Learning to write is a complex process encompassing cognitive, physical, social and cultural dimensions (Daffern, Mackenzie & Hemmings, 2017).
Writing, as a mode of English in the Victorian Curriculum, is an integral part of learning in all disciplines requiring students to write or compose a diverse range of texts that meet the literacy demands specific to the various curriculum or discipline areas.
Texts produced, and interpreted, might be print based or multimodal. In the composition of modally complex texts, ‘writing is one of several modes of representation’ (Kress & Bezemer, 2009, p. 167). As such, students need to be taught a range of skills and meaning-making codes to compose texts.
Skills and understandings
To be an effective writer or composer of texts requires an understanding of:
- encoding meaning and the processes of writing and/or composition
- the processes of writing and /or composition
- the purposes of texts and their intended audiences
- the language and visual choices which shape the meaning of texts.
While considerable attention is given to phonics and phonological awareness in the teaching and learning of reading in the early years of schooling, Goswami (2014) highlights the significance of writing in the early development of these skills, stating:
‘One of the best ways of developing ‘phonological awareness’ in young children is via the motivation to write’ (p. 83).
In addition, Goswami acknowledges the impact of oral language on the development of early literacy skills:
‘Given a strong oral language phonological foundation, and good oral language skills, most children will learn the alphabetic code quite quickly, and will be able to recode simple regularly spelled words to sound during the first year of schooling’ (2014, p. 84).
