page+7+-+the+early+development+of+writing

THE EARLY  DEVELOPMENT OF  WRITING Most children go through predictable stages in learning to write. Some children when beginning to write will represent ideas in drawing. They will tend to try cursive writing also. There are 4 principles that describe ways in which children discover how to write English. (Hill, 2006, p.281)  ·  The sign principle: the sign principle develops when children realise that letters and symbols stand for something. Most 3 year olds can associate the Mc Donald’s golden arches with a hamburger. Children understand that a drawing of a cat represents a cat. Then they learn that the printed word cat has none of the features of an actual cat.   ·  The flexibility principle: next children realise that some letters are allowable and some are not. The symbol < is not a letter, but T is. This is known as the flexibility principle. They may experiment with letters such as:   (letters in the Verdurian alphabet) Children also learn that the same letter can be written in several ways:  ·  The linear principle: linear principles of directionality are quite complex to grasp. Children learn that English is written from left to right in lines that go across the page. Sometimes children are so engrossed in forming one letter that this takes over and they write this letter all over the page.   ·  Spaces between words: many children are puzzled about where one word ends and another begins (Temple, Nathan and Burris, 1982 cited in Hill, 2006), in //The Beginnings of Writing//, point out that a book on architecture speaks of positive and negative space in building design. Positive space is what you put in, negative what you leave out. The space left between words is negative space-something left out. Many children like to put a full stop into spaces because the concept of leaving out or leaving a blank space is so difficult. (Hill, 2006, p.281)
 * A a **** a **