• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Massey Documents by Type
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • Massey Documents by Type
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Children's perceptions of their writing : the knowledge, strategies, attributions, and attitudes children bring to writing : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University

    Icon
    View/Open Full Text
    01_front.pdf (562.9Kb)
    02_whole.pdf (17.75Mb)
    Export to EndNote
    Abstract
    Writing is a significant cognitive, educational, personal, and social activity. Children's perceptions of their writing impact significantly on their learning, and are clearly influenced by the instructional programmes and environments they encounter. Children's development as writers during their middle primary school years (years four to six) is significantly under- researched. Four key areas of children's perceptions are of interest to this study: knowledge, strategies, attributions, and attitudes. Consequently, this study seeks to understand children's perceptions of their writing, and the contexts within which these perceptions are developed. A six week ethnographic case study was undertaken, involving eight children and two teachers in one school. The data collection methods of participant observation, interviews, 'think alouds', and document analysis were used to gain a rich understanding of children's perceptions. Data was analysed and validated using qualitative methods. The findings show that children hold diverse and idiosyncratic global perceptions. Children demonstrate a range of knowledge and strategies that they bring to their writing. They are able to describe both common and novel attributions for their successes and failures. Children's attitudes are predictably diverse, and show a strong link with classroom programmes and environments. While children's perceptions are clearly influenced by the classroom programme and environment, this alone does not account for the uniqueness of children's perceptions. While the two teachers in this study offered different instructional experiences, both see metacognition and self-management as having an important role in children's learning. These findings suggest that knowledge and strategy use are of equal importance to middle primary children. Instructional practices loosely based on a cognitive apprenticeship model may be effective in making writing a knowledgeable, strategic, social, and authentic activity. The current curriculum inadequately conceptualises genre and pays only minimal attention to children's development of genre knowledge. This study recommends that longitudinal research into the development of writing expertise in the middle primary years is needed.
    Date
    2002
    Author
    Willcocks, Madelaine Ruth Armstrong
    Rights
    The Author
    Publisher
    Massey University
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10179/6370
    Collections
    • Theses and Dissertations
    Metadata
    Show full item record

    Copyright © Massey University
    Contact Us | Send Feedback | Copyright Take Down Request | Massey University Privacy Statement
    DSpace software copyright © Duraspace
    v5.7-2020.1
     

     

    Tweets by @Massey_Research
    Information PagesContent PolicyDepositing content to MROCopyright and Access InformationDeposit LicenseDeposit License SummaryTheses FAQFile FormatsDoctoral Thesis Deposit

    Browse

    All of MROCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Copyright © Massey University
    Contact Us | Send Feedback | Copyright Take Down Request | Massey University Privacy Statement
    DSpace software copyright © Duraspace
    v5.7-2020.1