Read aloud and its impact on young children's writing

House-Walters, Heather (1996) Read aloud and its impact on young children's writing. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF (Migrated (PDF/A Conversion) from original format: (application/pdf)) - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (20MB) [English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. (Original Version)

Abstract

This study was designed to determine whether there is any relationship between the frequency of read aloud, the genres selected for read aloud and their frequencies, and the forms of writing children are asked to produce in selected grade 1 classrooms. The study was conducted over a twelve-week period in eight grade 1 classrooms in six schools. The selection of the eight grade 1 teachers was based on teachers' willingness to participate since participation required a considerable degree of committment on their part for the duration of the study. The teachers were asked to keep a daily log of the selections that they had read to their children. They were also asked to collect dated writing samples from three children in their class whose performance was representative of the range of abilities within the class. -- The study suggested that teachers in the primary grades are reading to their children on a fairly regular basis although some teachers are reading a lot more than others and individual teaching philosophies seemed to dictate the quality and variety of children's literature read. The study revealed that the genre most frequently selected for read aloud was narrative. While it is often thought that teachers have children writing a lot of narrative, the results of this study suggested that children's writing activities frequently required them to complete expository writing in which they were able to tell about information or experiences. Young children may find it easier to apply their developing knowledge of the conventions of print to expository writing whereas narrative writing demands that children learn an additional body of knowledge which pertains to the elements of narrative or story structure.

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