Kroll (1981) Writing Development

• The preparatory stage (from 18 months)

  Children develop the motor skills needed for writing

  They begin to learn the basics of the spelling system

• The consolidation stage (6 to 8 years)

  Children write in the same way as they speak

  They use lots of colloquialisms

  They use short declarative statements and familiar conjunctions like “and”

  They won’t yet be sure how to finish off a sentence

  They begin to express ideas in the form of sentences, though without much punctuation

• The differentiation stage (8 to mid-teens)

  Children become aware of the difference between the conventions of spoken and written language

  They begin to understand that there are different genres, for example letters and stories

  They begin to structure their work using writing guides and frameworks

  They use more complex grammar and sentence structures

  Punctuation becomes more accurate and consistent

• The integration stage (mid-teens upwards)

  Writing becomes more accurate, with a wider vocabulary and more accurate spelling

  Children understand that style can change according to audience and purpose

  Narrative and descriptive skills improve.

  Writes expanded stories, with developed characters, a plot and a setting.

  Develop a personal writing style. This continues to develop throughout adulthood

CRITICISMS: Imposing such a linear model for such a sophisticated process as writing will both oversimplify the process and ignore a child’s individuality

Variant model for writing development: Frances Christie and Beverly Derewianka (2008)

This structure was based on the analysis of writing produced by students ages 6-18 years in English, History and Science lessons between 2004-2006 during a large-scale research study funded by the Australian Research Council