The+Importance+of+Nonfiction+Text+Exposure+in+an+Early+Childhood+Classroom

There are several indicators for early writers that can help to predict quality and output of student writing. Coker (2006) said that some of these factors are “student background, vocabulary knowledge, reading skills, classroom literacy environment, and first-grade teacher” (Coker, 2006, p. 473). Coker (2006) organized a study to determine which of these predictors successfully indicated the writing of primary-grade students. The students were tested for their reading, writing, and oral language skills. And each first-grade classroom that participated in the study was analyzed for its environment, the first-grade teacher, and the instructional methods used. Classroom environments were analyzed for the amount of books in the classroom that varied in genres, the availability of writing tools, and other aspects relating to literacy. In his study, students were tracked from first through third grade. In the spring of each grade, students were asked to write a descriptive piece based on a picture prompt. The descriptive prompt was chosen since both informative texts and stories include descriptive passages.

The findings showed that all of these factors did in fact, have an impact in terms of the quality and output of student writing. One important indicator from this study that provides us with information in terms of teaching genre writing was the classroom environment. “The range of book genres in the classroom library was found to predict growth in the quality of writing. Students in classrooms with a wide selection of different kinds of books showed a steeper improvement in their writing through third grade” (Coker, 2006, p. 484). This is an important finding because it shows how important it is to have many different kinds of texts available. In addition, exposing students to a variety of genres will ultimately help their writing quality. It is also important to have writing centers and writing supplies, such as paper and pencils readily available for student use.