ERIC Number: EJ1230790
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0007-1005
EISSN: N/A
Learning to Be a Writer from Early Reading
John, Eileen
British Journal of Educational Studies, v67 n3 p291-306 2019
The role of reading in educating a future writer is discussed through the study of memoirs by writers including Janet Frame, James Baldwin, and Eudora Welty. The memoirs show reading books to have been a transformative way of melding forms of experience. The following features of childhood reading are examined: (1) the role of the physical book, (2) the cognitive-aesthetic-affective impact of letters, words and 'voices', (3) the partially unplanned and challenging path of children's exposure to texts, and (4) absorption of models that can be imitated and outgrown. The discussion links sympathetically to views in philosophy of education about the importance of content and beauty and of influences whose impact cannot be planned, measured or captured as generic skills. The autobiographical evidence considered here suggests that these influences can nonetheless be crucial to expanding learners' horizons and stimulating their educational and artistic progress.
Descriptors: Beginning Writing, Beginning Reading, Reading Writing Relationship, Books, Cognitive Processes, Educational Philosophy, Aesthetics, Autobiographies, Imitation, Imagination, Literature
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A