Exploring kindergarten teachers' classroom practices and beliefs in writing

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine how kindergarten teachers teach writing and their beliefs about writing instruction using survey methodology. Participants in this study included 78 kindergarten teachers in the United States. Results revealed that most kindergarten teachers used a balanced approach to writing instruction, combining instructional procedures from two common methods for teaching writing: skills instruction and process writing. The majority of kindergarten teachers devoted considerable time to writing instruction (36 min a day) and student writing (24 min a day) and used most of the instructional practices included in the survey to teach writing. These positive findings must be tempered by other issues involving classroom writing practices. This included concerns that teaching foundational skills was overemphasized with little attention devoted to teaching writing strategies and process. Writing tasks involved writing without composing and limited extended writing. The use of technology for writing and writing instruction was absent. Further, motivation for writing and extending writing to the home were largely ignored. Most participating teachers expressed positive beliefs about writing, their effectiveness in teaching writing and their capabilities as writers themselves.