Research School Network: How the simple view of writing can be applied in the Early Years Classroom The Early Years Series

‘Literacy is unlikely to be achieved without explicit and prolonged instruction’ The EEF’s Literacy Development: Evidence Review, 2019. This instruction should begin as early as possible; we know the Reception year is paramount in developing early writing skills, but we need to prioritise, and consider starting points in all elements of writing for children entering school, and develop these through both quality first teaching and intervention where required.

Considering the complexities and the skills required for successful writing, it is helpful for practitioners to consider how the ​‘Simple View of Writing’ (Berninger et al, 2002) can be used in EYFS to lay the foundations for creating successful writers. Berninger placed working memory at the heart of his ​‘Simple View of Writing’ , and explained that too great a focus on any element would overload working memory and lead to a decrease in overall writing performance. As explained in the EEF’s Improving Literacy in KS1 Guidance Report​‘working memory has a limited capacity, therefore when children are in the early stages of writing development, they are not able to apply all the skills within The Simple View of Writing to produce high quality writing’.

When considering where our priorities should lie with our new EYFS cohort with regard to writing, practitioners should initially focus on the broad areas of language development, gross and fine motor development, and attention and self-regulation which we know are areas some children, often those from disadvantaged backgrounds, enter school with difficulties in. In the first term in our EYFS setting, we spend a lot of time in the outdoor area to develop gross motor skills, complete a wide range of fine motor skills activities, focus on high quality interactions between practitioners and pupils, and place a particular focus on storytime, to support language development, oracy, comprehension, the early stages of text generation and the development of attention and self-regulation.

Developing Transcription

Phonics instruction begins early in the Autumn term, and children begin learning to both read and write single sounds. However, letter recognition usually precedes formation, and additional time spent on letter formation outside of the phonics session is essential. Following the acquisition of sounds, children progress onto learning to read and spell individual words through their phonics teaching, and the writing of words is inevitably made easier if children are able to form letters with ease, freeing up working memory to focus on spelling.

As stated in the EEF’s Guidance Report, Preparing for Literacy,​‘Accurate letter formation is an essential early skill that forms the basis of a fluent handwriting style’. The EEF’s Literacy Development: Evidence Review, 2019 referenced studies (e.g. Bourdin & Fayol, 1994) that found that if transcription is made difficult for any reason, this would overload working memory and the overall quality of writing would decrease. They explained that ​‘disfluent handwriting processes can have a negative impact on spelling accuracy’ whereas ​‘fluent handwriting frees up resources for other processes such as spelling and composition’.

López-Escribano et al., 2022 conducted a meta-analysis of research from 2000 to 2020 and concluded ​‘that handwriting treatments early in kindergarten and the primary grades compared to non-treatment enhance writing fluency for developing writers and may be a critical factor to improve and to prevent writing fluency difficulties for full range students as well as for students with learning disabilities’. Every practitioner will know all too well that bad habits in formation are difficult to overcome. With every incorrectly formed letter, we are simply allowing a bad habit to be further engrained. So dealing with fine motor and handwriting issues early, with explicit teaching and intervention, could save hours of intervention later in education, and result in higher attainment in literacy all round, as working memory will no longer be taken up by this element of transcription. As highlighted in the EEF’s Guidance Report, Preparing for Literacy​‘up to 30% of children may experience handwriting difficulties, so it is important to carefully monitor and plan appropriate support and intervention’. They suggest children would most likely benefit from individualised instruction, to allow practitioners to monitor the accuracy of the product and process of letter formation (see example below), and carefully pitch instruction to their specific needs.

Text Generation and vocabulary

During the Reception year, children develop their writing skills through dictation activities using their current phonics knowledge, and gradually develop their basic sentence level skills as they move through their phonics teaching, for example finger spaces, capital letters and full stops.

It is important to remember composition involves ​‘articulating ideas and structuring them in speech, before writing’ (DfE, 2024). Prioritising the development of vocabulary is essential, and should be done both implicitly and explicitly, through high quality interactions, and a daily planned storytime with the focus on the explicit teaching of vocabulary.

As explained in the EEF’s Improving Literacy in KS1 Guidance Report, children may only be able to apply strategies of written composition when ​‘spelling and handwriting require less of the child’s working memory capacity’. Early Years practitioners can be reassured and informed by the ​‘Simple View of writing’ and other evidence, that they shouldn’t rush the development of written composition, but first secure the prerequisite skills of motor skills, handwriting and spelling. It may just be that less is more; not overloading working memory in the early stages could be the key to developing successful writers.


References

Ahmed Y, Kent S, Cirino PT, Keller-Margulis M. (2021) ​‘The Not-So-Simple View of Writing in Struggling Readers/​Writers’, Read Writ Q 2022;38(3):272 – 296

Breadmore H, Vardy E, Cunningham A, Kwok R, Carroll, J (2019) ​‘Literacy Development: Evidence Review’, Education Endowment Foundation

Department for Education (2024) ​‘Early years foundation stage statutory framework For group and school-based providers Setting the standards for learning, development and care for children from birth to five’

Education Endowment Foundation (2018) ​‘Preparing for Literacy: Improving Communication, Language and Literacy in the Early Years’, London: Education Endowment Foundation.

Education Endowment Foundation (2020) Improving Literacy in Key Stage One’, London: Education Endowment Foundation.

López-Escribano C, Martín Babarro J, Pérez-López R (2022) ​‘Promoting Handwriting Fluency for Preschool and Elementary-Age Students: Meta-Analysis and Meta-Synthesis of Research From 2000 to 2020’ Frontiers in Psychology