Joan Rothery – Child Language Researcher

Joan Rothery – Child Language Researcher • Rothery investigated young children’s writing in Australian schools in 1984. • She found a number of distinctive organisational structures or genres in children’s early independent writing in school. Lesson 2 App E

1. Observation / Comment Oun day my mum bought me o some books. And I falte glad. • Here the first sentence presents an observation, the second an evaluative comment. Lesson 2 App E

Observation / Comment … it was a good day at the zoo I liked the zoo. It was good and fun I had a lot of fun I liked the polar-bear and i liked the Hippopotamus. They are big and fat. I liked the pretty birds and i had a good day Sometimes in a longer piece observation and comment are interspersed. Lesson 2 App E

2. Observation I bot a dog for my cusen Rothery and her colleagues observed that teachers consistently rated texts containing observation only less highly than those with added comment. Lesson 2 App E

3. Recount • This is usually a chronologically organised sequence of events. In more mature examples there may be an orientation at the beginning (usually about travelling to a place of interest) and a reorientation at the end. Its schematic representation is therefore: • Orientation / Event / Resolution Lesson 2 App E

Recount … • The recount is more like a narrative genre than observation / comment. • Recounts and narratives are both temporally sequenced. • In recounts, however, events proceed smoothly, while in narrative we are kept in some state of uncertainty regarding the outcome of the story. Lesson 2 App E

4. Report The bat is a nocturnal animalm it lives in the dark There are long niosed bats and mouse eared bats also lettuce winged bats • This gives a factual objective description of events or objects. • Reports by more mature writers have the schematic structure: General classification / Description • Reports differ from recounts in that there is no chronological sequence of events. Lesson 2 App E

5. Narrative Once there was a dog named Whiskers He got run over because he ran in front of a car. He was very sick after. He had to be ruched to hospital by Ambulence and fast. At the end he ended up dieing isn’t the ‘Sad’ Lesson 2 App E

Narrative … • This is distinct from a recount because of the inclusion of events that constitute a problem or complication of some kind. • This complication has to be resolved for better or for worse. • The narrative begins with an orientation which usually gives a temporal or spatial setting for the events that follow. Lesson 2 App E

Narrative … • This is followed by complication and resolution. • At the end there may be a coda which states the point of telling the story. • Often the orientation in early narratives introduces the main character. Lesson 2 App E

Narrative … • In more ‘mature’ narratives, complication and resolution can occur more than once. The schematic structure for narrative can be represented as follows: • Orientation / Complication / Resolution / Coda Lesson 2 App E

Narrative … • In their research Rothery and her colleagues found no true narratives (in terms of a distinctive schematic structure) by very young writers. • They feel this genre is more likely to be taken up in the third year of schooling. Lesson 2 App E

Pod • Read through ‘Pod’, by Matthew. • It was written at home after two terms at infant school. Matthew had recently moved house and changed schools. • Matthew was a newcomer in a class where friendship patterns had been established. For a time he felt an outcast. • He composed the picture first, and then the writing. Lesson 2 App E

What does Matthew know about writing? • Use of the resources of spoken language • Understanding of the differences between speech and writing • Control over genre • Awareness of audience • Control of overall shape and structure (coherence) • Control over the internal structures of sentences (syntax) • Success as an independent speller and strategies used • Control over handwriting Lesson 2 App E

Joan Rothery – Child Language Researcher