Discursive Construction of a Poetic in Writing Among Kindergarten Children

• In Event: Roundtable Session 96
  In Roundtable Session: Exploring Multiple Discursive Contexts for Learning

Abstract

This paper focuses on discursive construction of a poetic in writing among kindergarten children. Data on children’s writing activities were collected over an academic year. Data collection included participant observation, video recording, interview, questionnaire, and research journal. Data analyses involved identifying poem writing as a key literacy event and analyzing the teacher-student interactive conversations in their writing process and a collectively completed poem. The results showed that a poetic orientation was constructed in and through classroom interactions and writing became a poetic experience for the children. They juxtaposed various texts and engaged their imagination in the “defamiliarization” process of creating “unfamiliar” images of the described objects. This study adds an aesthetic dimension to theories of children’s writing and language learning.

Author

• Huili Hong, East Tennessee State University