Parent-Child Interaction in a Letter-Writing Context

Abstract

This study investigated the interactions between 26 parents and their 3-to 5-year-old children as they collaborated to write a letter to someone during a 10-minute videotaped session. Observations of these sessions were coded using categories designed to indicate: (a) the manner of the exchange of information, (b) the types of information that parents and children exchanged during the writing, and (c) the nature of the children's written input into the resulting letter product. Regression analyses were used to examine how the parents' level of control was associated with: (a) the nature of the children's communicative input into the literacy exchange, (b) the type of information about writing upon which the interchange was focused, and (c) the nature of each child's written input into their letter product. Parents exhibiting higher levels of control tended to have children who exhibited higher levels of response and recognition that they heard the parents, had exchanges that focused on spelling, and had written products that were conventional in nature. Parents demonstrating lower levels of control tended to have children who exhibited higher levels of initiations and verbal input, had exchanges focused on the content of the letter, and had written products that were emergent in nature. These results are discussed in terms of the parents' perception of the experimental task and the amount of instructional support needed to complete the task.

What a Parent Brings to the Table: Young Children Writing with and without Parental Assistance

“…After completion of the task, the child was again asked to read the product to the experimenter. The dyadic task and instructions were taken from Burns and Casbergue (1992). The solo task was an addition to their procedure.…”

“…Videotapes were coded using a system based on Burns and Casbergue (1992). Task-related speech was coded as either code or message focused.…”

“…Studies have been conducted of children's writing in collaboration with their peers and classroom teachers (Dahl & Freppon, 1992;Roskos, 1991) > but parent-child writing interactions have not received much empirical attention (see Rasinski & Fredericks, 1991, for an example of practical advice to parents). A rare exception is a study of parent-child collaboration on a writing task, conducted by Burns and Casbergue (1992). They reported that high parental task control was positively associated with children's responsiveness to parental directives, exchanges that focused on spelling, and products that were conventional in nature.…”

“…Parents who demonstrated low levels of control tended to have children who showed more initiation and verbal input in the writing sessions; their interactions focused on the message of the letter, and written products were less conventional in appearance. Burns and Casbergue (1992) concluded that a child-centered, emergent strategy is more motivating and developmentally enhancing than a directive, parent-centered teaching style, at least in their sample of 4-year-old children.…”

Spelling Acquisition in Two Social Groups: Mother-Child Interaction, Maternal Beliefs and Child's Spelling

“…Most of the studies on parent-child literate activities have been carried out on joint book reading (Bus, Lesemam, & Keultjes, 2000;Bus, van Ijzendoorn, & Pellegrini, 1995;Heath, 1983;Snow & Ninio, 1986;Teale 1986); only recently have some researchers focused on collaborative parent-child writing (Burns & Casbergue, 1992;DeBaryshe, Buell, & Binder, 1996). Furthermore, there is only very limited research on the writing development of children from different socioeconomic groups (see exceptions: National Assessment of Educational Progress, 1991) and even less research on children's spelling.…”