The Current State Of Writing

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Introduction

"Successful writers are not the ones who write the best sentences. They are the ones who keep writing. They are the ones who discover what is most important and strangest and most pleasurable in themselves, and keep believing in the value of their work, despite the difficulties."  - Friedman, 1994

It is believed that writing holds its origins in story-telling, executed through the use of both verbal and pictorial cues. Through the centuries the art of story-telling has served many vital purposes that have aided in the construction of modern civilisation and culture. It has contributed to the ethical, moral and cultural codes of conduct that humans adhere to and continue to shape even today.  They serve not only to provide a source of entertainment, but also to create a perpetual record of the lives and events of people and places gone before us.

Some would argue that in modern society, advancements in technology have led to a diminishment in the value of story-telling. People are wrapped up in an age of fast on-demand entertainment delivered to them in an unobtrusive manner, allowing them to play a more passive role as an observer of the latest television programme or news report. I would argue that this is simply not the case. Writing continues to play its part as a powerful entity for individual and social development, on both a personal and global level. The advancements in technology need not be viewed as hindrance but rather as an influential vehicle capable of reinventing the written word and showcasing creative expression. Imagination is the only limiting factor to creative writing, and it is a commodity that many children carry in abundance.

Creative writing is one of the most important skills a child can learn; it stretches the imagination and offers an effective means of expression. It helps to promote orderly thought and can provide the foundations for a lifetime of clear communication and self-expression. It could be argued that the children of our society are amongst the most creative of humans. They will turn a cloud into a dinosaur, an old cardboard box into a fortress, or an empty tub into a pirate ship. Their imagination holds no bounds and is constantly being stretched. At times, the actuality of real-life need not matter to a child, and this freedom can encourage the growth of innovative, colourful and vivid ideas. Through the use of creative writing, these intangible thoughts can be written down and forged into something permanent; something that others can enjoy that won’t be lost in the moment. Writing is not just an individual process; it is a social skill involving observation, story-telling, collaboration and communication. It is a means of self-expression that can instil a positive sense of achievement, self-esteem and confidence within our children.

This paper ultimately serves as a guide for improving the utilisation of creative writing within the primary classroom. It will draw upon both theoretical and empirical research within the classroom environment in order to suggest necessary steps to improving this provision.

Contextualisation

The Current State of Writing

During recent years there has been a growing concern regarding the standard of writing amongst primary school pupils in the United Kingdom. The data taken from Statutory Assessment Tests at the end of Key Stage Two had showed a significant improvement in the ten year period from 1997 to 2007. An increase of 10% meant that 67% of pupils were now achieving national expectations regarding their standard of writing. However, this figure still trails significantly behind that of reading. Andrews (2008) writes that "in both the UK and the USA, pupils’ performance in writing lagged behind levels of achievement in reading." This lagging performance in writing ability brings the overall achievement level for literacy down to just 80%, meaning 1 in 5 pupils were not attaining the literary standard expected of them. This data became even more disturbing when it became apparent that there were huge inequalities between genders. Writing achievement for boys was lower than that of females, at just 60% (Barton, 2007).

The Government decided it was time for change. In 2007, writing was made a national educational priority and numerous resources and papers were released such as ‘Talk for Writing’ (Department for Children Schools and Families, 2008). In this publication, the government acknowledges the failing standard of writing amongst children:

"...national standards remain a major concern and too many primary school children do not attain as highly or make as much progress in writing as they do in reading."

But despite this, both the teaching of writing and the achieved standards of writing in English primary schools continue to be a matter of official concern (Ofsted, 2009). My own empirical research has taught me that the amount of time and resources allocated to creative writing within some primary schools is still below par

Past Pedagogical Approaches

Wyse & Jones (2008) stated that the movement towards creative writing as a form of expression amongst pupils began in the 1960s. Pupils’ interests were promoted as central themes for writing and young writers were urged to employ their existing linguistic competence and skills in order to create inspiring texts for readers. Whilst many theorists were in favour of such a movement, some critics of creative writing felt that it restricted a child’s ability to write in a broad range of genres and styles, and focused too much upon story-writing (Protherough, 1978). Britton (1972) was responsible for developing a broader view of creative writing, creating new pedagogical approaches to the teaching of not only personal expressive writing but also poetic and transactional writing. Britton clearly outlined the distinction between these varying forms, stating that transactional writing involves a response from the reader; poetic writing requires observation and analysis from an audience but without interruption; and expressive writing relies solely on the interaction between the text and the author but does not implicitly rely on a third-party.

Clay (1966) developed the constructivist theory of ‘Emergent Literacy’. In this theory, the child is central to the entire process of writing. This theory argues that constant experimentation from the child causes their writing skills to develop from the early stages of mark-making through to the ability to write coherently and expressively. A close relationship can be identified between emergent literacy and developmental writing. Upon beginning their time in the education system, children are instantly encouraged to write independently from a very early age. The teacher’s role is paramount to this process as a means to provide physical and psychological resources; model how to effectively utilise these resources; and provide a context and purpose for the writing to be executed. A fundamental concept in this theory is that the pupil’s ability to convey meaning and appropriate semantics must take priority over superficial errors in order to create the appropriate environment for risk taking to occur.

During the 1980s, a more formalised and strategic approach to creative writing became the norm. Grave (1983) suggested that the child be given the role of ‘the writer’ and the teacher should assist and guide them in their role through modelling and demonstration. This idea was to instil a freedom amongst pupils, who could now make their own choices about their writing, giving them a sense of ownership that would lead to the emergence of their authentic authorial voice. However, theorists such as Halliday (1978), opposed this style of teaching believing that the amount of genres produced would be limited if children were given the authority to make choices on what they were to construct. These theorists believed that a defined group of characteristics belong to different genres of writing, and if certain characteristics were to be disregarded in the classroom, then the genre would eventually cease to exist. Problems can be found in this argument. The features contained within a genre of text do not remain as a constant over time and are constantly evolving, and the features identified within a genre are not exclusive and can exist amongst multiple genres to varying degrees (Wyse, 1998).

Regardless of such counter-opinion, when the National Literacy Strategy (DfEE, 1998) was written and published, it was genre theory that had taken the most influence upon the government’s perspective. Gardner (2011) wrote:

"Since the late 1990s, the dominant approach to writing pedagogy in English classrooms has placed the study of texts and their structural features before the child’s ideas and intention to construct their own meanings through writing. The raison d’etre of the NLS was to raise standards through an objectives based model of teaching linked to the crafting of writing at three levels: words, sentence and text."

This somewhat restrictive approach seems the norm in many primary classrooms, leaving the pupils with very little manoeuvre for creative expression

Current Pedagogical Approaches

Varying pedagogical approaches to the teaching of writing have been continually intertwining since the Second World War. Whilst one may be inclined to view this as the result of continuous academic research into varying theoretical practices, it is actually painstakingly apparent that it is the agenda of the current government that takes the majority of the influence upon such issues. The marriage of this political bias with constant media coverage has often brought the ‘falling standards’ of our children’s literacy levels into the public eye. However, despite this continued public condemning of those involved in the education sector, the issue of ‘writing’ holds a far lesser calibre when compared to its literary partner ‘reading’. This first becomes particularly evident through the larger volume of academic discourse on pedagogical theories of reading when compared to the somewhat lacklustre level of work published on writing theory. However, this idea is reflected in the political stance of the country Gardner (2011) states that "the attention given by the British Government to writing is more muted". A prime example of this would be the statutory status specified for the teaching of systematic synthetic phonics, as the ‘best’ method of developing early reading (Rose, 2006), despite the system’s clear advantages in developing writing across the primary phases.

Those involved in the education sector have attempted to justify the poor performance of pupils over recent years. One argument is that current approaches to the teaching of writing view writing as a ‘product’ over actual content. Larson & Marsh (2005) describe the current approach as ‘technicist’. They feel that there is an overemphasis on the technical construction of writing that leads to a subtraction from its meaningful content. It could also be argued that this importance placed on the deconstruction and analysis of writing in order to observe and classify the precise features of different genre as a means of developing pupils’ writing restricts creative expression and originality (Ellis, 2002). The current and now quite dated, national literacy strategy focuses upon word, sentence and text level analysis in a prescriptive and technical manner that many believe has placed a restraint on the frequency of opportunities available to pupils to participate in creative writing practice (Hilton, 2001).

The Reluctant Writer

Perhaps the blame does not lay solely with the education system though, but rather with those pupils engaging with it. A significant amount of research has been carried out into the idea of ‘the reluctant writer’.

"A reluctant writer is one who experiences one or more barriers to the writing process on a regular basis. Barriers may be exhibited during the process of writing as well as, or instead of, the start of the process. In addition, a reluctant writer may be defined as one who’s writing is habitually superficial, either because ideas are not expanded or because the writing is executed in haste." – Myhill, 2009

There may be many reasons why a child may be a ‘reluctant writer’. One factor could be that the child is a perfectionist, anxious to not make mistakes. This seems common amongst a lot of pupils at both primary and secondary schools. Many teachers still convey the idea that mistakes are bad, therefore stifling the child’s chance to experiment and learn. These types of children are likely to ‘play it safe’ with their writing, and therefore aren’t able to express themselves as creatively as they might like. Another factor could be a child’s attitude towards the purpose of writing. Whilst one child may view writing as an expressive and imaginative experience, another may view it as more technical and robotic task.

A reluctance to write has been found to be far more prevalent in males. This could be argued to reflect the fact that achievement levels for writing in males is significantly lower than the level for that of females (Barton, 2007). However, academic research in the field of gender studies proposes that females adopt different avoidance strategies than those of boys when they are unable to fulfil the expectations of the teacher (Attar, 1990). It could therefore be argued to be an issue for both males and females, and one that we should aim to address.

Evaluation: Existing Classroom Practice

During my recent teaching practice I have witnessed a distinct lack of creativity within the children's writing. Whilst attempts to execute more inspired literary approaches were frequently implemented, often these were inefficient in obtaining significant outcomes. The pedagogical approach adopted by many teachers with regards to the teaching of writing seemed overly concerned with routine procedures and checking the boxes in a list of mechanical language outcomes, rather than inspiring artistic freedom within the children's writing. However, I would argue that the educators cannot be held solely accountable for this. In 2009, research was carried out by Newcastle University into the use of creative writing within the classroom.

"Although the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority does use the term 'imaginative' in documentation, it does not sit easily with other targets and there is neither the knowledge nor confidence amongst teachers about how to teach creativity. The existing provision for the development of writing skills in schools focuses on vocabulary, connectivity, openings and punctuation and is felt by schools not to address the creative, compositional, playful and expressive aspects of writing. Teachers are keen to use creative writing across the curriculum in flexible ways but they are not taught the necessary skills which leads to a confidence gap." - Anderson, 2009

The study found that whilst many teachers were keen to implement creativity within writing in their classroom, the constricted focus articulated in the National Curriculum concerned itself primarily with the technicalities of language construction. For this reason many teachers, including those within my own environment, felt that a lack of training was available regarding the creative aspects of literacy and therefore this had led to a decreased level of confidence in this area. It could be argued that a teacher's responsibilities to meet government guidelines leaves them with a decreased availability of time and options to learn the necessary creative pedagogical skills that would inspire many of their pupils to write imaginatively and without restraint.

Teachers often complained that there was simply not enough time in the school day and this was evident from my own observation. The proposed ideal amount of time dedicated to literacy teaching within my classroom was 70 minutes per day. This figure alone seems somewhat lacklustre when one adopts the point of view that language is one of the most imperative and influential tools available to us. But, in actuality, this figure was diminished even further to a mere 45 minutes per day once the practicalities were introduced. School assemblies, administrative tasks, registration and summative assessment were just a small percentage of the contributing factors in the reduction of lesson time that was apparent within school on a sometimes daily basis. This 45 minutes per day served to ensure that pupils were on target to meeting the literary standards outlined in various papers published from the education department, leaving very little time to allow the creative nature of the pupils' literacy levels to flourish.

A tangible example of the negative impacts of such restriction was apparent during a lesson in which the pupils were asked to write their own fabricated recounts regarding 'The Great Fire of London'. The lesson objective was concerned with the children's ability to use time connectives in their work, and after a short while of them being left to their own independent writing, it became apparent that many of them were struggling to use them correctly, and so a mini-plenary was executed to try and address any misconceptions. When the pupils returned to their writing, they were left with just 10 minutes to try and make use of time connectives within what they had written, which the majority of them succeeded in doing. However, it was apparent to me that the work they had done before the mini-plenary was full of creativity - the imaginations of many of the children were working overtime, full of exciting and intriguing ideas all written down through the use of vivid adjectives, varying sentence types and emotive language. This was a stark contrast to the work produced after the mini-plenary in which the children had become so focused on meeting the criteria outlined to them that they had lost all momentum in their creative flare. Timing had meant that the lesson was drawing to a close and the children had not met their target objective and so this was quickly rectified by the teacher, regardless of the work they were already producing. If more time had been available then the children could have been left to continue the good quality work they were producing, and the lesson objective could have been carried forwards to a later date. However, in the majority of the teaching practice I have observed, this is rarely possible due to a reluctance to change the scheduling of lessons, arguably caused by the pressures placed upon teachers to reach designated targets.

This lack of time was arguably the origin for an absence of many other strategies that could have been implemented to scaffold and endorse the use of creative writing within the classroom. One such strategy was the use of verbal discourse. The fast-paced nature of the classroom meant that children did not have the amount of time needed to exchange ideas and consolidate their thoughts by the medium of efficient classroom discourse. A government report entitled 'Talk for Writing' outlined the importance of using talk within the classroom to encourage the development of ideas:

For experienced writers, many of these processes are internal and automatic. For example, they can hold an internal dialogue with themselves about the language choices available and consider how effective a particular word or phrase will be or how well it reads. However, for developing writers it is very helpful for these processes to be explored through talk in a supportive learning context. This involves externalising and sharing the thinking involved in the writing process so that ultimately it can be internalised and individualised again. - DCSF, 2008

This report is written from a constructivist stance and aims to encourage children to explore their own thoughts about the creative processes involved in writing through conversing with one another and using the teacher to consolidate their ideas.

Another strategy that became apparently absent within my classroom was the use of resources, both physical and experiential. Sadly, many of the children lacked interesting life experiences outside of the classroom to stimulate their imagination and intrigue them to explore and record these happenings through their own use of language. Unfortunately, the restricted time for education within many schools, combined with a limited budget, meant that the children weren't often given the opportunity for such experiences within school. On one occasion, a visit to the fire station was arranged for the class, and subsequent to the excursion, many of the pupils that would usually show hesitation in their expression went on to write descriptive and emotive pieces of work that one can only assume to be a result of the inspiration provided for them.

Action Plan: Improving Classroom Practice

An Important Note

Before reading the ideas outlined below, it is important to stress that many of these ideas are based upon lessons with a specific focus upon creative writing. These ideas do not serve to demoralise the importance of using accurate language or executing sound classroom practice, but do aim to provide a foundation for conducive creative writing practice.

The Need for Freedom

Break the Rules

When children are engaged in work that is specifically designed to encourage the use of creative writing, substantially less emphasis should be placed upon technicalities within language. Placing emphasis here could cause disruption to their flow of ideas, reduce the child's confidence in the semantic content of their writing and could even serve to halt their productivity altogether. I would argue that if the work they are producing is semantically correct then children should be free to explore their use of language and a larger margin for error should be permitted. Firstly, this should apply on a grammatical basis - whilst an argument can be made against this, and a balance should be struck to make the writing semantically sound on a sentence-level basis, perfect grammar should not be the key focus. Secondly, the misspelling of words should be allowed. Whilst writing should be eligible on a word-level basis, accurate spelling should not be the key focus. Effective phonics teaching can play a vital role in this. Children should be encouraged to attempt to make use of words they have not necessarily written down before by using their knowledge of phoneme to grapheme correspondence to construct these.

Whilst not appropriate to most lessons within the classroom, children should be encouraged to explore their physical environment for inspiration. Children should be urged to look around the classroom, out of the window at the world around them and to communicate with their peers – this is not a time for conformed exam conditions but a time for creative expression. Not only does this approach serve to provide a stimulus for the pupils, but the reduction in strict classroom conditions can lead to a greater sense of freedom that could be the key to unlocking the child's imagination and creative flare.

Timing Isn’t Everything

A time restriction or confinement cannot be made on a child’s creativity. Steps should be taken to make the most of any given opportunity for creative thinking, discussion and writing. Whilst the aforementioned timing constraints of the school day cannot be realistically avoided, an ability to be flexible with the scheduling of lessons could provide the answer. A working example of this would be if the pupils are usually taught mathematics during the first session of the day, but on that particular day they arrive to school having witnessed something interesting that morning and are full of excitement wanting to discuss what they have seen. This could provide an ideal platform for beginning a teacher-led class discussion about their experience which could result in some interesting pieces of writing. If the class were to follow the schedule as planned and participate in mathematics, the class may be distracted, unable to concentrate or simply too excited to readjust their focus. If, however, the teacher decided to harness this energy and conduct a literacy lesson with a focus on creative writing then this would provide a mutually beneficial result for both literacy and mathematics outcomes.

Another way in which timing issues could be addressed is through the use of cross-curricular links. Many foundation subjects such as Geography, History and Religious Education lend themselves well to extended writing tasks, and the incorporation of such tasks should be implemented whenever appropriate in order to further the pupils' understanding of the foundation subject in question and allow them to practise and develop their creative writing skills. This could also serve to address the issue of some pupils who regard creative writing as an isolated skill, rather than one which can be utilised in many areas of their lives.

Mind Mapping

According to Fleckenstein (2002), making use of symbolic and visual thinking strategies is a proven method of improving children's writing. Certain other visual strategies, such as writing frames and storyboards were occasionally witnessed within the classroom, but another approach may be the use of 'mind mapping'. The government acknowledged the use of mind mapping as an effective approach to aiding writers with dyslexia and EAL pupils (DfES, 2005) and perhaps this strategy can be implemented across the board with younger pupils to provide a scaffold for their writing. Gardner (2011) states that 'mind maps utilize both visual and linguistic modes of thinking by enabling the user to record ideas in symbolic, pictorial and linguistic form. Once the technique has been mastered, ideas can be recorded quickly and clustered around key themes'.

When using mind mapping for writing, it is important to consistently reinforce to the pupils that the ideas used on paper should be simple rather than complex and detailed. It should be explained that the main enjoyment to be found in writing is in unfolding 'virtual reality' rather than replicating what has already been decided upon.

Allowing the children to record their thoughts and ideas in an efficient and structured way before beginning the challenge of constructing meaningful sentences may prove to be an invaluable tool to many of the learners. This approach either enables the children to not feel overcome by the sheer volume of ideas in their minds, or allows them to develop these ideas by constructing a physical reflection of their thought process that can make psycholinguistic interpretation and organisation far easier. This should lead to a far greater self-awareness of the pupils' own thought processes and ultimately result in a more structured, coherent and imaginative piece of writing.

Providing a Purpose

Offering a Context

Providing the pupil with a context for their writing gives them an audience and purpose to consider. This provides them with their own authorial voice which progressively increases their ability to make vital language choices that construct meaning from the written word (Collins, 1998). Naturally occurring, real-life experiences can be a significant contributing factor to a child's imagination and subsequently their creative writing, but it is not always realistic to believe that these can be provided often within an education setting. Forged scenarios and situations can be created and utilised in order to inspire and motivate the pupils into wanting to write. Some working examples of this could be: contributing reports for publication in a school newsletter, writing a persuasive letter to their local MP regarding an issue close to their hearts, or writing a review on a recent television programme they have seen for inclusion on an opinions blog. Whether the outcome and results of such endeavours are tangible or not, providing a real or realistic purpose for the pupils' writing should increase their understanding of what is required, e them to think more creatively and take more pride in what they are producing since it is designed for an audience.

Varying the Medium

Creative writing should not just be confined to ink upon paper within exercise books. Offering exciting contexts for pupils' writing can also allow for the introduction of new mediums which not only motivate children to want to participate in writing, but also allow for a deeper understanding of what writing is about within a modern and practical environment. In this age of technological advancement, pupils should be given the opportunity to explore and experiment with ICT equipment as a tool to facilitate their writing. The most explicit way in which this can be done is via the use of a word processor. Whilst the ability to handwrite is still regarded as an essential skill for the future adults of our world, the capability to be able to use technology to streamline and advance this process is one that is gathering increasing magnitude. Children can be asked to produce web pages, blogs, posters and many other forms of electronic publication that incorporate creative writing within a skills-based context. Enabling pupils to make use of computer technology in their writing may not only serve to excite and motivate them into wanting to carry out the task, but the resultant product from such processes is usually more 'professional' in its nature. The sophistication of this final product, whether it be a website, a newspaper or an e-book, can instil a great sense of pride within its creator. This satisfaction could aim to boost self-confidence levels within the child's ability to produce useful, entertaining and engaging texts fit for purpose which could would undoubtedly have a positive consequent effect on their participation and overall enjoyment of writing.

Utilising Creative Themes

The Thematic Approach

Many schools now adopt the use of a creative curriculum within the classroom, often governed by an overruling topic or theme. A theme of work is adopted, such as 'The Great Fire of London' or 'Mighty Mountains', and the strands taught across all subject areas will bear some relevance to the overall theme. This approach can bring together previously fragmented concepts and ideas for children and provide them with a multidisciplinary grasp of the topic, fuelling their curiosity and urging them to ask questions in order to build an increasing number of links within their knowledge. This not only gives the children a wider understanding of the topic, but also immerses them within its many strands. Children are constantly encountering reminders of the class theme in the majority of their lessons, and combining this factor with a greater and deeper understanding of the concepts they have studied could lead to an increased confidence and a desire to want to express their knowledge. This can be harnessed in the form of creative writing sessions that result in work that is not only expressive and artistic, but also informed.

Gender Issues

The benefits of the thematic approach become even more apparent when its use is considered with regards to gender. Boys are less inclined to write creatively – prejudices, genetic makeup, etc. By adopting a ‘creative curriculum’ approach, a topic like ‘dinosaurs’ could be used which would motivate them to write. Girls are less fussy.