ABSTRACT

In this chapter we focus on the writing practices and products of relatively young children (preschool through grade 5). Like the authors of some other chapters in this book, we argue for a multidimensional and situated approach to understanding and interpreting writing. Thus, this chapter is grounded in a theoretical orientation to writing that we might call psycholinguistic-social-cultural-historical wherein writing is understood as occurring at the intersection of textual knowledges and practices (e.g., Huckin, chap. 1, this volume; Barton, chap. 3, this volume), a variety of contextual forces (e.g., Prior, chap. 7, this volume; Leander & Prior, chap. 8, this volume), and textual politics (e.g., Clark & Ivanic, 1997; Kamberelis & Scott, 1992; McGinley & Kamberelis, 1996). Given this theoretical orientation, we try to keep in view the idea that writing is situated activity and that it also entails the historical durability and significance of linguistic, rhetorical, and text-level conventions. Finally, when we use the term writing we refer simultaneously to products, processes, practices, contexts, and politics. When we want to refer more specifically to one of these dimensions of writing, we do so explicitly.