be encouraged as it allows the children to get to know basics of literacy.
The teachers should enable the sign-in or sign-out routine, this allows for the children to write daily in the process sharpening their skills. The teachers can also use peer helpers to help the children with activities such as name-writing process. The teachers can also help the children to know that letters create words which in turn form sentences. The stakeholders involved in guiding the child through emergent wriing should create a conducive environment, that is appealing to thechildren. It is important as young ones can be very sensitive to their surroundings, the children should be involved in various team learning groups, this is beneficial as it gives the children a chance to interact with one another (“Promoting Preschoolers’ Emergent Writing | NAEYC”, 2020).
I should be known that writing instruction and home writing experiences are important parts of helping youngness to develop writing skills. A major advantage of the home– school connection is that, they are able to see the importance of what they learn in school when parents actively participate in the same type of activities at home, (“Promoting Preschoolers’ Emergent Writing | NAEYC”, 2020).
Ethical Considerations
The research generally took into consideration the following ethical issues in
conducting this research; the researcher ensured that informed consent is obtained from
all participants in the study; this is to ensure the freedom of participants to choose
whether or not to take part in the proposed study. A high degree of confidentiality has
also been maintained throughout the study to ensure that the information obtained in the
study is not revealed to any unauthorized persons.
Chapter Four
Data Analysis, Interpretation and Presentation
Introduction
This chapter reviews the results and analysis of the qualitative data, the compilation of the questionnaire and the results and analysis of the quantitative findings of the study. The findings are also discussed in the light of previous research findings and available literature, where applicable, in order to identify similarities and differences between this study and previous studies and literature.
4.2 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS OF THE QUALITATIVE DATA
4.2.1 Introduction
During the conceptual phase of this study, qualitative data was collected. The first step involved personal and telephonic interviews. The data collected during these interviews was included as part of the literature review, and will therefore not be discussed in this chapter.
Fit indices for the different models are shown in the table below. Both the three-factor model and the two-factor model in which Conceptual Knowledge and Procedural Knowledge factors were combined into a single-factor provided adequate fits to the data; however, the χ2 difference test revealed that the two-factor model with the combined Conceptual Knowledge and Procedural Knowledge factor yielded a significantly worse fit to the data than did the three-factor model. Both of the other two-factor models and the one-factor model also yielded significantly worse fits to the data than did the three-factor model. Consequently, the three-factor model provided the best fit to the data.
Fit Indices for Models of the Structure of Preschool Children’s Emergent Witing-related Abilities
Model SBχ2 df CFI TLI RMSEA IC χ2 Difference1 (df)
3-factor (CK, PK, GK) 72.99 39 .98 .96 .05 −5.01 —
2-Factor (CK + PK, GK) 96.60 41 .97 .95 .06 14.60 20.08*** (2)
2-Factor (CK, PK + GK) 591.83 41 .70 .69 .19 509.83 295.84*** (2)
2-Factor (CK + GK, PK) 464.54 41 .77 .75 .17 382.54 493.56*** (2)
1-Factor (CK + PK + GK) 606.72 42 .69 .68 .19 522.71 533.73*** (3)
Note. N = 372. CFI = Comparative Fit Index; TLI = Tucker-Lewis Index; RMSEA = Root Mean Square Error of Approximation; IC = Information Criterion; CK = Conceptual Knowledge; PK = Procedural Knowledge; GK = Generative Knowledge.
1χ2 difference tests involve comparisons to three-factor model and were computed using the procedure outlined by Satorra and Bentler (2001).
A model of emergent writing skills consisting of three separate domains fits well with the levels of language framework proposed for conventional writing skills (e.g., Abbott, et al., 2010; Whitaker, Berninger, Johnston, & Swanson, 1994). Between models, the procedural knowledge domain of emergent writing corresponds to the transcription component in the model for older children, which reflects word-level writing, and the generative knowledge domain of emergent writing corresponds to the text-generation component in the model for older children. For older children, letter-writing fluency and spelling are two important transcription skills that support text generation and written composition (e.g., Graham, et al., 1997; Puranik & Al Otaiba, 2012). For preschool-age children, knowledge of the alphabet, the ability to write letters, and the ability to use this knowledge in the generation of written words
(Hooper et al. 2010)study, children’s knowledge of writing concepts was not a significant predictor in multivariate analyses that included measures of decoding and language skills. Similarly, in the emergent literacy domain, measures of children’s concepts about print typically do not predict reading outcomes once measures of direct skills ( phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge) are included in prediction models (Whitehurst &Lonigan,1998).
Summary and conclusions
Children’s acquisition of literacy skills, including reading and writing, represents a foundational educational milestone. Compared with the amount of research on children’s emergent literacy skills, however, there is relatively less research on children’s emergent writing skills, and most extant studies have focused on only a few emergent writing skills. This study provided support for a model of emergent writing that consists of skills in three domains. Conceptual knowledge skills represent knowledge about the conventions and functions of writing. Procedural knowledge skills represent knowledge and abilities about the mechanics of writing at the letter and word levels. Generative knowledge skills represent knowledge and abilities about the production of writing beyond the word level. Results indicated that this three-factor model accounted for children’s performance across a wide array of emergent writing tasks better than alternative models, and that the same three-factor model fit data from older and younger preschool children. Distinct patterns of relations between the factors and other abilities provided additional support for the model and suggested different developmental origins of skills in these three domains. Future longitudinal research is needed to elucidate the development significance of skills in these domains for the acquisition of later, conventional writing skills.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter of the study presents a summary of the major findings with an emphasis on the objectives and the hypothesis of the study. The findings are presented
with each of the specific study objectives serving as the guidelines. Further, the chapter presents the conclusions of the researcher based on the research methodology adopted, data analysis and interpretation approach applied with a focus on research problem, research objectives and the study hypothesis. Finally, the chapter presents recommendations from the researcher on the study and specific areas for future studies.
Summary of Findings
Teachers play an important role in promoting emergent writing development by scaffolding writing activities that engage young children in building their conceptual, procedural, and generative knowledge. Writing can easily be practised in daily schedules as children write their names, engage in learning environment, practice writing for a purpose based on teacher and peer models, and contribute to group writing activities. Be intentional during interactions with children and incorporate best practices. Promote the development of emergent writing besides emergent literacy by implementing purposeful strategies that encourage writing in the classroom and at home. Teachers who provide young children with a numerous ways of early writing experiences build the foundation for kindergarten readiness.
Recommendations.
As teachers work to meet students’ needs and help them to become independent learners, they need to make students earliest experiences with reading and writing enjoyable and exciting because they tend to become less interested in writing as they move up through the grades (Kear, Coffman, Mckenna, & Ambrosio, 2000). Teachers need to encourage comprehension through questioning. Davoudi and Sadeghi (2015) state that, asking children higher-level questions, positively influences their critical thinking ability and encourages them to ask higher- level questions in turn. As students tackle questions, teachers can determine students level of listening and reading comprehension, their ability to use context to derive meaning from words and to make connections with prior knowledge.
Reutzel and Cooter (2016) state that listening comprehension influences children’s level of success in reading comprehension as they grow older. Therefore, teachers need to check if students are making meaning of what they hear and see regularly throughout the day especially in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms to aid students’ understanding. According to Chung (2012), teachers need to teach vocabulary directly and indirectly to all learners especially to English language learners who acquire fewer words incidentally.
References
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Marvin, C., & Mirenda, P. (1993). Home literacy experiences of preschoolers enrolled in Head Start and special education programs. Journal of Early Intervention, 17(4), 351-367.
Assel, M., Landry, S. H., Swank, P. R. & Gunnewig, S. (2007). An evaluation of curriculum,
childhood classrooms. Early Child Development and Care, 175(4), 285-301.
Clark, P., & Kragler, S. (2005). The impact of including writing materials in early
Clay, M. (1991). Becoming literate: The construction of inner control. Portsmouth, NH:
Dahl, K., & Freppon, P. (1995). A Comparison of Innercity Children’s Interpretations of Reading and Writing Instruction in the Early Grades in Skills-Based and Whole Language Classrooms. Reading Research Quarterly,30(1), 50-74. doi:10.2307/747744
Dodici, B., Draper, D., & Peterson, C. (2003). Early parent-child interactions and early literacy development. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 23(3), 124-136.
Edwards, L. (2003). Writing instruction in kindergarten: Examining an emerging area of research for children with writing and reading difficulties. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(2), 136-48; discussion 149-50. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.uaeu.ac.ae/docview/194225136?accountid=62373
Graham, S. (2008). Research on writing development, practice, instruction, and assessment.
Guccione, L. M. (2011). Integrating literacy and inquiry for english learners. The Reading Teacher, 64(8), 567-577. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.uaeu.ac.ae/docview/866355376?accountid=62373
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Honeyford, M. A., & Boyd, K. (2015). Learning through play: Portraits, photoshop, and visual literacy practices. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 59(1), 63-73. doi:10.1002/jaal.428
McCartney, E. (2006). Developmental issues: speaking and phonological awareness. In M. Lewis & S. Ellis (Eds.), Phonics: Practice, research and policy (pp. 71-82). London: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781446214428.n7
McInnes, K., Howard, J., Miles, G., & Crowley, K. (2011). Differences in practitioners’ understanding of play and how this influences pedagogy and children’s perceptions of play. Early Years, 31(2), 121-133. doi:10.1080/09575146.2011.572870
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setting, and mentoring on the performance of children enrolled in pre-kindergarten,
Wellhousen, K., & Giles, R. M. (2006). Building literacy opportunities into children’s block play: What every teacher should know. Childhood Education, 82(2), 74-78. Retrieved from
CHUNG, S. F. (2012). RESEARCH-BASED VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS. READING MATRIX: AN INTERNATIONAL ONLINE JOURNAL, 12(2), 105-120.
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Whitehead, M. R. (2009). Supporting language and literacy development in the early years (2nd;2; ed.). Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Chapter 2: Review of Literature 9
Introduction 9
Social Interaction and Learning 8
Environmental Influences on Literacy 9
Emergent Literacy 9
Writing development 10
Emergent Writing Instruction-Teaching Writing 11
Summary 15
CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16
Context of study 16
Research Setting 15
Participants 18
Data Analysis 21
Results……………………………………………………………………………….24
Discussions…………………………………………………………………………25
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………. 27
References……………………………………………………………………………31
The Full Title of Your Paper
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background
This chapter provides the quality of students’ writing instruction in kindergarten has a significant effect on their future writing ability during the elementary years. To become active writers during the elementary years and beyond, children need a strong literacy foundation during their early childhood years (Kissel, 2008). For many years, researchers have paid much attention to early reading development, while giving limited attention to early writing development (Clay et al., 2001), (Dobson, 1988) (Fayol, 1992). The ability to write during the early childhood years can be a difficult and challenging task (Lienemann et al., 2006).
In the early childhood classroom, teachers ask students to write, and teachers tell students that writing is most natural when writing about personal experiences. Most children at this level have little or no experience in writing and have limited life experiences from which to choose a writing topic. There has been much research on the importance of the emergent writing stage for children, and the growth of writing development children undergo as emergent writers (Calkins, 2003), (Freeman et al., 1989), (McGee., 1997), (Morrow et al., 1993), (Bus et al., 2001).
The study examined individual student writing conferences and other writing instruction strategies used at the emergent level. The researcher has found minimal research in these two areas.
In the late 2017 schools shifted from Abu Dhabi Council of Education (ADEK) to the Minister of Education (MOE) who announced a strategy plan to improve the quality of education in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Traditional beliefs about literacy learning and the heritage of oral language and memorization skills are possibly still noticeable in the teaching of literacy in the UAE. Even as recently as 2000, Toaimah reflected that children could not write until they had learned to read and had developed their fine motor skills or muscle control. (Toaimah, 2000) and (Al Nashef, 1996) recommend the importance of children’s readiness to write; Al Nashef, for example, claims that children “must be able to hold/ have a grip of the pencil, and be able to form as sequence of recognizable shapes and patterns” (Al Nashef,1996) before beginning to write.
For emergent writing children’s’ first effort is to make marks that are meaningful to them, scribbles that they only can organize the meaning of their writings. children need effective strategies to develop these skills. Teachers needs to implement strategies that are meaningful and enjoyable.
The Purpose of the Study
This research will conduct a qualitative collection case study exploring the experience of individual student writing sessions and the use of other writing instruction strategies in one kindergarten classroom through one hour daily. The study will investigate individual student writing sessions and other writing instruction strategies in one kindergarten classroom through kindergarten teacher description and researcher observation of the individual student writing session and the other writing strategies used in kindergarten classroom to motivate students to write and improve individual writing abilities.
Through one-to-one teacher –participant interviews, the researcher explores other teacher’s perception of their individual student writing and the writing strategies they use to motivate their students and to meet their student’s individual needs in writing. The researcher will conduct observations in the classrooms of each teacher participation as part of the study.
1.3 Statement of the problem
In the United Arab Emirates schools writing is a critical skill, kindergartener need teacher instructional support to improve their wiring as they likely write from right to left as in Arabic written or they write letters backwards. As An active learning foundation must build during the early years enables students to be successful in writing, if children are successful at writing and enjoy it at an early age, they will continue along the path in future school years (Routman, 2005). For kindergarten students to establish a strong foundation in writing, they must have teachers who deliver high-quality writing instruction.
Through the case study, the researcher will explore teacher’s description of their student writing based on the needs of their students and the writing strategies they will use to meet their students’ own writing needs. (see MOE outline) guided writing. High cost of providing education including, teaching children how to write, still remains a challenge(Gokulan, 2020). Another rising issue that forms a barrier to effective writing among the students, is that the current curricula is outmoded (“United Arab Emirates – Summary”, 2020).
1.4 The Research questions
This study will answer the following questions:
1.How teachers describe their student writing and the other writing strategies they implement to improve student’s writing abilities and to increase their student’s motivation to write?
2.How do teachers describe the writing habits of their students?
3.what are the strategies used to motivate students to write?
1.5 Significance of the study
Many kindergarten students enter school without the necessary language opportunities to ensure future learning success (Assel et al., 2007). Because they have missed opportunities for language development during the preschool years, these students begin school already behind their peers.
When kindergarten classroom instruction begins, a learning gap already exists for these students. If this gap is not addressed, these students will remain behind and likely struggles in upcoming grades. (emergent writing – stages of writing)
Considering the expectations placed upon students in the elementary grades as well as the importance of learning a meaningful writing ability through one’s schooling and continuing through life, a crucial need exists to provide developmentally appropriate effective instruction at early childhood level that is delivered in the form of individual conferencing.
Early childhood educators are aware of the lack of providing developmentally appropriate effective guidance and are continually in search of instructional strategies to put into practice that can help lessen the language development gap.
Kindergarten teachers continuously explore the best strategies to provide their students the opportunities to be successful in reading and writing. For kindergarten student to develop the ability to think while writing quality papers of various real-world purposes they reach the elementary years, they need teachers with a variety of strategies which provide high-quality writing instruction in a supportive environment. When young children are successful writers in their kindergarten year, they will continue their love of writing in future school years.
For this reason, early-childhood educators are always in search of instructional strategies that can help decrease the language development gap to give students an opportunity to be successful in reading and writing in their future academic years. (Clay, 1967) has agreed that children who struggle and receive early intervention or individual instruction have a better chance of catching up with their peers and achieving success through school years.
Limitations
Despite the strengths of this study, which include a relatively large sample of children, measurement of a broad array of children’s emergent writing skills, and a hypothesis-driven analytic approach, there were a number of limitations to the study worth noting. First, a small number of items were used for some tasks measuring conceptual knowledge (e.g., universal principles, concepts about writing), and perhaps the knowledge assessed was not comprehensive or representative of the knowledge possessed by young children in these two skill areas. Second, internal consistencies for the conceptual knowledge tasks were lower than desirable, most likely reflecting of the small number of items used to measure these skills. Despite these lower internal consistency estimates, however, the tasks loaded strongly on the Conceptual Knowledge factor. Expanding the number of these items will both improve the reliability of these tasks and increase the content coverage. Third, several of the younger children were unable to complete the generative knowledge tasks, resulting in floor effects on these measures for younger children. The scoring system used, however, was able to capture knowledge about early generative knowledge skills (e.g., linearity, left-to-right orientation) that children possess even when they are unable to write conventionally. The fact that the same three-factor model fit the data for younger and older children indicates that floor effects were not a major limitation. Fourth, none of the tasks directly assessed children’s letter-sound knowledge. Letter-sound knowledge was not included because preschool children are usually more knowledgeable about letter names and letter shapes than letter sounds (Levin, Shatil-Carmon, & Asif-Rave, 2006; Treiman, Kessler, & Pollo, 2006). However, inclusion of such measures is likely an important step for understanding the role of phonological processes in emergent writing. Finally, these data were cross-sectional. Consequently, although the analyses address questions of the dimensionality of emergent writing, they cannot address causal relations between these dimensions. As noted above, longitudinal studies are needed both to understand within and between domain influences and to understand the developmental significance of skills in each domain on later conventional writing skills.
Definitions of terms
Strategy – Is the referral of methods that are used to aid learners know desired course contents to enable them achieve goals in the future. (Armstrong & Armstrong, 2020)
Emergent Writing – It is the first attempt of writing process by young children, (“Promoting Preschoolers’ Emergent Writing | NAEYC”, 2020)
Emergent literacy – process in development beginning at birth, in which children get to know basics of reading and writing (Hatton, Literacy & TBE, 2020)
Implementation – Refers to process of putting plans into actions so as to accomplish strategic goals and objectives. (“Strategic Implementation”, 2020)
Development- It refers to the systematic application of both scientific and technical knowledge to achieve certain set objectives (“What comes after those ellipses?”, 2020).
Motivation – It entails the desire to act in service of a goal (“Motivation | Psychology Today”, 2020).
1.8 Summary
As writing is such an important skill required for life, building a strong foundation for it is imperative (Graham et al, 2008). When students build a strong learning foundation during early childhood years, it enables them to be successful learners later in life. Writing during these emergent years helps build students’ strong foundation in learning and enables them to be successful writers.
Chapter 2: Review of Literature
2.1Introduction
The areas of importance to the study relate to providing students quality early childhood writing instruction. As such, the researcher will review the following areas of literature: social interaction, environment, emergent writing, and writing instruction. The emergent learning topics include emergent literacy and writing development. The writing instruction topic includes emergent writing instruction, daily writing, modeling and teacher self-efficacy.
2.2 Social Interaction and Learning
(Vygotsky,1978) social constructivist theory emphasized the need for social interaction in the learning process. Children construct meaning and gain knowledge in new concept during social interaction with others (Vygotsky,1978). They begin to learn skills through exposure to those skills during social interaction. Listening to and observing others is a major part of learning new concepts. For learning to take place, instruction must occur first through social interaction before a learner internalize and individualize it (Vygotsky,1978). As children interact with each other’s new concepts, as an example, during their writing development, learning takes place and meaning is constructed.
The social interaction component regarding this particular study relates to kindergarten students interacting with an adult during individual student writing conduct by the teacher. When this particular interaction occurs, the teacher is instructing the child with his “zone proximal development” defined by (Vygotsky,1978) as “the distance between the actual developmental level and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under teacher guidance or in collaboration with peers” (Vygotsky, 1978).
While instructing students during individual student writing, the teacher provides one-to-one instruction in the area between what a learner already knows and what the learner can be taught by others (Vygotsky,1978). During individual student writing workshop, the teacher is teaching the student within learner potential area of learning and helping him move to a higher level of learning (Gentry, 2005). While one-to-one, the teacher is providing individual students that instruction needed based on their current level of performance to assist them in reaching their potential. Furthermore, when the teacher provides students with the one-to-one instruction, they are empowering their students to achieve at higher ability levels.
2.3 Environmental Influences on Literacy
Literacy development begins as young children are exposed to it through their environment and surrounding (Teale, 1988). The developmental process of listening, speaking, reading and writing all begin through everyday interaction with others and the environment. This can be very early in the life of the child. During preschool years, the necessary components of reading development in the course of everyday interaction with others and the environment. “children learn to read and write in the context of their everyday lives” (Swan, 2008).
Everyday interaction with others and the environment significantly affects the development of emergent literacy concepts during children’s preschool years. Routine home activities with an adult such as conversation, stories, and drawing activities also can expose children to literacy. A high-quality home literacy environment increases emergent literacy growth (Swan, 2008).
Emergent literacy skills of preschool children will develop quicker if they exposed to books and writing materials and if literacy is valued in the home beginning at a very young age. Because literacy development starts so early in life and depends upon exposure, many children, unfortunately, miss essential language opportunities through this critical phase of development by the time they enter kindergarten (Clements, 2007). A student who comes to kindergarten with low literacy development will have a hard time catching up to their peers in
reading development because they will continually be exposed to less text due to their lack of reading skills, their level of literacy and their home environment. This is why it is overbearing for kindergarten with low literacy teachers to implement strategies and teaching techniques to help fill this gap. For this to happen, more research is needed in the area of instructional strategies for writing at the early childhood level.
2.4Emergent Literacy
In 1966, Clay, as cited in (Ramsburg,1988), introduced the term “emergent literacy” to describe the observed behaviors of young children who cannot yet read and write but they imitate the actions of reading and writing as they interact with written materials such as books. These imitations are the beginning stages of literacy development and can occur long before schooling (Allington., et al 1996) (Griffin., et al 1999). Emergent literacy has been described as a phase in which children begin to understand that symbols carry meaning and that people communicate ideas through the use of symbols (Koenig, 1992). Children literacy development in the early years is fostered through social interaction with adults and exposure to written texts (Sulzby, 1991).
Children begin to acquire reading and writing knowledge while learning to speak and while observing others reading and writing. Some expand the term “emergent literacy” to include reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking (Cooper, 1997). Emergent literacy development is ongoing and occurs throughout everyday life and actions at home and in the community (Morrow, 1997). Emergent literacy has been described to include all the reading and writing behaviors that will eventually develop into general reading and writing (Sulzby, 1989). During the emergent literacy phase, reading and writing concepts develop because of interactions with readers and writers and through experiences of attempting to read and to write (Sulzby., et al 1991).
Emergent literacy includes the years from birth to kindergarten as children learn about the world around them through literacy experiences such as having conversations, being read to, observing labels, noticing environmental print and listening to others (May, 1998). Emergent literacy has also been explained as the behaviors young children carry out when beginning the first learning stages of reading and writing or when imitating real reading and writing while interacting with various reading and writing materials (May, 1998). When children are in the foundational learning stage of reading and writing, they imitate real reading and writing. Emergent literacy has also been described as an interactive and constructive developmental process built around meaning (Clay, 1991).
2.5Writing development
Children much younger than kindergarten age show an interest in writing and in writing resources such as crayons, markers, or pencils (Gibson, et al 1975). Before most children are two years old, they are aware that specific items, such as pencils and crayons, make marks, and they scribble on paper and other materials. Between the ages of two and four years old, most children know the difference between drawing and scribbling and begin to develop motor control (Brenneman., et al 1996). Most children by the age of three know the difference between drawing and scribbling, and they can do both. By the time most children are five, they realize that marks on paper mean something (Marie, 2001).
Children’s beginning of an understanding of letters and sounds and the connection of sounds to spoken and written words is acquired through informal adult interaction and instruction (Anbar, 1986). By kindergarten, most children realize print carries meaning and writing on paper is a way of communicating. They are now at the point where they realize spoken words can be written on paper and symbols written on paper represent the spoken words. Writing development has been described as a complicated and challenging process of symbolic illustration that develops through combinations of talking, drawing, and playing (Brindley, 2002).
Children begin experimenting with the writing process through conversations, role-playing of writing actions, and drawing pictures to tell a story or represent an event. They then start to scribble and make letter-like forms. Eventually, they progress, and their scribbles and letter-like forms develop into ordinary letters and then into random-letter strings. They are trying to communicate with others and create meaning through their emergent writing. An essential component in quality early childhood surroundings is providing activities that involve writing (Love et al., 2007).
Children in early childhood years need activities that involve writing to obtain the highest possible background in literacy. During these years, students are in the emergent phase of writing where they are developing the critical foundational skills necessary for future writing development (Kissel, 2008) Love., et al 2007).
2.6Emergent Writing Instruction-Teaching Writing
Writing is a complex skill comprised of many different smaller skills including spelling, grammar, capitalization, and punctuation (Berninger., et al 2003). Children begin their journey of writing through scribbles that imitate writing, moving on to letter strings, and eventually writing words and sentences (Graves, 1975). The scribbles and strings of letters children write represent their attempts to express themselves through writing. They require guidance and support as they progress through the stages in the development of the writing process. Educators must guide students through these stages by nurturing, encouraging and supporting their students’ interest and individual development in the written language.
Instruction in writing at the early childhood level begins with the writing of one’s name and the names of other family members. Teachers attempt to provide effective instruction to every student based on their individual needs. A kindergarten classroom contains many students. Some students have been exposed to a significant amount of print and informal indirect instruction in reading and writing. When varying levels exist within a classroom, small group and individual instruction are the only solutions to providing students effective instruction.
Instruction in writing at the emergent level is an interactive activity in which modeling and observation are essential for development. Daily teacher modeling of writing along with regular writing opportunities are crucial in a supportive writing environment (Behymer, 2003). To construct and promote a supportive writing environment, kindergarten teachers should provide daily writing instruction along with daily opportunities for students to write. Students who participate in daily planned writing sessions will write twice as much and have twice the amount of ideas as students who only write when they want to write (Routman, 2005).
For children to make growth in writing, they must be given many writing opportunities (Mayer, 2007). Growth in writing is the goal in kindergarten, so providing many opportunities along with communicated expectations, strategy instruction, and modeling of writing must be present. Based on their study of providing more opportunities and materials for writing, (Clark., et al 2005) concluded that teacher modeling is needed for any chance of student improvement in writing performance. Besides writing opportunities and instruction, students also require an abundant amount of writing modeled by the teacher.
Teacher modeling provides the scaffolding required for students to learn within their zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978). In writing, as in all areas of learning, teachers want their students to progress to higher levels of ability and independence. When teachers provide support besides their instruction, they make it possible for children to achieve more challenging skills than they can produce independently (Bruner, 1966). This support can be in the form of conversations, modeling, and feedback related to the instruction. When learning to write, the most critical way to support children require is modeling (Bodrova., et al 2006). Observing others perform a problematic task provides the learner the first steps to understanding it. (Dyson,1985) researched how copying of text affected student development and concluded that the practice helped to improve students’ letter formation but did not affect growth in the writing process or comprehension. When kindergartners are treated as writers and expected to write from the first day, they then believe they are writers (Freeman, 2003).
2.7 Summary
In today’s world, writing is a critical skill (Graham, 2008). Success in later years is dependent upon a strong foundation being built during the early childhood years (Love., et al 2007). Being a strong writer during the emergent years supports the constructing of a well-built foundation in literacy and other areas of learning (Juel,1988). An active learning foundation in literacy built during the early childhood years leads to success later in school and life (Love., et al 2007). At the beginning of kindergarten, many students have already missed essential language opportunities during their early years, which comprise a critical stage of language development (Clements, 2007). For these reasons, kindergarten teachers must be well informed of strategies or best practices for literacy instruction, including writing instruction.
CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter will describe the methods and procedures used to carry out the study. The study examined the individual student writing sessions of three kindergarten teachers and the writing strategies the teachers used to instruct students’ in writing and motivate them to write. This was accomplished through a qualitative study that implemented a common case method. The methods of data collection that were used for the study included teacher interviews and classroom observations. This chapter will discuss research methodology, research setting, research participants, research questions, data collection processes, and data analysis.
Context of the study
In kindergarten, the sooner a student’s areas of need are addressed, the sooner the student is on the road to success (Clay, 1967). In addition to extensive group-writing instruction, many kindergarten students also need small group and one-on-one instruction to reach their highest writing potential. Many kindergarten students are resistant writers in need of teacher support to be successful in writing. For many kindergarten students, motivation to write is due to focused attention received during one-on-one writing instruction, in addition to whole group writing instruction. The earlier this additional instruction or writing intervention begins, the sooner the motivation will occur. The study examined large group and one-on-one writing instruction practices currently used in three kindergarten classrooms.
To explore the writing instruction efforts in the normal setting of a kindergarten classroom, the method of research used for the study was qualitative. (Creswell,1998) defines qualitative research as a method that explores a topic through investigation in order to provide a comprehensive description of that given topic. Researchers have used qualitative research to gain meaning and understanding of a topic through its participants’ 100
meaning and understanding of the same topic (Creswell, 1998). When conducting qualitative research, the researcher creates a comprehensive understanding and an accurate description of a topic through research conducted in its normal setting.
This qualitative study explored writing instruction in one kindergarten classroom during the seven weeks using a collective case study approach. (Creswell, 2007) described collective case study as a method in which the researcher chooses multiple cases that are suitable to explore the one topic being researched by the study. Case studies are descriptions of real-life experiences related to the topic being researched. For the study, case studies were developed through teacher interviews related to their own real-life classroom experiences involving writing instruction along with classroom observations of the same teachers during their regularly scheduled writing instruction times.
In order to explore individual student writing sessions and other writing instruction strategies in the kindergarten classrooms, the researcher interviewed each of the three participants a total of two times during the seven weeks and also observed each teacher participant two times during the same seven-week period. Data collection occurred through teacher interviews and classroom observations. The main collection instrument for the study was the researcher. The researcher observed, took notes, talked to people, conducted interviews. of these are skills that the researcher learned before going to the field. According to Helfferich (2019), a good interviewer needs the following skills: Technical competence, Interactive competence: attention and steering, competencies in communication theory and knowing how to deal with previous knowledge and personal bias. While collecting and analyzing data, the researcher made every effort not to interfere with the natural setting of the kindergarten classrooms, nor with the practices and viewpoints of each teacher.
Research Setting
This research study was conducted at a government school in Al Ain City that holds approximately 500 kindergarten students. The community for this government school has a population of about 766٬936. The particular school for the study included 17 kindergarten classrooms, 7 KG2 classes, and 10 KG1 classes.
Participants
This part of the study relates to the individuals who take part in the study and interviewingprocess and observation on the work upon students.
In kindergarten, the sooner a student’s areas of need are addressed, the sooner the student is on the road to success (Clay, 1967). In addition to extensive group-writing instructions, many kindergarten students also need small group and one-on-one instructions to reach their highest writing potential. Many kindergarten students are hesitant writers in need of the teacher’s support to be successful in writing. For many kindergarten students, motivation to write comes from focused attention during one-on-one writing instructions, in addition to whole group writing instructions. The earlier this additional instruction or writing intervention begins, the sooner the motivation will occur. The study examined large group and one-on-one writing instruction practices currently used in five kindergarten classrooms.
This chapter will describe the methods and procedures used to carry out the study. The study examined the individual student writing sessions of five kindergarten teachers and the writing strategies these teachers used to instruct their students in writing and motivating them to write. This was accomplished through a qualitative study that implemented a common case method. The methods of data collection that were used for the study included teacher interviews and classroom observations. This chapter will discuss the research methodology, research setting, research participants, research questions, data collection processes, and data analysis.
To explore the writing instruction efforts in the normal setting of a kindergarten classroom, the method of research used for the study was qualitative. (Creswell, 1998) defines qualitative research as a method that explores a thorough topic investigation in order to provide a full description of that given topic. Researchers have used qualitative research to gain meaning and understanding of any issue through its participants’ 27, meaning and understanding of the same topic (Creswell, 1998). When conducting qualitative research, the researcher creates a comprehensive agreement and an accurate description of a topic through research conducted in its standard setting.
This qualitative study explored writing instruction in one kindergarten classroom for seven weeks using a collective case study approach. (Creswell, 2007) described a collective case study as a method in which the researcher chooses multiple cases that are suitable to explore the one topic being researched by the study. Case studies are descriptions of real-life experiences related to the topic being researched. For the study, case studies were developed through teacher interviews linked to their own real-life classroom experiences involving writing instruction along with classroom observations of the same teachers during their regularly scheduled writing instruction times.
The multiple case participants were three kindergarten teachers from a public school that got kindergarten students. In order to explore individual student writing sessions and other writing instruction strategies in kindergarten classrooms, the researcher interviewed each of the three participants for a total of two times during the seven weeks, while also observing each participating teacher two times during the same seven-week period.
Data collection occurred through teacher interviews and classroom observations. The main collection instrument for the study was the researcher. While collecting and analyzing data, the researcher made every effort not to interfere with the natural setting of the kindergarten classrooms, nor with the practices and viewpoints of each teacher.
This study was conducted at a government school in Al Ain City, which has approximately 500 kindergarten students. This government school has a population of about 766٬936. It included 17 kindergarten classrooms, 7 KG2 classes, and 10 KG1 classes.
The study’s participants were five kindergarten teachers from a government kindergarten school. The study’s purpose was to examine individual student writing sessions and other writing instructional strategies at the kindergarten level.
The participating teachers were given false names, for the purpose of anonymity. The names used for the three teachers in the study were Jessica, Hessa, and Aysha. The three participants had different levels of experience: Jessica has taught in kindergarten for 20 years, Hessa has taught for six years in kindergarten, and Aysha has taught in kindergarten for a total of seven years. The teachers’ participation in the study was voluntary. The participants understood that they were to be interviewed and observed in their classrooms during the investigation, and they had the option of dropping out of the study at any time. All of the participants signed consent forms before participating in the study.
The students were randomly assigned to each classroom, creating classes that were mixed and contained different learning abilities. The Minister of Education determines schools’ kindergarten writing curriculum in the United Arab Emirates. At the classroom level, the curriculum for instruction is based on district and state curriculum guidelines. Nevertheless, the teachers’ presentation of the curriculum was customized to meet the needs of the class and the individual students through large groups and one-on-one instruction. Each kindergarten teacher provided daily writing instruction for 45 minutes a day. During writing instruction time, the whole group was supplied with writing instruction, which was needed for the majority of the students. Each teacher decided what was to be taught during the group instruction based on students’ needs, which were determined by their previous writing samples. After a few minutes of whole group instruction, the teachers then had students write independently. While students wrote independently, each teacher conducted individual student writing feedback.
The writing instruction that occurred was the main reason the researcher chose it for the study. Writing instruction at the kindergarten level was a priority in the kindergarten, and the students are expected to be successful, independent writers by the end of the year. Every kindergarten teacher in the school provided daily writing instruction, as well as daily individual student writing sessions. During the individual student writing session, the teachers individually instructed students based on the student’s writing needs.
Data Analysis
In this part, I will show how the data obtained was managed, then followed by an explored, and lastly, the efforts taken to maximize credibility.
Each interview was audiotaped and transcribed. I chose to transcribe all of the interviews as it gave me the opportunity to fill in unclear passages and to insert explanations or clarifications (Padgett, 2008). Completing my own transcriptions was also cost-efficient though it was time-consuming. The amount of time I spent with the data was increased by listening to each transcription multiple times to make sure that I did not miss any information. Through this process, I became more familiar with participant voices and was allowed the opportunity to hear the transcription with a new perspective after starting my codebook.
I transcribed the first two interviews directly from the tape recorder, and the remaining eighteen were transcribed utilizing the Transcribe software (https://transcribe.wreally.com/). This software allowed me to upload each audio interview, and it provides a text editor that simplifies the playback options (pause, play, fast-forward, rewind, and timestamp) while transcribing the interview in one place instead of going between your tape recorder and a word document. Transcribe allowed me to cut down on the amount of time that it took to transcribe the remaining interviews. The audio worked off my local browser, and I never had to send the interviews to a third party, thus maintaining participants’ confidentiality. The software also allowed me to export the text to a Word document, making it easier to keep up with all the transcriptions. The software has a diction option, but I choose not to utilize it due to time constraints.
After the interviews were transcribed, I reviewed them for accuracy and then changed and participants’ names so that they would not be easily identified. All participants were given a pseudonym in order to disguise participants (Padgett, 2008) fully. Each participant was then sent their corresponding transcription and was asked to review it for accuracy and clarity. They were also encouraged to make any changes using notes in Microsoft Word.
After the interviews were transcribed, the analysis was conducted by the researcher without using any software. The process of analysis was time-consuming. It was also challenging and required a lot of organization and support from my committee and fellow researchers. Conducting the analysis allowed me the opportunity to gain coding experience, interpret the data, and identify words or phrases that are not used in the English dictionary (Bright & Connor, 2007). In addition, the software can be expensive and time-consuming to learn how to use the software appropriately. I started with some predetermined categories for data coding, though some of the codes changed during analysis.
Each phase of the data analysis entailed the following: data reduction, where collected data was brought into manageable chunks, and interpretation by bringing meaning and insight to the words and acts of the participants in the study (Marshall & Rossman, 2011). I started with first-level coding by coding each transcription sentence-by-sentence, which included single terms (Miles & Huberman, 1994). There were 201 codes following the first cycle of coding. Some examples of codes include; self-confidence, perseverance, support, sacrifice, shock, financial capital, distraction, insecurity, balance, power, financial security, overwhelmed, ownership, dual role, and safe space.
I then engaged in second-level coding, also known as pattern coding, in which the codes were combined into smaller number sets (Miles & Huberman, 1994). In order to do this, codes were organized under categories and color-coded on large sheets of drawing paper and posted on the wall. Codes that were redundant were eliminated while others with the same meanings were combined. Themes were developed from the categories that came forth from the data and were constant in all the interviews. Overall, five themes were identified, and codes were reduced to 56. Codes were reviewed again and eliminated based on the number of times it was mentioned; this produced five themes, twenty-five (25) secondary themes, and twenty-two (22) subthemes.
In keeping with the nature of phenomenological research, a synopsis of each study participant’s experiences, the examination of the context and setting of these experiences, and condensation or summary of major themes with associated excerpts from the interview were developed. (Padgett, 2008).
Results
In this section, I will both present and discuss the various results that were observed after conducting the research on the case study. The findings are set out as a result of various data collection techniques, such as questionnaires and interviews. It will then be followed by a critical discussion of the projected findings and their linkages to the present literature and research in order to determine if the new data supports or opposes the existing information. The chapter thus presents principal findings from the primary research.
1. How teachers describe their student writing and the other writing strategies they implement to improve student’s writing abilities and to increase their student’s motivation to write?
From the research study, it was seen that the teachers described their student writing as being placed into a first priority level. The teachers, implemented various writing strategies so as to improve the students writing abilities, they included :the teachers presentented a customized curriculum, which was intended to meet the different requirements of the learners. The rquirements were tobe achieved by, individual students via large groups instructions and also in one-on-one instruction.
Furthermore, during writing instruction period, the whole group were given various instrumental instructions required by the majority of the students. Each teacher also had the right to decide what to teach during the group instruction based on meeting their students needs. The teachers then made the students to write independently, while each teacher conducted individual student writing feedback.
Every teacher besides, provided daily writing instructions to the leaners plus daily individual writing instructions, these enable effective writing learning that enabled achievement of emergent writing developments.
2. How do teachers describe the writing habits of their students?
Based from the outcome of the research findings, it was observed that the teachers described the students writing habits as being willing to grasp every bit of the writing skills they were being given. The students were described as being academic thirsty in their yearning to get the details presented by their teachers. They were also described to be hesitant writers who were in need of their various teachers support.
3.What are the strategies used to motivate students to write?
One of the best strategies used by the teachers in motivating the students to write, was giving them focused attention during one-on-one writing instructions. They were also presented with the focus in their learning groups.
Discussion
From this study, I got to know that emergent writing is usually a progress with the relationship between the teacher and learner being extremely fundamental. It is also in two way directional as the teacher facilitates the learners to acquire important writing abilities while the leaner benefitting from this. This makes the young learner to get to know the knowledge of writing. The young children can go through various emergent writing stages, while being guided by their teachers.
Emergent writing stages can be described as basic theories of literacy development (“Emergent Writing Stages and History of Emergent Writing”, 2020). They can in addition, details all the overlapping stages of children’s writing abilities that they go through before being regarded as conventional writers. The various stages can be:
Drawings
According to (“Emergent Writing Stages and History of Emergent Writing”, 2020), children use markers and crayons to draw images way before they learn to write. It is thus the beginning stage of literacy development; the children use pictures to communicate to others or to themselves.
Scribbling
The young learner proceeds to familiarize with the concepts of both reading and writing as their abilities to draw changes, the drawings are transformed to have scribbles of rough handwriting, (“Emergent Writing Stages and History of Emergent Writing”, 2020). The scribbles can be horizontal oriented depicting words found in a book.
Mock letters
This is the next stage and is crucial in a child’s literacy development (“Emergent Writing Stages and History of Emergent Writing”, 2020). At this point, the child comes to know that words are actually groups of individual letters, before the scribbles they make starting to take shape and letter patterns.
Letters and Letter strings
The scribbles and mock letters start changing into actual words that the children are familiar with (“Emergent Writing Stages and History of Emergent Writing”, 2020). Most cases involve the children writing down their names.
Invented spelling
It is known as one of the most pivotal stages in emergent writing as according to (“Emergent Writing Stages and History of Emergent Writing”, 2020). Children use broad letters in creating words yet they know little concerning phonetics.
Phonetic Spelling
(“Emergent Writing Stages and History of Emergent Writing”, 2020) explains that, children start forming mental associations between letters and sounds as they start to form words using that knowledge. Th e words can have both capital and small letters.
Conventional Spelling
The child’s estimated spelling of words eventually changes into conventionally spelled words (“Emergent Writing Stages and History of Emergent Writing”, 2020). In most cases the first words formed by the child can be short in structure. With the growth of child’s vocabulary, they increase through levels of emergent writing steps and are able to eventually able to form literate real words writing.
Reliability and Validity Test
In order to test on the validity of the data gathered during this research, the
researcher basically conducted a pilot study based on pre -school not established
within the geographical area covered by the study, thus the selected region for the pilot
study was Ras Al Khaimah due to its close proximity to the area under study. Due to the
close proximity of this area, it was selected because it was likely to exhibit similar
characteristics.
Data Gathering Procedures
The researcher secured the services of two research assistants who personally did
the distribution and collection of the questionnaires from the respondents. The
questionnaire were distributed to all the samples and administered to the teachers
Conclusion
From this research , we are able to describe what emergent writing is all about and the various impacts of learning strategies in place helping young children to acquire literacy. The mechanisms that were used by the teachers in UAE, are some of the best when it comes o implementing the strategies to effectively aid young learners to develop writing and reading literacy.
Children are seen to be hesitant writers as from this study, therefore, the use of various motivation methods such as in case of them being given focused attention through individual and group efforts. Is thus essential. The case study involved both the children and their respective teachers; this was important as it ensures both groups were involved subjected to the study ensuring an accurate result.
Participation of both groups also helped in preventing biasness. I was able to get firsthand account information through observation means, this ensured that the results were not interfered with. It is clear that the UAE, is putting in place good measures that are effective at achieving the targets of education such as removal of barriers to effective education. The use of direct teachers to young learners’ contact can motivate the children into adopting faster means of tackling writing and reading tasks.
It is also recommended for the education ministry to offer aid to teachers who handle the young children. It will be helpful for the curriculum to be modified I a typical way, that the learners are given facilities that provide ease in moving through steps of emergent writing. The ministry can provide extra educating materials such as books, crayons and learning chart to schools, so that the teachers can easily help the young ones to go through emergent writing.
Building of more centers that have facilities suitable for teaching young children is also another score. The government through ministry of education, can aid in reducing the cost of learning. This will ensure more children are able to go through emergent writing programs.
During the study, it was observed that majority of the children, were each having special needs when it comes to literacy developments. These should be taken into account, as the children are from different backgrounds thus require extra care. It is highly important for the teachers taking these children through to consider that, emergent writing or reading is one of the earliest forms of the children to try to communicate. If they are handled without care, their future learning abilities can then be distorted.
Conceptual knowledge is seen as learning the function of writing. Children should benefit from having multiple opportunities from both teachers and even their family members. It is during the early stages of learning in regard to emergent writing, that teachers lay and form a concrete foundation for conventional learning.
The children should be constantly exposed to various learning materials, besides the teachers can add other learning strategies in the classroom to promote easy learning. The teachers should be aware of their children’s progress so as to allow easy development of the learners’ abilities in both reading and writing. The act of name writing practice should be encouraged as it allows the children to get to know basics of literacy.
The teachers should enable the sign-in or sign-out routine, this allows for the children to write daily in the process sharpening their skills. The teachers can also use peer helpers to help the children with activities such as name-writing process. The teachers can also help the children to know that letters create words which in turn form sentences. The stakeholders involved in guiding the child through emergent wriing should create a conducive environment, that is appealing to thechildren. It is important as young ones can be very sensitive to their surroundings, the children should be involved in various team learning groups, this is beneficial as it gives the children a chance to interact with one another (“Promoting Preschoolers’ Emergent Writing | NAEYC”, 2020).
I should be known that writing instruction and home writing experiences are important parts of helping youngness to develop writing skills. A major advantage of the home– school connection is that, they are able to see the importance of what they learn in school when parents actively participate in the same type of activities at home, (“Promoting Preschoolers’ Emergent Writing | NAEYC”, 2020).
Ethical Considerations
The research generally took into consideration the following ethical issues in
conducting this research; the researcher ensured that informed consent is obtained from
all participants in the study; this is to ensure the freedom of participants to choose
whether or not to take part in the proposed study. A high degree of confidentiality has
also been maintained throughout the study to ensure that the information obtained in the
study is not revealed to any unauthorized persons.
Chapter Four
Data Analysis, Interpretation and Presentation
Introduction
This chapter reviews the results and analysis of the qualitative data, the compilation of the questionnaire and the results and analysis of the quantitative findings of the study. The findings are also discussed in the light of previous research findings and available literature, where applicable, in order to identify similarities and differences between this study and previous studies and literature.
4.2 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS OF THE QUALITATIVE DATA
4.2.1 Introduction
During the conceptual phase of this study, qualitative data was collected. The first step involved personal and telephonic interviews. The data collected during these interviews was included as part of the literature review, and will therefore not be discussed in this chapter.
Fit indices for the different models are shown in the table below. Both the three-factor model and the two-factor model in which Conceptual Knowledge and Procedural Knowledge factors were combined into a single-factor provided adequate fits to the data; however, the χ2 difference test revealed that the two-factor model with the combined Conceptual Knowledge and Procedural Knowledge factor yielded a significantly worse fit to the data than did the three-factor model. Both of the other two-factor models and the one-factor model also yielded significantly worse fits to the data than did the three-factor model. Consequently, the three-factor model provided the best fit to the data.
Fit Indices for Models of the Structure of Preschool Children’s Emergent Witing-related Abilities
Model SBχ2 df CFI TLI RMSEA IC χ2 Difference1 (df)
3-factor (CK, PK, GK) 72.99 39 .98 .96 .05 −5.01 —
2-Factor (CK + PK, GK) 96.60 41 .97 .95 .06 14.60 20.08*** (2)
2-Factor (CK, PK + GK) 591.83 41 .70 .69 .19 509.83 295.84*** (2)
2-Factor (CK + GK, PK) 464.54 41 .77 .75 .17 382.54 493.56*** (2)
1-Factor (CK + PK + GK) 606.72 42 .69 .68 .19 522.71 533.73*** (3)
Note. N = 372. CFI = Comparative Fit Index; TLI = Tucker-Lewis Index; RMSEA = Root Mean Square Error of Approximation; IC = Information Criterion; CK = Conceptual Knowledge; PK = Procedural Knowledge; GK = Generative Knowledge.
1χ2 difference tests involve comparisons to three-factor model and were computed using the procedure outlined by Satorra and Bentler (2001).
A model of emergent writing skills consisting of three separate domains fits well with the levels of language framework proposed for conventional writing skills (e.g., Abbott, et al., 2010; Whitaker, Berninger, Johnston, & Swanson, 1994). Between models, the procedural knowledge domain of emergent writing corresponds to the transcription component in the model for older children, which reflects word-level writing, and the generative knowledge domain of emergent writing corresponds to the text-generation component in the model for older children. For older children, letter-writing fluency and spelling are two important transcription skills that support text generation and written composition (e.g., Graham, et al., 1997; Puranik & Al Otaiba, 2012). For preschool-age children, knowledge of the alphabet, the ability to write letters, and the ability to use this knowledge in the generation of written words
(Hooper et al. 2010)study, children’s knowledge of writing concepts was not a significant predictor in multivariate analyses that included measures of decoding and language skills. Similarly, in the emergent literacy domain, measures of children’s concepts about print typically do not predict reading outcomes once measures of direct skills ( phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge) are included in prediction models (Whitehurst &Lonigan,1998).
Summary and conclusions
Children’s acquisition of literacy skills, including reading and writing, represents a foundational educational milestone. Compared with the amount of research on children’s emergent literacy skills, however, there is relatively less research on children’s emergent writing skills, and most extant studies have focused on only a few emergent writing skills. This study provided support for a model of emergent writing that consists of skills in three domains. Conceptual knowledge skills represent knowledge about the conventions and functions of writing. Procedural knowledge skills represent knowledge and abilities about the mechanics of writing at the letter and word levels. Generative knowledge skills represent knowledge and abilities about the production of writing beyond the word level. Results indicated that this three-factor model accounted for children’s performance across a wide array of emergent writing tasks better than alternative models, and that the same three-factor model fit data from older and younger preschool children. Distinct patterns of relations between the factors and other abilities provided additional support for the model and suggested different developmental origins of skills in these three domains. Future longitudinal research is needed to elucidate the development significance of skills in these domains for the acquisition of later, conventional writing skills.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter of the study presents a summary of the major findings with an emphasis on the objectives and the hypothesis of the study. The findings are presented
with each of the specific study objectives serving as the guidelines. Further, the chapter presents the conclusions of the researcher based on the research methodology adopted, data analysis and interpretation approach applied with a focus on research problem, research objectives and the study hypothesis. Finally, the chapter presents recommendations from the researcher on the study and specific areas for future studies.
Summary of Findings
Teachers play an important role in promoting emergent writing development by scaffolding writing activities that engage young children in building their conceptual, procedural, and generative knowledge. Writing can easily be practised in daily schedules as children write their names, engage in learning environment, practice writing for a purpose based on teacher and peer models, and contribute to group writing activities. Be intentional during interactions with children and incorporate best practices. Promote the development of emergent writing besides emergent literacy by implementing purposeful strategies that encourage writing in the classroom and at home. Teachers who provide young children with a numerous ways of early writing experiences build the foundation for kindergarten readiness.
Recommendations.
As teachers work to meet students’ needs and help them to become independent learners, they need to make students earliest experiences with reading and writing enjoyable and exciting because they tend to become less interested in writing as they move up through the grades (Kear, Coffman, Mckenna, & Ambrosio, 2000). Teachers need to encourage comprehension through questioning. Davoudi and Sadeghi (2015) state that, asking children higher-level questions, positively influences their critical thinking ability and encourages them to ask higher- level questions in turn. As students tackle questions, teachers can determine students level of listening and reading comprehension, their ability to use context to derive meaning from words and to make connections with prior knowledge.
Reutzel and Cooter (2016) state that listening comprehension influences children’s level of success in reading comprehension as they grow older. Therefore, teachers need to check if students are making meaning of what they hear and see regularly throughout the day especially in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms to aid students’ understanding. According to Chung (2012), teachers need to teach vocabulary directly and indirectly to all learners especially to English language learners who acquire fewer words incidentally.
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