How Children Learn to Write: Supporting and Developing Children′s Writing in School

Dorothy Latham

Juli 2002 · SAGE

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`This book is a useful addition to any staff library. What makes it different to many other similar books is that it shows teachers that speaking, listening and reading create the foundations for writing. Tested in schools, staff said: "It is a very useful framework for action-research based upon secure theory. When deciding classroom strategies, it is easy to find what you are looking for and the chapter summaries are very helpful. Some of the staff development and training suggestions are very practical and we are trying them out. We found the emphasis upon class novels and the class discussion that follows, very important, especially when linked to the excellent examples of children′s writing." This book may appear to some as theoretical and ′academic′, but this is why it will be valuable. It does what the title says because it shows how children learn to write. It starts at the beginning and saves diving into the latest trend. Perhaps its best recommendation is that every school that was asked to look at it said, `It′s good and we have ordered a copy′ - John Lilly, independent education consultant

`The chapter on the Taxonomy of Writing Purposes will be useful for planning and those on extending and enhancing writing will definitely be helpful in many day-to-day situations′ - Nicholas Bielby, Times Educational Supplement

This book outlines the processes which are involved when children learn to write.

The author shows how certain strategies can improve children′s progress in writing. Dealing with the age range three to 13, the book addresses issues to do with:

- the gender gap

- children with English as an additional language

- left-handedness

Dorothy Latham includes ideas for sound and easy ongoing assessment of writing. The book is written in line with the requirements of the English National Curriculum and The National Literacy Strategy Framework for England, but is not limited to them.

Topics also covered include:

- brain development and structures

- the acquisition of speech

- language and thinking

- working memory

- secretarial skills

- stages in compositional development

- writing purposes and cross-curricular applications

- strategies for improving self-generated writing

- using reading to improve writing

- using speech and drama to improve writing and

- ten ways to improve children′s writing.

This book is for serving teachers in schools wishing to study the subject in further depth, and as a source book for students. Useful for school-based staff INSET, it provides simple activities for teachers to do and discuss.