Emergent writing of young children in the United Arab Emirates Academic Article

abstract

• We report results of writing samples of six Emirati children aged four to four and a half years collected at monthly intervals over an eight month period (the kindergarten academic year). Three teachers and six parents were interviewed to triangulate the data that were collected in the classrooms. The grounded theory method was used to code and categorize the data, which were then compared with the literature on emergent writing. Findings of this longitudinal study revealed that few opportunities are provided at home and in kindergarten for the development of young childrens emergent writing in Arabic and revealed other issues related to bilingualism and diglossia. Recommendations are provided for policy makers, teachers, and parents that would accelerate the development of young childrens Arabic literacy, particularly emergent writing skills, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

authors

• Joshi, R. Malatesha

published proceedings

• WRITTEN LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

author list (cited authors)

• Tibi, S., Joshi, R. M., & McLeod, L.

citation count

• 14

complete list of authors

• Tibi, Sana||Joshi, R Malatesha||McLeod, Lorraine

publication date

• March 2013

publisher

• John Benjamins Publishing Company  Publisher

published in

• Written Language and Literacy  Journal

keywords

• Arabic
• Diglossia
• Emergent Writing
• Home Literacy
• Kindergarten

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1075/wll.16.1.04tib

start page

• 77

end page

• 105

volume

• 16

issue

• 1

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/wll.16.1.04tib

user-defined tag

• 4 Quality Education