ABSTRACT
In this chapter we are going to take you on a writing journey. Our companions on this journey will be pieces of writing produced by 12 different children aged between three and eleven years. As we will discover, each piece of writing is a journey in its own right for its young author. We can also learn about some of the different, individual milestones which children pass as they gain more knowledge and experience of the writing process. It is not our intention here to offer a linear or hierarchical journey of development, yet the pieces do provide snapshots of the children's varied control over the different elements of composition and transcription. As you will remember from Chapter 2, composition involves the creating and shaping of a text, whilst transcription is concerned with the surface features, such as handwriting, spelling and punctuation.
