Poster #185 - Young children’s perception of early writing experience in preschool classroom

• In Event: 1-115 - Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Section - School Readiness/Childcare

Integrative Statement

Research in early literacy links children’s interest in literacy to their reading skills (e.g., Bracken & Fischel, 2008; Frijters, Barron, & Brunello, 2000) and as much as 14% of the variance in language and literacy outcomes can be accounted for by children’s literacy interest (Scarborough & Dobrich, 1994). Despite these findings, there has been little research on the nature of children’s interest in writing and its role in writing development. Existing children’s literacy interest measures typically rely on adults’ reports (e.g., Frijters et al., 2000) or structured child-report assessment (e.g., Baroody & Diamond, 2012) of general literacy interest, in which the child’s writing interest domain receives little attention. This study aimed to (1). capture children’s writing interest from both children and teachers’ perspectives, and (2). examine the associations between children’s interest, and early writing and reading skills.
55 children (29 girls, mean age = 51 months, SD=6.70) from seven preschool classrooms were included in this study. 34 children were from low-SES backgrounds. Children’s writing interest was assessed using structured interviews with pictures of classroom activities. Children were prompted to choose their favorite classroom activities and describe their experience specifically in classroom writing activities. Children’s interviews were audio-taped, transcribed and coded to indicate the level of children’s interest in writing activity. Children’s teachers completed a 12-items Likert scale (Cronbach’s alpha = .9) questionnaire about their observation of each child’s engagement in classroom writing activities. Children’s early writing (e.g. name writing, letter writing and invented spelling) and reading (e.g. phonological awareness, vocabulary, letter knowledge, and print knowledge) were assessed using existing early literacy measures. Partial correlational tests were conducted to examine the associations between children’s interest and early writing and reading skills controlling children’s age.
Analyses of children’s interview show that most young children could correctly differentiate writing activities from other types of classroom activities. More children viewed “writing on ipads” as a writing activity than “typing on computers.” Very few children indicated “a strong interest” in existing classroom activities. Children showed much stronger interest in activities that involved art materials, colorful manipulatives, and peer-interactions. However, children’s self-report of writing in the classroom was positively correlated with letter naming (r = .40, p< .001) and letter sound knowledge (r = .28, p< .05). Teacher-report of writing interest did not correlate with child-reported interest. However, teachers’ report highly correlated with children’s early writing (i.e. name writing, r=.40, p<.01, and letter writing, r=.36, p<.01), and early reading (i.e. vocabulary, r =.31, p< .05, letter knowledge, r=.36, p<.01 and print knowledge, r = .43, p< .001) skills.
This study, as the first study to explore the interplay among children’s interest, reading, and writing skills, suggests that existing classroom writing activities may not effectively attract and engage young children. While young children could differentiate writing activities from other activities and showed interest in writing actions, children’s writing interest may not lead to actual classroom engagement in writing activities as teachers reported.

Authors

• Chenyi Zhang, Georgia State University
  Presenting Author

• Margaret Ferguson Quinn, The University of Tennessee - Knoxville
  Non-Presenting Author