Being literate means you can bring your knowledge and your experience to bear on what passes before you.

What is it that we want from our children in today's society? Do we desire them to be literate? Yes I think we would all agree! However, to what level of comprehension do we desire our children to have? As stated in the above statement we often-loose sight of what we are teaching our children in order to make sure they can 'read and write'. We need to provide learning, which encourages them to use reading and writing so that they can have control over their lives and environment and allow them to continue to deal rationally and in words with their lives and decisions.

Helping young children learn to read and write is just the beginning. Fostering and sustaining their interest and disposition to read and write for their own enjoyment, information, and communication is inseparable from learning to read and write. From this, they are more likely to become literate adults.

Learning to read and write is critical to a child's success in school and for later in life. One of the best predictors of whether a child will function competently in school and go on to contribute actively in our increasingly literate society is the level to which the child progresses in reading and writing. We must of course remember to avoid our children becoming trained in 'improper literacy'. Sound language is foundational to learning in all areas of the curriculum

 Although reading and writing abilities continue to develop throughout the life span, the early childhood years--from birth through age eight--is a critical period for literacy development. In Mem Fox's and Lyn Wilkinsons book 'English Essentials' (1997) they discuss the vital link between being an avid reader and a successful writer. They state;

Admittedly, learning to write must come before we can develop avid readers and effective writers. Nevertheless, we can see the results of reading for pleasure. This love of literature can easy stem from, and usually does, come from within the family home.

Of course, I acknowledge that the learning of literacy is based upon looking at all aspects of literacy and incorporating this in a balanced and rich environment. However, by providing a rich and balanced environment, we can pursue developing and implementing sound literacy practices, which not only encourage children to learn and love literacy but also effectively assist children in their development of literacy and their love for writing. To further explain this Moon and Wells is quoted by Slee (1993,) as claiming:

As this statement clearly recommends parents reading to their children at home directly links children learning to read meaningful experiences.

We can also look at early writing of preschool and kindergarten children as see that they are using unconventional forms of writing to express and relate their thoughts and experiences. They do this through scribblings, drawings, and letter-like marks. By parents and teachers, these see these as attempts to communicate and encourage students to continue. (Maehr, 1991, p.1)

To further expand on this we can look at the Education Department, who have researched and developed a framework for linking assessment with teaching and learning. These instructional tools can assist teachers and parents in teaching children how to communicate effectively, to have 'proper literacy'. The series is called First Steps and covers four areas: Reading, Spelling, Oral language and Writing. In the Writing Developmental Continuum, it lists its beliefs about writing are that all children need:

If we begin to understand what writing is all about then we can begin to develop sound practices within the home and classroom, which encourage students to reach their full potential.

It is also stated in the Reading Resource book (1997) that the 'foundations of literacy are laid in the years BEFORE children come to school.' Thus teachers must develop their programs to reflect students prior knowledge within the context for 'learning that will enable children to develop control over written language and enjoy using it, so they can interact effectively in a literate society. (P.1).

Current theorist in the area of literacy development, Allan Luke and Peter Freebody (1990) look at how individual children play a part in understanding texts. They discuss the child's background knowledge and the perspectives they bring to the class as being the child's sociocultural background. They focus not only on the different roles a child plays in understanding text but also the perspective that every individual child comes from their own sociocultural background. Our sociocultural background plays a significant part in our approach to and decoding/understanding of literacy practices. An important factor with looking at this approach is developing children to become critical thinkers. It is crucial that we are sensible about looking at this process in light of, how children learn to write and how we 'teach' it. Therefore, it is vital that the students are presented with a balance of instruction.

Kress (cited in Merrett, 2000, p, 603) asserts that: Writing is an essential element in the educational process and is considered by most people to be fundamental for school success. It is also considered to be the key to innovation and change in the future. Stallard & Clay (cited in Merrett, 2000, p, 603) continue on to state: Children's first urge is to write rather than read thus writing comes more naturally than reading. However, we see within our classroom children's reluctance to write starts at a young age. This reluctance grows with age. Why is this so?

We as teachers must look at the practices we undertake within the classroom and break these down to see what is happening. Of course not all the problems are situated with the teaching practices but this is what we have 'control over'. So naturally, it is a good place to begin. Therefore, for the purpose of this document we will look mainly at the teachers teaching practices.

The Reluctant Writer: We often look at the Cognitive aspects, (the way we know about the world through the use of thinking, reasoning, learning and remembering) of the learner and quite often forget the Affective factors, (learning which is concerned with personal and social matters) of the reader.

Irwin (1991, p.145) discusses affective factors such as, how motivation and interest are primary aspects when setting an assignment. He states, 'when students have ownership of the assignment through choice, they are more likely to be motivated.' Therefore, for the reluctant writer the beginning factor would be to motivate them. Finding out what is interesting to the student and use this as a basis to begin writing.

Nevertheless, what are some factors, which inhibit a child's willingness to write?

As teachers we often can unintentionally make writing more difficult and thus develop an inhibited or reluctant writer. We can do this by:

  1. Focusing more on what we are trying to teach and less on what the child is trying to do. When we have begun our writing session with our students we often approach and ask "tell about what you are writing?" we can continue on to ask, did you do this? Did you do that? Too many question which can hinder the process or flow of writing. These questions can come later or they can be restructured to encourage not hinder the writing.

  2. Making the writing process more important, than the story/piece the child wishes to write. When we discussing and or assessing students work, we can easily become inflexible and 'send the message to the students that we have a greater desire to see them gain knowledge and understanding in the process and the content is not that important.

    I have recently seen this occur within an upper primary class. The teacher is looking at the different genres according to the benchmark testing. She has spent many weeks in the 'creative writing' lesson time slot, choosing one genre, each fortnight from first steps. The students are usually given a choice of topic and then they are to write the topic according to the genre type. They must complete the writing within the same lesson. The result is little attention to detail and students completing the task to suit the teacher. The teacher has expressed the frustration with this and feels next year the approach can be better as students will have a foundation of the genres and will be able to meet the criteria of the benchmark testing.

  3. Using the 'authors chair' as a hot seat. Graves, 1983. Presented the author's chair as an opportunity to invite children to share their work in progress. It enables children to freely express what they are working on and ask for assistance or opinions from the class. The child is in control. A 'Hot Seat' focus makes it a 'teacher's choice', rather than a 'child's choice'. Using the strategies presented by others can be dangerous if they are not implemented according to the initial intention. While many of us are able to adapt strategies and enhance them, other we can turn into torture chambers! Therefore beware, the authors chair is to assist the student in their writing.

  4. Insisting children participate in all parts of the writing process. By insisting children using a ridged format each time they write, can inhibit a child's willingness to write. Following a format is meant to aid students in their writings. When this process becomes bogged down and pedantic then reflection by the teacher needs to take place. The process needs to be flexible.

  5. Final products! So often, we insist that a student's final draft is perfect. Often the focuses are on the mechanics of writing. Consequently, students see this as the main purpose for their writing. Not all pieces of writing need reach the final draft stage. While audience is important to remember, we also can consider current technologies and these can be used to assist students when writing final drafts for a particular audience.

    Maryann Mannings, 1999, p.131. States: " most of us have stopped bleeding on written pieces with ren pens, but we still may be sending negative written and verbal messages that impede young writers". This of course requires careful consideration, because we tend to focus on correction of errors too quickly and therefore can often see a reduction in the willingness to write. This is even so for final drafts!

    Research supports that, students will learn to focus on whatever the main aspect is 'emphasized' for writing. For new writers the focus should and needs to be the writing! Increasing children's rates of writing need not result in decreases in accuracy. In fact, it can even result in the writing being more creative and imaginative.

  6. The topics we give to students. The topic of topics has stimulated much discussion and debate. Topic choice can be an inhibitor for some students. Donald Graves talked about students selecting their own topics to write. He felt that choosing topics to write, should be the student's responsibility.

First Steps Writing Resource Book, 1997, p.2, states writing must be introduced in meaningful contexts that enable students to focus on questions such as 'what is my purpose and audience?' rather than " what shall I write about?' This seems like it contradicts Graves but in fact, the topic selection when put into meaningful context no longer becomes a problem but a foundation from which to build. Establishing a writing environment, which the student's topic selection is valued and the students write, can become the foundation for greater writing across the curriculum.

Therefore, in conclusion we need to provide classroom, which encourage students to write write, write! In addition, when they have finished then write some more! This seems easy enough, however, other contributing factors need to be considered, and the children who are unwilling to write, need to want to change! Ashman & Elkins (1998,) discuss how:

Based on this, providing a change would require a close relationship between the teacher, parent, school, and child. This is reinforced in the First Steps program (Reading Resource Book, 1997, p.137), it states that '&ldots;an integrated approach, wherein the child, the teaching approach, the school and the parents all play an important role in helping to design the most suitable instructional program for the child.'

A framework to assist children, who require change, can be found by undertaking the elements of the whole and authentic language program

(The following list is by no means exhaustive):

(Woolfolk 1998 p.359 & First Steps Writing Resource Book, 1997, p.8)

So, for the inhibited writers, in fact for all writers of all abilities, is it important to continue to foster and expand on their enjoyment of quality literature? It is vital that as teachers we stay tuned to the writer to make sure they are being challenged and are developing control over their lives and environment thus allowing them to continue to deal rationally and in words with their lives and decisions.

Therefore in summary I will take a quote from the First Steps Resource Book (1997, p.1) "A successful language program is one which reading, writing, speaking and listening are integrated in a supportive and stimulating environment in which independent and reflective critical thinking is fostered". This is particularly so, not just for the classroom, but also for the family home. Parents, teachers and students need to combine forces to strive to achieve adults of tomorrow who are active writers who are able to make meaning from the visual information, non-visual information, oral and written language from the world in which they live.

Therefore I will conclude by asking the questions, do we wish our children to be inquiring, independent learners who are flexible problem solvers? Do we wish them to adapt to a variety of situations? Well we have a challenge we need to knuckle down and assist our children both in the classroom and at home in the processes of gaining and applying information in order for them to become the writers of tomorrow. As stated by Morris & Stewart-Dore (1984, p.29)

' We learn to do it by doing it!'

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