ABSTRACT
Cognitive and sociocultural theories have focused on social interaction as a catalyst for symbolic development, but the nature and consequences of social relational processes have remained in the shadow of cultural cognition. The argument in this chapter is that social relational aspects of cognitive development provide explanations missing from previous theories applied to the study of writing-a major symbolic tool. Social relational knowing is described here by examining children’s writing development through phases of collaboration and individual composing. Social relational knowing involves affective, imaginative, and critical processes that are missing from models of cultural cognition.
