ABSTRACT
Teaching writing has not been the subject of such open, public debate as teaching reading. Nevertheless, there is a similar opposition of views about what matters most in writing in schools. Comments about standards of literacy often focus on the secretarial aspects of writing – spelling and punctuation – rather than the organisational aspects of longer texts or, perhaps more importantly, than the content or meaning of any piece of writing. Writing in school has traditionally been seen as the means of demonstrating that learning has happened – the ‘do-it-then-write-about-it’ kind of approach. Research from the National Writing Project revealed that a great deal of time in classrooms was spent in writing which seemed to have no purpose other than demonstrating that the child had been taught something. This might be copying material from one source to another (board to book; textbook to exercise book), writing short answers to questions about what has been read or writing more lengthy pieces in one go without expecting that a longer piece may need editing and redrafting. Much less attention was given to the wider range of writing which features in people’s everyday lives. As Chapter 1 makes clear, much of the writing people do outside school is not to check that they have learned something but is very much to do with shaping, noting or communicating ideas. Shopping lists help us to hold thoughts which could otherwise go astray, notes remind people of important tasks or appointments, letters communicate experiences, reflective diaries help the writer to think things through. The National Writing Project research into classroom writing also identified a narrow understanding of readership (audience). Where in everyday writing there will be various readers who read for the content and meaning of the note, list or letter, classroom writing was often only read by the teacher as a means of checking that children had taken in specific information and could spell and punctuate. Writing, then, was often seen as a proof of learning facts; accuracy in secretarial skills was most valued, neglecting content and meaning.
