An in depth evaluative model answer example essay that explores whether Being creative is an essential part of learning to write
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05) Being creative is an essential part of learning to write
Data set 2 is a fictional story produced from Lily who is 6 years and 3 months, therefore we
can make inference that she has had at least 2 years of explicit grammar teaching at school,
since this is the British educational system where there are stages set out in the national
curriculum that children have to be at to be successful. Whilst, it is clear that there is
emphasis on accurate writing seen in the learning objective of using grammatical features
such as conjunctions to make the story make sense, Lily is clearly being encouraged to write
creatively given the fictional genre of the task. There is great debate within linguistics about
whether being accurate is more important to teach children rigid rules of language or
whether creativity is more important to encourage children to be expressive to make them
more motivated.
It is clear that the learning objectives of this task ask for both accuracy in writing, given the
fact that the teachers expects 'conjunctions' and the nature of the school environment, but
there is a push for creativity through using fictional storytelling from a different character's
perspective, from the 'wolf's' in chronological order. It is clear that the discourse is written in
chronological order which can be observed through the repeated use of the discourse
marker 'then' which is a convention of retelling events. Rothery argued that after children
learn to use language to observe, their language can become expressive, meaning it is
semantically creative and they are able to write about things that they have not experienced.
In analysing semantic patterns of data set 2, the use of dynamic verbs throughout such as
'rushed', 'gobbled' and 'bonked' are all hyponyms of expressive verbs used within fairy tales
which Lily is able to use accurately in context. For example, within the independent clause 'i
gobbled her granny up', the sentence is accurate in terms of syntax since the first person
pronoun 'I' comes first in the subject, then the verb element 'gobbled', then the object noun
phrase 'her granny' and finally the preposition 'up' as the adjunct. This is the standard word
order of English. Therefore it could be considered that being creative allows children to apply
rules of language in an exciting way, reflecting on stories that interest them. However, Piaget
would argue that writing can only happen when there is an understanding of how writing
works, therefore rather than creativity, accuracy should precede creative writing to ensure
children can grasp such concepts. For example, within the discourse, Lily doesn't use
speech marks or start a new line for a new speaker within the coordinating clauses 'I said to
her....Granny's house'. Therefore accuracy in the language needed for a particular genre
may be necessary. However, S.B Heath noted that children who came from working class
black backgrounds were exposed to more aural storytelling and were hence more creative,
whereas many children from white upper class backgrounds had been exposed to a range of
literacy models and excelled more at accuracy since they understood how writing should be
and the conventions of a genre. Whilst this research was done in the 70s, it is crucial to note
that people's diverse home experiences still impact how important creativity and accuracy is.
Therefore although being creative allows Lily to explore the use and positioning of such
dynamic verbs, it could be argued that accuracy in discourse structure is needed to deliver
clear messages to the reader. However, one must consider the child's previous experiences.
Therefore, being creative is an essential part of learning to write as well as accuracy
approaches.
It could be argued that accuracy has a greater importance on learning to write initially so
children can understand conventions of language. For example, within data set 2, it is clear
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