Teaching the Writing Processes

The following post is reflective of the last section of Pietro Boscolo's chapter 19, Writing in Primary School found in Charles Bazerman's Handbook of Research on Writing: History, society, school, individual, text.

During the 1980s the process approach gained significance due to the work of Donald Graves (1983) and Donald Murray (1985). When the writing process is viewed through this lens, the process is taught using a recursive stance rather than a linear perspective in which “prewriting and revising” (p. 299) is valued. There are four components to the process approach with the first being the emphasis on small group instruction. Second, students select their own topics on which to write. The third element involves the teacher as listener during conferencing as students share their developing written work. The fourth and final component emphasizes the social aspect associated with sharing the finished creation with one’s peers. This is aligned with Boscolo’s three dimensions and challenges of writing; continuity, complexity, and social activity (p. 293-4).

Boscolo discusses cognitive writing development based on two theoretical perspectives. The first is a neo-Piagetian outlook that indicates student difficulty with processing and organizing information into categories makes the writing process a challenging endeavor. The difference between “knowledge telling” and “knowledge transforming” that differentiates beginning and more experienced writers is the second theoretical stance. In knowledge telling, novice writers share information in an uncomplicated manner for the purpose of fulfilling an assignment. With knowledge transforming, expert writers understand that the knowledge they share is multifaceted and useful when applied to other forms of understanding.