Spontaneous writing in Norwegian after-school programme
Submitted by:
Ingvill Krogstad Svanes
Abstract:
In Norway, all primary schools offer an after-school programme for children from grades 1 to 4 ("Skolefritidsordning" or “aktivitetsskole” in Norwegian), and 92 % of Norwegian first graders attended their school’s after-school programme in autumn 2022. Each school organizes the after-school programme individually, based on a framework plan that stresses play, culture and physical activities (Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training, 2021). The after-school programme does not include formal instruction in school subjects. We thus assume that children’s writing in this context may have another character and function than writing during the school day, which we know often focuses on formal aspects as letter instruction, handwriting and filling-out tasks (Bjørnestad, Dalland, Hølland, & Myrvold, 2022; Håland, Hoem, & McTigue, 2019). In the after-school program, however, writing probably have a voluntary and informal character. In this project we will study the texts written in the after-school programme contexts and ask:
What characterizes the texts children write spontaneously in the informal setting of an after school-programme?
The study builds on theory of writing as a situated and social literacy practice (Gee, 2004) dependent on context (Barton, 2007). Included in this is a broad text concept, including multimodal texts as tool for communication.
The sample consists of 18 texts gathered by the leader of the after-school programme at one school in Oslo. The students are from first and second grade. The texts are written inside the school building and were gathered during autumn 2019 and spring 2020, before the pandemic spoiled our plans. We are now gathering more texts on two other schools. The leader has taken pictures of the texts with a mobile phone and sent it on e-mail to the researchers. In addition, she has noted the context for the writing.
Our preliminary findings show that writing in the after-school programme may be characterized as spontaneous, in the sense not planned by an adult (Frost, 2001). Writing is voluntary and often a part of play. The students’ texts are multimodal combining verbal text, drawings, symbols, emojies etc. They are thematically varied and has several functions and materialities. The texts are linked to the children's experiences and shows agency, as they are written on the children’s initiative. The children's texts, however, also imitate the adults' texts, for instance they are making lists based on the adults’ use of lists to check the children in and out of the after-school programme.
References
Barton, D. (2007). Literacy: An introduction to the ecology of written language (2 ed.). Malden, Mass: Blackwell Publishing.
Bjørnestad, E., Dalland, C., Hølland, S., & Myrvold, T. M. (Eds.). (2022). "Hit eit steg og dit eit steg" - sakte, men sikkert framover? : en systematisk kartlegging av premisser for og trekk ved førsteklasse : delrapport I (Vol. 2022/7): OsloMet - storbyuniversitetet.
Frost, J. (2001). Phonemic awareness, spontaneous writing, and reading and spelling development from a preventive perspective. Reading and Writing, 14(5-6), 487-513.
Gee, J. P. (2004). Situated language and learning: a critique of traditional schooling: Routledge.
Håland, A., Hoem, T. F., & McTigue, E. M. (2019). Writing in First Grade: The Quantity and Quality of Practices in Norwegian Classrooms. Early Childhood Education Journal, 47(1), 63-74.
Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training. (2021). Framework plan for SFO. Retrieved from https://www.udir.no/contentassets/1d8a92df5874407bbb87cdea215cc832/rammeplan-sfo-engelsk.pdf