Examining the Effects of Preschool Writing Instruction on Emergent Literacy Skills: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Abstract

& Sulzby, 1986), little information exists regarding effective writing instruction in the preschool setting. Conducting a systematic review of experimental research is a useful approach for identifying instructional strategies in writing that hold promise for improving young children's emergent literacy skills (Graham, McKeown, Kiuhara, & Harris, 2012). Thus, the purpose of this article is to provide a systematic review of experimental studies investigating preschool writing instruction along with a meta-analysis component. Due to the interrelated nature of emergent literacy skills, experimental research in the preschool setting often includes multifaceted interventions (i.e., interventions that include instruction in multiple literacy domains), making it challenging to discern the effects of specific domains. Specifically, few experimental studies have been conducted with interventions focused solely on preschool writing instruction (Bernhard, Winsler, Bleiker, Ginieniewicz, & Madigan, 2008; DeBaryshe & Gorecki, 2007). In this study, we used Head Start's definition of early writing as the familiarity with writing implements, conventions, and emerging skills to communicate attitudes and ideas through written representations, symbols, and letters (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Emergent literacy theory suggests children's early writing involves experimenting with writing and modifying understandings about print through meaningful PRESCHOOL WRITING INSTRUCTION 3 interactions with the social environment and text (Clay, 1991). Emergent writing has been observed across several dimensions (e.g., writing form, directionality, ways of assigning meaning, and message content; Rowe & Wilson, 2009) and children as young as two years of age have been observed to use early writing to explore and record ideas (Rowe & Neizel, 2010). A growing body of research suggests emergent writing skills appear to develop at different rates, along a developmental continuum, and without a set sequence of activities (Levin et al., 2005; Puranik & Lonigan, 2011; Tolchinksy, 2003). As children move through using their current forms (e.g., scribbles, letter strings, words) of emergent writing, they begin to notice print and to recognize and write familiar words. Graves (1983) describes children's natural desire to write. Children want to write. They want to write the first day they attend school. This is no accident. Before they went to school they marked up walls, pavements, newspapers with crayons, chalk, pens or pencils…anything that makes a mark. The child's marks say, "I am." (p. 3) Calkins (1983, 1986) states that as children move through the developmental stages of writing, they experience the powerful discovery that print carries meaning. Tolchinsky (2014) emphasizes that children learn to write by consistently engaging in the act of writing and experimenting with print. Although a large body of research supports the importance of children engaging in meaningful early writing experiences, a recent study conducted by ...

Using a Digital Spelling Game for Promoting Alphabetic Knowledge of Preschoolers: The Contribution of Auditory and Visual Supports

“…Children come to understand that letters symbolize segments of speech via repeated interactions with supporting adults, such as family members and teachers (e.g., Robins & Treiman, ). In effective spelling support, adults guide children to separate words into their component sounds, connect each sound to its letter, and then independently write the letter (Hall, Simpson, Guo, & Wang, ; Jones, ; Levin & Aram, ). Building on the successful interactions between supportive adults and young children as they learn to spell, we examined how different digital supports within a spelling game could promote early literacy skills.…”

Practices and Challenges of Writing Instruction in K-2 Classrooms: A Case Study of Five Primary Grade Teachers

“…These are all emergent skills that predict later literacy success. Most recently, in their systematic review of the literature regarding the effect of early writing instruction on emergent literacy skills, Hall et al (2015) found that early writing instruction improved early literacy outcomes. Taken together, research has shown that young children of varying ability levels should be given opportunities to engage in developmentally appropriate writing experiences (Watanabe and Hall-Kenyon 2011).…”

“…Furthermore, little is known about how teachers value writing and how their beliefs influence their practices for writing instruction (Graham et al 2002;Hall and Grisham-Brown 2011;Norman and Spencer 2005). Although writing programs have been developed for teaching young children (see Calkins 1994Calkins , 2010, reports about actual teacher writing instruction and student performance are rare (Hall et al 2015). Those scholars who have focused on early writing instructional practices have focused primarily on examining the writing programs and instruction of advanced or more experienced teachers (Cutler and Graham 2008;Gilbert and Graham 2010).…”

“…It also increases the probability of implementing inappropriate instructional practices (Gilbert and Graham 2010). Hall et al (2015) encourage researchers to examine writing instruction interventions in order to improve our understanding of effective practices, including the role teachers should play during writing activities. They specifically encourage the investigation of writing instructional strategies independent of other early literacy skills.…”

Quality standards matter: a comparative case study examining interactive writing in the preschool setting

“…Interactive writing is an instructional strategy that involves teachers and students engaging in discussion, sharing the pen to compose a group text, and orally rereading their authentic writing together (Hall, Simpson, Guo, & Wang, 2015;Button, Johnson, & Furgerson, 1996). This strategy was developed as part of the early literacy lesson framework by educators at The Ohio State University (Pinnell & McCarrier, 1994) and is supported by the concept of emergent literacy (Clay, 1975).…”