Skrivandets gränser: Normering genom skrivdiskurser i tidig skrivundervisning

The limitations of writing. Standardization through discourses of writing in early writing-instruction

This study examines writing instruction for 3–10-year-olds. The aim is to further our understanding of how instruction is standardizing writing. The research questions are the following: What do teachers and children appear to prioritize within writing instruction? Which discourses emerge in writing instruction within educational practices? Three educational practices participate in the study: a preschool, a preschool class and a compulsory school. The theoretical and methodological foundation of the study is critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2010). The data consists of observations of writing instruction, and of interviews with teachers, conducted both in groups and individually. The result shows that teachers prioritize writing within a context and children’s participation, self-esteem and ability to write correctly, in the correct way and within the allotted time. The children also prioritize participation and writing correctly and in the correct way. Eight discourses emerge, namely the discourses of self-esteem, completion, skills, role models, creativity, participation, awareness and of maturity and progress. Within writing instruction, there has been a gradual shift in the orders of discourse, resulting in the discourses of expectation, standardization and homogeneity within standardization of early writing being preferred over the discourses of individuality, creativity and participation. The creativity discourse and the maturity and progress discourse are more prominent in the teachers’ reflections than in the writing instruction observed. Notions, emerging in the discourses, of how children (most efficiently) learn to write and of their progress as writers are rooted in history, and different notions co-occur within a complex system. One conclusion is that writing instruction is based on how the children’s writing progresses and on what is deemed valuable within the specific context. Another conclusion is that standardization within writing instruction is fuelled mainly by the children’s actions and questions on what they may (or may not) write and how they may (or may not) compose their texts. In this way, the norms governing writing emerge within specific writing activities. Both teachers and children standardize writing instruction as they conduct it together.