Declarative Metacognitive Knowledge of Young Writers Shirley Larkin University of Exeter, UK

From Talk to Text: Using talk to support young children’s writing (Debra Myhill, Ros Fisher, Sue Jones, Anthony Wilson, Shirley Larkin) Talk to generate ideas Write Aloud Talk for reflection Data Sources – Writing Samples, Video observations, Interviews, Teacher reflections

Metacognitive Knowledge – Concerning person, task and strategy variables (Flavell 1979) Declarative metacognitive knowledge differentiated from procedural and conditional metacognitive knowledge (Schraw and Dennison 1994) Metacognitive knowledge includes self appraisal as well as self management. Self appraisals are reflections about people’s knowledge states, abilities, characteristics of themselves as learners. (Paris and Winograd 1990) Metacognitive knowledge includes students’ conceptions of teaching and learning. Students may possess entrenched, confined and conservative conceptions (Thomas 2000) Metacognitive knowledge influences cognitive activity – memory (Cornoldi 1995), reading (Pazzaglia et al 1995).

Writing is complex, non-linear process requiring the integration of a variety of sub-processes such as idea generation, planning, drafting, reviewing, (Applebee 1984, Graves, 1983) Writers do not come to a piece of writing new each time, but are influenced by their own knowledge, expectations and beliefs about writing, which come from their social, cultural and academic background. (Faigley 1985) Whilst there are a large number of programmes designed around metacognition and reading comprehension, few programmes concentrate on writing (Griffith and Ruan, 2005)

Research Questions The study explores the nature of children’s thinking about themselves and others as writers, and about how people learn to write. Q1. What do these children think makes a good writer? Q2. What do these children know about how people learn to write? Q3. Can any of their responses be described as examples of metacognitive knowledge?

Interviews Pilot Project 4 schools x 2 classes – 1project, 1control 6 children in each class = 48 children interviewed (pre and post) Main Project 5 project schools, 6 classes x 6 children 2 control schools, 2 classes x 6 children = 48 children interviewed Data represents responses of 96 KS1 children

Q1. Are you a good writer? How do you know? Q2a. Who are the good writers in the picture ? How do you know? Q2b. Who are the good writers in your class? How do you know? Q3. How do people learn to write?

Categories Question 1 and 2 Teacher Appearance Amount/Speed Thinking Spelling Enjoyment Content Strategies Physical growth

Examples of Statements by Category Q1 and Q2 1 “because the teacher says well done” (yr1 MA) “because I get stickers on my chart” (yr2 LA) “because the teacher is smiling at her work” (yr2 HA) 2 “because I always put finger spaces” (yr2 HA) “it’s neat and really small” (yr1 MA) 3 “once when I writ a story I had to go on 3 pages (yr2 LA) “because he’s done a lot of lines and finished” (yr2 MA) 4 “because I think before I write” (yr2 MA) “I think when I’m writing but don’t think when I’m playing except when I’m thinking of games to play” (yr1 LA) “because she’s closing her eyes and concentrating” (yr2 HA)

5 “I get all the words right” (yr2 HA) “he knows how to spell very well” (yr2 MA) 6 “I like writing a lot, I’ve been working on my own stories and poems and songs at home” (yr2 HA) “because I like writing at home” (yr1 LA) “I’m not a good writer because I don’t like it” (yr2 HA) 7 “I use adjectives” (yr1 HA) “He uses lots of describing words and lots of wow words” (yr2 HA) 8 “they look at the smart board and copy the letters” (yr1 MA) “because she’s reading it through” (yr2 MA) 9”because she’s a girl” (yr1 HA) “because they are big children” (yr1 LA)

Categorization of Responses to “How do you know that you are a good writer?” (160 statements)

Categorization of Responses to “How do you know that others are good writers?” (290 statements)

Categories Question 3 Taught Practising Spelling Thinking Strategies Reading Growing Always

Examples of Statements by Category Q3 1 “family teach you” (yr2 MA) “Teachers tell you how to do it and then you have to do it” (yr2 LA) 2 “I practised writing at home” (yr1 HA) 3 “when they can spell out words then they learn the words” (yr2 MA) 4 “you have to become intelligent” (yr1 MA)

5 “you have to have a little bit at a time to learn when you are little” (yr2 LA) “write down dots and draw round them so that you will be able to learn” (yr2 MA) 6 “when you can read something it helps you and when you can write something it helps you read” (yr2 HA) 7 “you growed and you can write”(yr1 LA) 8 “I’ve always been able to write” (yr2 MA)

Categorization of Responses to “How do people learn to write?” (175 statements)

Cognition and Metacognition Evaluation of good writers - neat, write a lot, finish quickly or don’t rush, spell correctly, use good words. Cognitive rather than metacognitive – thoughts about writers and writing. Category 4, 6, 8 involve a shift in thinking from purely cognitive level Category 4 – generalised references to thinking Category 6 – specific references to self and awareness of self as a writer Category 8 – understanding that writing requires cognitive strategies, checking, planning

Cognition and Metacognition Q3 People learn to write – from teachers and family. These answers show little awareness of the learning process and in some cases simply growing bigger is equated with learning or learning to write is equated with learning to spell. Categories 4, 5, 6 involve a shift in thinking from purely cognitive level Category 4 – generalised connection between thinking and learning to write Category 5 – shows an awareness of specific strategies that would enable people to learn to write Category 6 – shows an awareness of link between reading and writing Category 2 – practising - ? Cognitive or metacognitive?

Discussion The categorisation process has highlighted that questions may be aimed at getting a metacognitive response, but actual responses likely to be cognitive. The prevalent discourse in schools. Response indicates the interpretation of the question. Limited study but shows that some KS1 children can articulate their metacognitive knowledge about themselves and others as writers and about learning to write. Follow up with asking teachers same questions, recording the prevailing discourses in literacy lessons, investigate the separation of reading and writing in children’s minds.