Exploring the early writing experiences of young children within the home through autoethnographic reflections

Kim O'Grady, Janet Scull
Monash University, Australia
Damien Lyons
Swinburne University, Australia

The third decade of the 21st century has seen a focus emerge on the agentic practices of writers, focusing on what, how and why people write. While considerable research has been conducted on school-age writing practices, there is still limited insight into the writing practices of children outside of school or formal education settings. This article adopts a collaborative autoethnographic lens to explore a mother's perception of her children's writing practices and their identity formations as developing writers, in discussion with her doctoral supervisors. The article specifically explores the parental, sibling and environmental supports that are made available to four siblings within the home to support early writing, and how their understandings toward writing are developed and practised. Consideration is given to the relationship between informal home writing practices and implications or opportunities for school and early childhood writing practices.
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Authors: Ms Kim O'Grady is a PhD candidate at Monash University, Australia. Her current research seeks to explore the home and preschool influences that shape and develop young children's emergent skills and attitudes towards writing in preparation for formal literacy learning at school. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3428-006X Email: kim.ogrady@monash.edu Janet Scull is an Associate Professor at Monash University, Australia. Her research interests focus on the areas of language and literacy acquisition, literacy teaching, and assessment practices that support the continuity of children's literacy learning across early childhood settings and the early years of schooling. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1772-4190 Email: janet.scull@monash.edu Damien Lyons is an Associate Professor in Literacy Education within the Department of Education at Swinburne University, Australia. His research and teaching focus on three interrelated themes: literacy teaching and learning; leadership of learning and teaching; and education design and innovation within tertiary institutions. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-0516-5212 Email: dlyons@swin.edu.au Please cite as: O'Grady, K., Scull, J. & Lyons, D. (2024). Exploring the early writing experiences of young children within the home through autoethnographic reflections. Issues in Educational Research, 34(1), 145-162. http://www.iier.org.au/iier34/ogrady.pdf