Examining teachers’ early writing knowledge and practices

Supporting the Writing Development of Emergent Bilingual Children: Universal and Language‐Specific Approaches

“…Early learning standards promote writing as communication guiding teachers to encourage children to use any form of writing to convey their messages (Tortorelli et al, 2021). In fact, teachers who conceptualize writing as a multicomponent skill that includes composing provide children with more opportunities to communicate through writing (Bingham et al, 2022). Educators show value for multiple forms of communication and multiple linguistic knowledges when they engage in discussions with children about their ideas and support them in capturing these through meaningful marks or pictures (Williams & Lowrance‐Faulhaber, 2018).…”

“…In this example, the teacher is providing both cognitive and physical supports to assist the child to be successful in writing. To support a child's ability to hear sounds in a word that they want to write, a teacher might make the task easier for the child by stretching the initial sound in a word to assist the child with hearing /p/ as they write the word ‘pig.’ Effective teachers break down tasks to make them easier for children but still allow children to do much of the cognitive or physical work of writing (Bingham et al, 2022). Finding that “just right” balance in how to support children can be a little tricky, but a general rule of thumb is to consider how to provide “just enough” support to help the child complete part or all of the task by themselves.…”

“…In this way, she is challenging children to generate ideas and encouraging them to write or draw their ideas to communicate with others. Research suggests that teachers move in and out of expanding children's thinking and then also making the task easier when children need assistance (Bingham et al, 2022). This interplay of involvement helps children stay engaged with the writing process as the teacher builds upon previous interactions and skills.…”

Early childhood teachers’ writing beliefs and practices

“…Multiple factors have been posited for why early education teachers engage infrequently in early writing interactions and why most instructional interactions in preschool classrooms heavily favor transcription skills (i.e., handwriting and early spelling) rather than early composing (Bingham et al, 2017). For example, researchers have identified that writing practices are related to teacher knowledge about early writing (Bingham et al, 2022), early writing standards (Tortorelli et al, 2021), and pre-service teacher educational experiences (Hall and Grisham-Brown, 2011). Studies linking these constructs and teacher practice suggest that teachers' social cognitions (their beliefs and attitudes about writing) and their knowledge of how children develop early writing skills likely guide the frequency and types of experiences they provide children.…”

“…Studies linking these constructs and teacher practice suggest that teachers' social cognitions (their beliefs and attitudes about writing) and their knowledge of how children develop early writing skills likely guide the frequency and types of experiences they provide children. Bingham et al (2022) illustrate that teachers with more sophisticated early writing knowledge are more likely to provide high quality early writing instructional opportunities designed to support a wide range of early writing skills (i.e., composing, handwriting, and spelling). Because teacher beliefs and knowledge are malleable (i.e., they can be changed), understanding how preschool teachers think about early writing development and how it is promoted in early childhood classrooms is an important area of research.…”