"My pen won't talk" : towards an understanding of creative writing experiences among primary school children.
Date
1995
Authors
Winkler, Gisela
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Abstract
The work of Piaget and Vygotsky has formed the theoretical foundation for many
research projects that investigate children's cognitive processes which are part of
their learning experience, These investigations, however, do not address the
affective aspects of the learning process. This study seeks to isolate and-explore the
affective components of writing by conceptualizing a "creative writing experience"
as a personal meaning making event which is simultaneously influenced by the
children's cognitive development and their emotional development. The feelings
experienced by the children while writing are a particular interest. Theories
developed by Freud and Klein are used to investigate the children's emotions and to
assess the impact these have on their writing process. The methods of investigation
employ a detailed observation of external behaviour with the help of a video camera,
a focus group interview, a reflective interview and a projective technique. The
children's emotional experience of writing is deduced from the visual data as well
as the interviews. It is concluded that the children's experience of writing is
dominated by anxious emotions. As the medium of writing does not provide
children with a communicative structure, it presents many children with an
experience of isolation and meaninglessness. If the children fail to provide a
purpose for their task, writing becomes an experience of insecurity and alienation.
The role of children's talk during the writing process does not have a cognitive
significance. On the contrary, its primary function seems to be to control affective
forces and to maintain the personal purposefulness of the writing task.
Description
A Research Project submitted to the Faculty of Education University of the
Witwatersrand in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master
of Education by Coursework and Research Report
Keywords
Creative writing (Elementary education) -- South Africa.