Interactive Writing in a First Grade Classroom as a Venue for Teaching Early Concepts of Print and Expanding Oral Language

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to determine the effects of interactive writing instruction on first grade students’ oral language, concepts about print knowledge, and phonemic awareness knowledge. We explored how the classroom teacher facilitated interactive writing lessons and how she perceived the instructional strategy. We employed a concurrent mixed methods study design, and by analyzing 16 children’s knowledge of early literacy concepts, interactive writing lesson videos and transcripts, and a teacher interview transcript, we addressed the research questions. The statistically significant difference in scores from pre- to post- interactive writing intervention showed the children were using more standard sentence structures, speaking in complete sentences, and engaging more in conversations. As indicated by the statistically significant difference in scores from the Concepts About Print pre- to post-test, students developed an understanding of directionality, simple punctuation, and word boundaries. Interactive writing is an instructional strategy that, when used regularly in primary grade classrooms, can be a powerful method of teaching foundational literacy skills.