Learning to write in the new framework of Language and Communication: Theoretical concepts and models underlying the curriculum

Abstract

This article analyzes the requirements for writing, from grade 1 to 6, as established in the 2012 Language and Communication Curriculum. The framework for this study involves the concepts of metacognition and metalinguistic awareness, and five models of the writing process: Flower & Hayes (1981), the “knowledge telling” and “knowledge transformation” theory proposed by Bereiter & Scardamalia (1987, 1992), Hayes (2000), and the DIDACTEXT model (2003). The aim of this study is, firstly, to identify, describe and explain the theories of writing that are at the core of this curriculum, in order to inform school teachers and university teachers of pedagogy. The second purpose of this study is to determine what is emphasized in the curriculum, as well as, what areas are ambiguous and what is left out of it, in the light of what we know today about the teaching of writing.