Cultural Artifacts as Scaffolds for Genre Development

Abstract

S This study was designed to examine the intersection of genre studies and studies of scaffolded learning. The purpose of the study was to explore children's developing understanding and use of narrative and informational genres, as well as how cultural exemplars functioned to scaffold children's genre development. Using a 3 (grade) by 2 (genre) by 2 (gender) by 2 (task condition) cross‐sectional design, these research foci were investigated by examining stories and biology reports that children wrote in two different task conditions. In the first condition, which we refer to as the nonscaffolded condition, children thought up and wrote a fictional story and a factual biology report about animals. In the second condition, which we refer to as the scaffolded condition, children recalled a well‐known fictional story and a factual biology report about animals and wrote them down from memory. Eighty‐eight children from 3 kindergarten classrooms, 3 first‐grade classrooms, and 3 second‐grade classrooms were the participants for this study. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of children's texts showed that children at all grade levels possessed considerable working knowledge of the cultural conventions of narrative genres but much less working knowledge of the cultural conventions of informational genres. Analyses also revealed grade‐related developmental differences for some dimensions of linguistic and textual organization but not others. Finally, analyses showed that cultural artifacts can function in powerful ways to scaffold children's genre development. These findings build upon and extend previous research on genre development, providing additional evidence for understanding this complex and emergent process. Directions for future research and implications for pedagogy are presented and discussed. El diseño de este estudio se ubica en la intersección entre los estudios sobre el género discursivo y los estudios de andamiaje en el aprendizaje. El propósito fue explorar el desarrollo de la comprensión y el uso por parte de los niños de los géneros narrativo e informativo, así como la forma en que los modelos culturales funcionan como andamiaje en el desarrollo del género discurisvo en los niños. Usando un diseño transversal, 3 (grado) por 2 (género discursivo) por 2 (condiciones de la tarea), estos focos de investigación fueron examinados mediante el análisis de historias y reportes de biología que los niños escribieron en dos condiciones diferentes. En la primera condición, a la que nos referimos como condición sin andamiaje, los niños pensaron y escribieron una historia de ficción y un reporte de biología sobre animales. En la segunda condición, condición con andamiaje, los niños hicieron un relato escrito a partir del recuedro de una historia de ficción muy conocida y de un reporte de biología sobre animales. Participaron en el estudio ochenta y ocho niños de 3 aulas de preescolar, 3 aulas de primer grado y 3 aulas de segundo grado. Los análisis cuantitativos y cualitativos de los textos de los niños m...

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