The purpose of the study was to investigate how social context influences kindergartners' topic selection strategies and subsequent written text for journal writing. Operating from a cognitive-psychological and a sociolinguistic perspective, the researcher became a participant observer in a kindergarten classroom over a period of 19 weeks. Within the social context of the kindergarten classroom, the researcher employed a number of qualitative methods designed to gather information pertinent to the research questions proposed: participant observation, interviewing techniques, audio recordings, fieldnotes, photographic recordings, the case study method, and triangulation procedures. Data collection consisted of the children's writing samples, social interaction recordings, ongoing interviews, and collected artifacts. Presentation and analysis of the data collected relating to the whole kindergarten classroom is included along with the data relating to three case study participants. The following contextual factors were identified and considered pertinent to the proposed research questions and the data collected: setting, genre, materials, routine, audience, evaluation, the role of the teacher, social group influences, and social/school competence. Based on the results of the study, the following tentative conclusions/hypotheses were generated with regard to the kindergartners' topic selection strategies and subsequent written text for journal writing: (1) the kindergartners' perspectives of the purpose for journal writing within the context of the classroom influenced selected topics, (2) the sharing of materials for journal writing served as a catalyst for social interaction which exerted an influence on their topic selection strategies and subsequent written text, (3) the teacher, along with the students, seemed to impose an acceptable structure for journal / writing which was indicative of social/school competence, and (4) the role of the teacher had a strong influence on the kindergartners' selected topics and subsequent written text for journal writing. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-02, Section: A, page: 0405. / Major Professor: Virginia P. Green. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_78170 |
| Contributors | Brock, Dana Ruth., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 271 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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