Collaborative Planning and Prewriting with Primary-Age Writers

Current writing theory and curriculum frameworks suggest that primary-age students should be taught to utilize the complete writing process and emphasis throughout instruction should be placed on planning and revision. However, due to an absence of research, it remains unclear whether primary-age students are developmentally ready for formal instruction in these skills. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to determine whether prewriting and planning could become an internalized step of the writing process during the formative years of learning. Intervention students participated in an eight-week language arts unit, which emphasized peer-assisted learning within a modified Writers' Workshop structure. Intervention students received explicit instruction in collaborative story planning. Students self-selected planning partners with whom they co-planned all stories. Results revealed that intervention students were far more likely to independently plan stories than students in the comparison classes and this skill persisted overtime. The results further suggest that primary-age students may be developmentally ready to receive formal instruction in prewriting and planning.