Barbara
D. DeBaryshe
University
of Hawaii
at Manoa
Martha
Jane Buell
Janeen C. Binder
University of
North Carolina
at Greensboro
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Twenty
children aged 5 and 6 years were observed attempting to write a letter
alone and with their mothers’ assistance. Children produced more sophisticated
products with adult mediation, using conventional spelling, writing
longer messages, and using more mechanical details such as punctuation
and salutations. Children’s self-talk about the meaning of the message
was associated with higher product quality in the solo task. Interactive
talk about conventions (spelling, page placement, etc.) was associated
with dyadic product quality. Children’s rank order for message length
and conventional details was maintained across tasks. Evidence of
maternal fine-tuning of scaffolding behaviors in response to the child’s
independent level of print performance was revealed in a qualitative
analysis of dyadic interaction. Most mothers appeared to have a sense
of the developmental progression of writing skills. |