Learning to Write : A Case Study

Authors

  • Christine Walton Darwin Institute of Technology

Abstract

In this article we will consider one Aboriginal child’s literacy learning in her first year of formal schooling. The data were collected in 1985. Sharon was then a student in an Aboriginal Transition class in an urban school in the Northern Territory. The children in Sharon’s class consisted of Kriol, Warlpiri and Aboriginal English speakers. The program they were placed in was an English-only one. This report considers one case study and discusses Sharon’s learning in the classroom context (for a full report see Walton, 1986).

References

Cambourne B., Farrar P., Hammond J. Pretty R. Stone M. and Vine E. (1984 ): Process Writing with English and Non-English Speaking Children in Kindergarten Classes: A Report on Research in Progress. Wollongong, Faculty of Education Monograph Series,University of Wollongong .

Christie F. (1984 ): Some Current Issues in First Language Writing Development. Paper prepared for discussion in the ALAA Working Group on Language Development at the ALAA Annual Congress held Alice Springs, September 1984.

Christie M. (1984 ): The Classroom World of the Aboriginal Child. Ph.D. thesis,University of Queensland.

Clay M.,(1975 ): What Did I Write?London,Heinemann Educational Books.

Clay M.,(1979 a): The Concepts about Print Test: Stones Auckland,Heinemann Educational Books .

Clay M.,(1979b) 2nd ed.: The Early Detection of Reading Difficulties: A Diagnostic Survey with Recovery ProceduresAuckland,Heinemann Educational Books.

Clay M.,(1982 ): Exploring with a pencil. InObserving Young Readers: Selected PapersAuckland,Heinemann Educational Books:202–210.

Cowley J. (1980 ): Hairy Bear.A Story Box book. Adelaide, Rigby Educational and Shortland Publications.

ELIC (Early Literacy Inservice Course) ( 1985) Adelaide, Education Department of South Australia.

Ferreiro E. and Teberosky A. (1982 ): Literacy Before Schooling.London ,Heinemann Educational Books.

Harste J.C., Burke C.L., Woodward V.A. and Associates ( 1983): The Young Child as Writer-Reader, and Informant. Indiana,Indiana University.

Heath S.B. (1982 ): Protean shapes in literacy events: Ever-shifting oral and literate traditions. In Tannen D. (Ed.): Spoken and Written Language: Exploring Orality and Literacy.New Jersey,Ablex Publishing Corporation : 91–117.

Kemp M. (1982 ): Children's Understanding of Reading Language, {CURL). Melbourne,Nelson.

Melser J. (1981 ): Plop!. A Story Box Book. Adelaide, Rigby Educational and Shortland Publications.

Negotiated Stories: Traeger Park Language Project Book Samples (1985) (1985 ): Darwin,Northern Territory Department of Education.

Olson D.R. (1977 ): The languages of instruction: On the literate bias of schooling. In Anderson R.C. Spiro R.J.,and Montague W.E. (Eds):Schooling and the Acquisition of Knowledge.New Jersey ,Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: 65 –90.

Ross E.N. (1985 ): The Kangaroo Is Looking for Her Child.Tracks: Back of Beyond Series.Darwin,Northern Territory Department of Education.

Scribner S. and Cole M. (1981): The Psychology of Literacy. Cambridge,Harvard University Press.

Smith F. (1982 ): Writing and the Writer. London ,Heinemann Educational Books.

Temple C.A. Nathan R.G. and Burris N.A. (1982 ): The Beginnings of Writing. Boston ,Allyn and Bacon, Inc.

Vygotsky L.S. (1962 ): Thought and Language. Edited and translated by Hanfmann E. and Vakar G. Massachusetts,The M.I.T. Press.

Walshe R. (1981 ): Donald Graves in Australia: Children Want to Write. Sydney,PETA.

Walton C.E. (1986 ): Aboriginal Children Learning to Write: Kriol and Warlpiri Speakers in an English-Speaking Classroom. MEd thesisArmidale ,University of New England.

Wells G. (1982 ): Story reading and development of symbolic skills . Australian Journal of Reading. 5, 3 . 142–152.

Wilkinson L. and Weeks B. (1984): Modelled writing: One example. Early Literacy Inservice Course - Unit 93 Teaching Writing. Adelaide,Education Department of South Australia: 11–14 .

Young R.E. (1983 ): A school communication-deficit hypothesis of educational disadvantage. The Australian Journal of Education, Vol.27, No.l: 3–15.

Downloads

Published

1987-11-01

How to Cite

Walton, C. (1987). Learning to Write : A Case Study. The Aboriginal Child at School, 15(5), 3–32. Retrieved from https://ajie.atsis.uq.edu.au/acs/article/view/1839

Issue

Section

Articles