Development of Writing Skills in Children in Diverse Cultural Contexts: Contributions to Teaching and Learning

This book brings together multiple theoretical perspectives and disciplinary approaches to study the acquisition and development of written language by children as well as the implications for teaching and learning of writing practices in a variety of languages and cultural contexts. Chapters in this contributed volume present both theoretical contributions and results of research carried out with students and teachers from 11 countries (Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Israel, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, UK and USA) who speak seven different languages: Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian, French, Dutch and Hebrew. By bringing together research developed in diverse cultural contexts it enriches the debates in the interdisciplinary field of writing studies by analyzing a wide range of topics at the interface between research and educational implications for the teaching and learning of writing by children. The book consists of five parts, each one addressing a specific set of topics. Part I presents studies on topics related to written language representation systems (phonological and morphological awareness) and on the relationship between grammar and the quality of texts of different genres. Part II includes studies related to compositional processes of writing texts, and the factors involved in these processes. Part III focuses on the difficulties faced by students during the acquisition and development of writing. Part IV is dedicated to chapters that discuss and compare writing practices in different social environments. Finally, chapters in part V deal with teaching and learning of writing in the school setting. Development of Writing Skills in Children in Diverse Cultural Contexts: Contributions to Teaching and Learning will be of interest to researchers and students in the fields of psychology, education and linguistics, as well as to other social scientists in the broader interdisciplinary field of writingstudies.

About the Author

Alina Galvão Spinillo is a Full-Professor in the Post-Graduate Program in Cognitive Psychology at the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil. She is also one of the leaders of the Group for Research in Psychology of Mathematics Education at the same university. She is a member of the Working Group Sociocognitive and Language Development of the National Association for Research and Post-Graduate Programs in Psychology, Brazil, and a member of the Working Group Cognitive and Linguistic Processes in Mathematics Education of the Brazilian Society of Mathematics Education. She is a level 1 researcher with the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development. She has carried out studies and publications on mathematics reasoning, literacy, writing and text comprehension in elementary school children.

Carmen Sotomayor is a Full-Professor in the Institute of Advanced Studies in Education at the University of Chile. She coordinates the area of ​​Language Teaching and Learning at this institution, and she trains primary education teachers at the same university. She is a member of the Chilean Association of Researchers in Education, and a member of the SIG Writing, Special Interest Group, of the European Association for Research in Learning and Instruction (EARLI). She is a consultant for the Ministry of Education in projects on learning standards and teacher training in Language and for UNESCO in the curricular analysis for the ERCE reading and writing tests for Latin America. She has carried out studies and publications on writing in primary school, including the use of technology for teaching writing.