2.4.5

Other Writing Theories

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Other Writing Theories

These theories don’t fit neatly into any category but are still very important to bring into your essay.

__Rothery__

Rothery

  • Rothery divided types of children’s writing into 4 categories:
    • Observations and comments – the writer will make observations and evaluative comments.
    • Recounts – chronological recounts of events which are subjective. These follows a set pattern of ‘orientation-event-reorientation’.
__Rothery__ cont.

Rothery cont.

  • Reports – factual descriptions in an objective manner of events or things – this isn’t usually chronological.
  • Narratives – stories. These must follow a set order – the ending cannot come before the middle of the story. Children often find this difficult.
__Brice-Heath__

Brice-Heath

  • Brice-Heath’s very influential research examines how social class and culture affects a child’s ability to make literacy progress.
  • She studied three towns in order to investigate this:
Maintown (white middle class)

Maintown (white middle class)

  • Plentiful exposure to literacy activities like reading at bedtime.
  • Interrogative mood is used to question SPaG understanding.
  • Children are encouraged to look beyond the story into wider significance.
    • For example, in ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, the parent may encourage the child to be careful who they trust.
Roadville (white working class)

Roadville (white working class)

  • Parents were aware of their socio-economic status and wanted their children to perform as well as the Maintown students.
  • As with Maintown, children were surrounded by books, however, the interrogative mood was often missing or lacking.
  • They start education well, but this deteriorates as time goes on.
Trackton (black working class)

Trackton (black working class)

  • The oral style of storytelling is cherished.
  • Creativity is key and much more important than accuracy.
  • The oral storytelling leads to a lack of books and therefore comprehension of orthography and syntax.
  • As a result, students could create a very good story, but are severely behind in writing accurately.
Jump to other topics
1

Language Levels

2

Language, The Individual & Society

3

Language Diversity & Change

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