What a Parent Brings to the Table: Young Children Writing with and without Parental Assistance

DeBaryshe, Barbara D.; Buell, Martha Jane; Binder, Janeen C.

doi:10.1080/10862969609547911

Cited by 56Writing and Handwriting EducationReading and Literacy DevelopmentEarly Childhood Education and Development

What a Parent Brings to the Table: Young Children Writing with and without Parental Assistance

DeBaryshe, Barbara D., Buell, Martha Jane, Binder, Janeen C.·1996·Journal of Literacy Research

DOI 10.1080/10862969609547911

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Abstract

Twenty children aged 5 and 6 years were observed attempting to write a letter alone and with their mothers' assistance. Children produced more sophisticated products with adult mediation, using conventional spelling, writing longer messages, and using more mechanical details such as punctuation and salutations. Children's self-talk about the meaning of the message was associated with higher product quality in the solo task. Interactive talk about conventions (spelling, page placement, etc.) was associated with dyadic product quality. Children's rank order for message length and conventional details was maintained across tasks. Evidence of maternal fine-tuning of scaffolding behaviors in response to the child's independent level of print performance was revealed in a qualitative analysis of dyadic interaction. Most mothers appeared to have a sense of the developmental progression of writing skills.

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Prior research shows that parents and peers bring rich scaffolding, emotional support, metacognitive prompting, good role models, and collaborative negotiation to the co-creation process.
“Prior research shows that parents and peers bring rich scaffolding, emotional support, metacognitive prompting, good role models, and collaborative negotiation to the co-creation process [14,26,39,43].”
From Child-AI Co-Creation: A Review of the Current Research Landscape and a Proposal for Six Design Considerations (2025) · cites this paper as [14]

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Running head: MOTHER-CHILD JOINT WRITING Mother-child Joint Writing in an Environmental Print Setting: Relations with Emergent Literacy
Neumann, M. M., Hood, M., & Ford, R. M. (2016)
Parent-Child Interaction in a Letter-Writing Context
Burns, M. S., & Casbergue, R. M. (1992) · Journal of Reading Behavior · doi:10.1080/10862969209547779 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Parents’ support during different writing tasks: a comparison between parents of precocious readers, preschoolers, and school-age children
Aram, D., & Besser‐Biron, S. (2016) · Reading and Writing · doi:10.1007/s11145-016-9680-6 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Maternal Scaffolding of Preschoolers’ Writing Using Tablet and Paper-Pencil Tasks: Relations With Emergent Literacy Skills
Neumann, M. M. (2017) · Journal of Research in Childhood Education · doi:10.1080/02568543.2017.1386740 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Mother–child joint writing in an environmental print setting: relations with emergent literacy
Neumann, M. M., Hood, M., & Ford, R. M. (2011) · Early Child Development and Care · doi:10.1080/03004430.2011.615928 · Cited by 31 · see citing works

Authors: DeBaryshe, B. D., Buell, M. J., & Binder, J. C.
Affiliations: University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (US)
University of North Carolina at Greensboro (US)
ORCID: DeBaryshe, Barbara D.
Buell, Martha Jane
Venue: Journal of Literacy Research
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 1996-03
Volume: 28
Issue: 1
Pages: 71-90
ISSN: 1086-296X (ISSN-L)
1554-8430
DOI: 10.1080/10862969609547911
OpenAlex: W2100605600
Cited by: 56
References: 21
Citations by year: 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 4 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 2
FWCI: 4.82
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations: Journal of Literacy Research (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Education › Writing and Handwriting Education
Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
Keywords: early writing, parental scaffolding, mother-child interaction, letter writing, writing conventions, spelling, punctuation, message length, self-talk, dyadic interaction, writing development, young children

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What a Parent Brings to the Table: Young Children Writing with and without Parental Assistance

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