Spelling should be recognized as a developmental process that is child-initiated and discovery-based. Through use of an integrated whole language approach, children can be provided with opportunities to acquire spelling as a natural language process by beginning at their own developmental level and refining their internal knowledge of word…

Tracing the development of "concept of story" in one child from age three years to five years using the language experience task, a hierarchy of text/context relationships emerges. First there is the inventory stage whereby the child names and describes behaviors to objects. The second stage is descriptive and the child modifies the object and the…

The purpose of this study is to show that children go through writing stages while learning to write. Understanding these stages can help children become more effective writers in expressing feelings, memories, and concerns to gain recognition with themselves and others. A literature review examined stages of writing and long-term results from…

The first of a two-volume final report, this document focuses on a study of written language growth and development among 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-year old children. The first section of the document contains five essays dealing with race, sex, age, socioeconomic status, and language; orchestrating the literacy event; reading and writing as…

Prepared as part of a series applying recent research in oral and written communication instruction to classroom practice, this booklet describes several classroom-based studies that have examined children's writing development and synthesizes what they have shown about the process. The first section of the booklet analyzes the term "writing…