| dc.description.abstract | One of the main functions of primary schools in Ireland, is to support children in the attainment of effective writing skills. However, when children begin their formal education in primary school, they bring with them knowledge of the written language. The emergent literacy perspective appreciates that children begin their writing journey in the home, alongside their family members in social and informal situations. Reflecting this, the aim of the research in this thesis was to investigate the perceptions of emergent writing, from the viewpoints of parents and their children. The research was underpinned by Street’s Theory of Literacy as a Social Practice. His theory promotes an ideological model of literacy, which acknowledges that children experience literacy in different contexts, and thus, bring different ideas of literacy to school. He claims that there is much schools can learn from these experiences.
The findings in this study suggested that parents may not fully understand the emergent approach to early writing. As a result, the informal literacy events that occur in homes are not always regarded as valuable learning opportunities. It also found that parental understandings of early writing, influence the ethos, the opportunities and the materials available for early writing in the home. Thus, the writing development of young children is likely to be influenced by parental perceptions. Children’s understandings of early writing were in line with the emergent writing perspective. The children identified strongly as writers and were motivated to write when they were in social environments and when they were active agents in their own writing activities. | |
