Resumen de Writing technique or writing culture?: Representations of writing among children and teachers at high-achievement schools in Chile
Schools play a crucial role in learning to write, not only because they are places where writing is taught but also because they are spaces for culture related to literacy. This chapter presents the results of a study conducted in high-performing schools concerning national writing assessments in Chile (SIMCE 2013). Multilevel models made it possible to identify six schools with excellent results in writing proficiency. The study used a complex approach to writing proficiency, accounting for the sociocultural context of these schools. Accordingly, their teaching practices, conceptions, and cultures in regard to writing were studied. Specifically, we conducted interviews with teachers and principals, performed classroom observations, held focus groups with children, and analyzed students’ writings. Our results indicate that teachers hold high expectations about the learning of all their students and create a positive climate in their classroom. On the other hand, there is a great distance between the activities children develop at school and those they practice at home, and there is no dialogue between their interests and preferences and teachers’ teaching strategies. Moreover, ignorance of the former entails that opportunities for the meaningful writing instruction of students are lost. Writing therefore becomes a skill to master rather than a culture to participate in.
