Joint Writing in Hebrew of Dictated Words Versus Proper Names: Analysis of Low SES Mother-Kindergartner Dyads

Maternal writing mediation style was explored and compared across two writing activities. Mothers of low socio-economic status were videotaped while joint writing with their kindergartners on a home-like activity (writing a list of names of invitees to an imaginary birthday party) and on a school-like activity (writing dictated words that were selected by the researcher). The video films were assessed in terms of: 1) general characteristics of the interaction, such as atmosphere, reinforcement, and criticism; 2) references to specific components of the Hebrew orthography; and 3) maternal strategy of mediating the grapho-phonemic code and the printing of the letters. Findings indicate that mothers have a general cross-activity strategy of mediating writing. Still, different contexts of writing result in different maternal behaviors. In the home-like activity, the interaction atmosphere is warmer and more cooperative; in the school-like activity, mothers tend to be more intrusive. In light of the results, both parents and kindergarten teachers are encouraged to utilize everyday opportunities for mediating writing.