Journal of Education and Psychology

The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework through literature review on how children utilize various modes of presentation in writing processes, and how this multimodal event affects their written discourse structures. The content includes three subdivisions: (1) Modes of symbolic representation, (2) Children's drawing in writing processes, and (3) Children's written discourse structures. Drawing is a form of iconic representation to reflect the distinctive features of the represented experience (Bruner, 1964); a graphic image to draw what they know, not what they see (Piaget, 1969); and a graphic speech to conceptualize an internal representation of a story (Vygotsky, 1978). Drawing pictures may help beginning writers formulate and organize their thought in the less conventional and freer form of graphic symbolism. Drawing may help children develop characters, plot and theme in a story. Very little research was found on understanding the functions of drawing in children's writing processes and written discourse structures. Thus, this literature review endeavours to provide theoretical grounds for further research.

How do children learn to write? Over the past decade, studies on the acquisition of writing indicate that children reconstruct and negotiate their intentions and meanings on the basis of their interactions with the environment and within the text (Baghban, 1985; Bereiter, 1980; Bissex, 1980; Britton, Burgess, Martin, McLeod, & Rosen, 1975; Clay, 1975; Dyson, 1982; 1985; Emig, 1971; Flower & Hayes, 1977, 1981, 1984; Graves, 1973, 1975, 1981, 1983; Harste, Burke, & Woodward, 1983; King & Rentel, 1981, 1982: Langer, 1986; Rentel & King, 1983). Children learn first in play and later in drawing and writing to use language to construct symbolic worlds in which they have freedom to control the environments they create.

Children are initiated into the use of written symbols during infancy (Baghban, 1984; Bates, 1979). However, children control first-order symbols systems, like speech and drawing, before they control second-order symbols systems like written language (Vygotsky, 1978). Researchers point out that children use drawing and talk to support their early exploration of and use of print (Dyson, 1982, 1985; Graves, 1981; Gundlach, 1981). During the preschool years, young children are initiated into the use of writing as a tool for communication as a holistic process (Harste, Woodward, & Burke, 1983, 1984). Young children understand that writing, like drawing, is a way of representing meanings. They, like all literacy users, also are guided by the assumptions that written language must make sense in a particular situation and, at the same time, that written language varies across situations (Halliday, 1975, 1981; Harste, Woodward, & Burke, 1981, 1983).

From the aforementioned studies, we are aware that young children's writing is a multimodal event. However, there is a further need to look more closely at how children interweave these varied means of symbolizing, i.e., drawing, pretend play, dramatization, movement, music, talk, and print, in their early learning. How precisely do children use talking, drawing, pretend play, and writing to carry out the processes and encode information in varied writing situations? How does that interweaving change over time? Considering the evidence for individual differences in styles of early symbol use (Bates, 1979: Gardner, Wolf, & Smith, 1975), there is a need for information on the dimensions of variation in this weaving. It may will be that, rather than the beginning of writing, there are a range of possible "beginnings" (Freedman, Dyson, Flower, & Chafe, 1987).

The present paper attempts to develop a theoretical framework through literature review on how children utilize various modes of presentation (e.g., drawing and print) in writing processes, and how this multimodal event affects their written discourse structures. In the researcher's view the cognitive cannot be split off from the emotional and social aspects of development. The prerequisites for symbolic representation are rooted in the social and affective as well as the cognitive sphere. If curiosity, exploration, imagination, potential, learning from experience, creativity, reflection and beauty are addressed as an essential part of education besides or beyond cognitive skills, a larger more harmonious and holistic paradigm in learning and instruction should be considered. This researcher attempts to integrate research on social context with research on cognition, and on poetic feeling in order to develop a cohesive theoretical framework for a social-affective-cognitive theory in literacy learning across culture and language.

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