ABSTRACT
The development of the power to differentiate is a characteristic of cognitive development in general. A model that relates aspects of linguistic development including the development of writing closely to cognitive development is that of J. Moffett. One of Britton's major hypotheses is that in the early stages young children write in the expressive mode, a form of written-down expressive speech that stays close to the self of the writer, revealing his thoughts and feelings, and fully comprehensible only if one knows him and his context. In terms of Britton's functional categories it was the transactional that the children seemed to be most clear about. Once writing had begun the major preoccupation continued to be with the story line, but some concern with vocabulary and mechanical aspects was evident. Once the work was finished, however, the focus of attention was then on grammar, spelling and punctuation and to a lesser extent vocabulary.
