Using Talk to Support Writing

Using Talk to Support Writing presents a new and innovative approach to the teaching of early writing. The authors discuss both theoretical and practical issues around using talk in the classroom to support children as they learn to write.

Set within the context of national concern for achievement in the development of writing ability, it addresses the gap in understanding early teaching and focuses on the exploration of talk and writing interface. This includes:

• Numerous examples of teaching and activities for using talk to support writing
• Using extensive data from classrooms, video and audio recordings, and transcripts of children′s talk
• Exploring three aspects of talk when used to support writing: talk for idea generation; talk for oral rehearsal and talk for reflection

This book is for students on Primary ITT courses, particularly for English specialists. Students on M-level English and literacy courses will also find it useful.

Susan Jones is a life-long educator, whose interest in best practice and research in teaching and learning led to a passion for effective communication. Actively facilitating and training education professionals, she also devotes much energy to keynote speaking, training trainers of adult audiences in presentation skills, and facilitating institutional change. She has presented to more than 20,000 people in the past decade alone. A leading expert on research-based classroom instruction and student achievement, she has helped educators translate research into practical strategies for teaching and learning. Her no-nonsense approach to instruction and leadership separates critical new research from speculation and skillfully presents the elements that positively impact achievement. She has served as past president of Florida ASCD, a member of the Board of Directors of ASCD, a trainer for the Bureau of Education and Research and has taught adjunct through four universities. Susan′s experience includes more than two decades of K-12 classroom teaching experience, as well as service as Director of Program Development for Illinois Regional Offices of Education. In addition to Blueprint for Student Success and Backstage Pass, Susan is a contributing author to two brain-research based books. She has authored numerous articles and columns dealing with strategies to improve achievement.

Debra Myhill is Professor of Education at the University of Exeter, UK, and Director of the Centre for Research in Writing, which promotes inter-disciplinary research, drawing on psychological, socio-cultural and linguistic perspectives on writing. Her research interests focus principally on writing and the teaching of writing, particularly linguistic and metalinguistic development, the composing processes involved in writing, the talk-writing relationship, and creative writing.  Underpinning this research is the principle that literacy, especially writing, is a pathway to empowerment. Over the past twenty years, she has led a series of research projects in these areas, in both primary and secondary schools. 

 Key Publications

Chen, H. Myhill, D. A and Lewis, H. (2020) Developing writers across primary and secondary years: Growing into Writing.  London: Routledge