A simple fact that cannot be argued with is that it is very difficult to write a particular text type if you are not familiar with it. Familiarisation with the text type is the first step; by the end of phase 1, children should be so immersed in it that they could write it if they had to. In The Really Useful Literacy Book, Martin et al. (2004: 39ā41) say that:
writers have to have read the text type they are trying to write or have it read to themā¦From the experience of being read to and then wide reading, the writer builds ideas of what a successful piece of writing looks and sounds likeā¦Children need to read and read and read ā in order to both absorb the structures, sentence constructions and vocabulary of written textsā¦
Immersion is done through shared reading, when the teacher acts as a model reader making overt what good readers do, for example, by paying attention to the punctuation, using expression and intonation to aid understanding and bring the text alive, and asking themselves questions and predicting. Pupils should always be able to see and follow the text during shared reading.
Shared reading is an opportunity to examine the purpose and audience of text, as this will be very useful when pupils begin to write their own: āif we add together purpose and audience (why am I writing and who will be reading it?) we find ourselves considering the best ways to construct the text we want to writeā (Martin et al. 2004: 34).
In addition to and during shared reading, the text should be brought alive so that children engage with it, understand it and respond to it as readers. It is really important that children are given opportunities to explore their responses to text; as children engage in ābooktalkā, an expression coined by Aidan Chambers (1993) in his āTell Meā approach. They experience being the audience ā understand how it feels to make sense of, and respond emotionally to what they read. The purpose of this, within the teaching sequence for writing, is to help writers to begin to consider what response they may want to elicit from the reader. You can't truly write for an audience unless you've walked in the footsteps of the audience.
Besides eliciting the reader's response, immersion in the text enables children to hear and collect vocabulary and language patterns, internalise plot structures, and deepen their understanding. At this point in phase 1, children should be supported to gather vocabulary that they like and think they will utilise in their writing, and appropriate synonyms too.
Equally, rather than the teacher giving the children a list of elements that feature in a text type, they should be collecting them as they read and engage in the text type. During phase 1, children should be given opportunities to collect, in addition to vocabulary, ideas and authorial effects to be used, later, in their own compositions. These lists are sometimes referred to as āsuccess criteriaā or similar; however, it is my belief that the more child-friendly, less threatening labels such as āwriter's hints' make more sense to children, and therefore, are more likely to be used when they write. These lists can be used as checklists during or after writing, but they should always be displayed, perhaps on a āworking wallā, during the unit.
Booktalk and close analysis of the text ā this time focussing on how the writer has achieved effects on the reader, and being supported to understand what the writer has done to elicit this response and have that effect ā are also key parts of phase 1 of the teaching sequence. These ideas should be added to the āwriter's hints' list mentioned above.
