ERIC Number: ED271214
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1986-Mar
Pages: 22
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Language of Teaching: Making a Difference in Children's Developing Literacy.
Hoffman, Stevie
What parents view as being important for their children to learn and how they believe their children are able to learn are reflected not only in the learning opportunities provided in the home but also in the teaching strategies parents use with their children in every day parent/child interactions. An investigation of the language transactions between parents and their children during a variety of writing activities has produced evidence of how the language of the parents indicates their own model of written language and how their teaching language influences children's writing behaviors, their written productions, and their belief in themselves as writers. Excerpts from parent-child dialogues along with some samples of the children's writing are provided as viable indications of these interrelationships. These dialogue excerpts and writing samples indicate that when parent/adult expectations focus on the child as a competent informant of what he or she knows; when attention is centered on the meaning intent of the child's written message rather than on correctly formed letters and accurately spelled words; and when process is viewed as more important than product, then the naturally developing literacy growth of the child is enabled. (BB)
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A