Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T05:34:25.027Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Writing in preschoolers: An age-related analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Liliana Tolchinsky-Landsmann  and
Iris Levin
Liliana Tolchinsky-Landsmann*
Affiliation:
Tel Aviv University
Iris Levin*
Affiliation:
Tel Aviv University
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE: School of Education, Tel Aviv University, Ramat- Aviv, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE: School of Education, Tel Aviv University, Ramat- Aviv, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We investigated the development in preschoolers' conceptualization of the written system from its graphic rendering and its mapping onto meaning by analyzing children's writings and readings of their writings. Forty-two Israeli children aged 3.4 – 5.8 years were asked to draw, write, and interpret a number of utterances. By the age of four, children's writings became constricted in size relative to their drawings and were composed of linearly organized units separated by regular blanks. These units increased in their adherence to conventional Hebrew letters throughout the age range examined. Children's interpretations of their own writing were classified into five modes: Interpretation unrelated to the utterance; preserving the content of the utterance but not its verbal form; complete reiteration; dividing the utterance into phonetic units; and description of the written characters. These modes were related to age and to conventionality of characters used.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , September 1985 , pp. 319 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bishop, Y., Feinberg, S., & Holland, P.Discrete multivariate analysis. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1975.Google Scholar
Bissex, G. L.GNYS AT WRK: A child learns lo write and read. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980.Google Scholar
Clay, M. M.What did I write? Beginning writing behaviour. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1982.Google Scholar
Davis, M. E.Symbolic development in middle childhood: The acquisition of notational symbol use. Unpublished manuscript, Harvard Project Zero, 1981.Google Scholar
Downing, J., Ollila, L., & Oliver, P.Cultural differences in children's concept of reading and writing. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 1975, 45, 312–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyson, A. H. Talking with young children writing. Childhood Education.Google Scholar
Feldman, D. H.Beyond universals in cognitive development. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corp., 1980.Google Scholar
Ferreiro, E.What is written in a written sentence? A developmental answer. Journal of Education, 1978, 160, 25–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferreiro, E. & Teberosky, A.Los sistemas de escritura en el desarrollo del nin¯o. Mexico: Siglo XXI, 1979.Google Scholar
Gentry, J. R. An analysis of developmental spelling in GNYS AT WRK. The Reading Teacher, 1982, 192–200.Google Scholar
Gibson, E. J., & Levin, H.The psychology of reading. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1975.Google Scholar
Goodman, K. El proceso de lectura: consideraciones a traves de las lenguas y del desarrollo. In Ferreiro, E. & Gomez Palacio, M. (Eds.), Nuevas perspectivas sobre los procesos de lectura y escritura. Siglo XXI, 1982.Google Scholar
Goodman, Y. El desarrollo de la escritura en ninos muy pequenos. In Ferreiro, E. & Gomez Palacio, M. (Eds.), Nuevas Perspectivas sobre los procesos de lectura y escritura. Siglo XXI, 1982.Google Scholar
Goodnow, J., Friedman, S. L., Bernbaum, M., & Lehman, E. B.Direction and sequence in copying: The effect of learning to write in English and Hebrew. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 1973, 4, 263–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graves, D. H.Writing: Teachers and children at work. London: Hememann Educational Books, 1983.Google Scholar
Harste, J. & Burke, , Predictibilidad un universal de la lecto-escritura. In, Ferreiro, E. & Palacio, M. Gomez (Eds.), Nuevas perspectivas sobre los procesos de lectura y escritura. Siglo XXI, 1982.Google Scholar
Hiebert, E. II. Developmental patterns and interrelationships of preschool children's print awareness. Reading Research Quarterly, 1981, 16, 236–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hildreth, G.Developmental sequences in name writing. Child Development, 1936, 7, 291–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hung, D. L. & Tzeng, O. J. L.Orthographic variations and visual information processing. Psychological Bulletin, 1981, 90, 377–414.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lavine, L. O. The development of perception of writing in pre-reading children: A cross-cultural study. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Department of Human Development, Cornell University, 1972.Google Scholar
Lavine, L. O.Differentiation of letterlike forms in prereading children. Developmental Psychology, 1977, 13, 89–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lurcat, L.Evolution du graphisme entre 3 et 4 ans, la differenciation entre le dessin et l'écriture. Revue de Neuro-Psychiatrie Infantile, 1965, 13, 13–44.Google Scholar
Pick, A. D., Unze, M. G., Brounwell, C. A., Drozdal, J. G., & Hopman, M. R.Young children's knowledge of word structure. Child Development, 1978, 49, 669–680.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Read, C.Preschool children's knowledge of English phonology. Harvard Educational Review, 1971, 41, 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Read, C. Childrens' awareness of language with emphasis on sound systems. In Sinclair, A., Jarvella, R. J., & Levelt, W. J. M. (Eds.), The Child's Conception of Language. Berlin: Springer Verlag, 1978.Google Scholar
Reid, J.Learning to think about reading. Educational Research, 1966, 9, 56–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russel, G. F. M.History of writing and its relevance for the linguistic disorder in dyslexia: discussion paper. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 1982, 75, 631–640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schickedanz, J. A. The acquisition of written language in young children. In Spodek, B. (Ed.), Handbook of Research in Early Childhood Education. London: The Free Press, Collier MacMillan Publishers, 1982.Google Scholar
Sinclair, H.Children's ideas about written words and written numbers. DSRE Working Paper 14. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1982.Google Scholar
Smith, F.Psycholinguistics and Reading. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973.Google Scholar
Smith, F.Reading like a writer. Language Arts, 1983, 60, 558–567.Google Scholar
Snow, C. E.Literacy and language: relationships during the preschool years. Harvard Educational Review, 1983, 53, 165–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vygotsky, L. S.Mind and Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1948/1978.Google Scholar