Stages of Writing Development: Portraits of Writers
Preconventional
Children in this stage play with writing by
scribbling or making random letters. These
“words” may be added to pictures they have
drawn to create meaning about their artwork.
Children may tell prolonged stories about the
pictures they have made.
Emergent
Emergent children think of themselves as
writers. These children may write their names
and/or some common words that others may
recognize or understand. Often times, one or
two letters, usually the first or last consonants,
will represent a whole word. Children in this
stage may also use letters to label pictures, and
will pretend to read their own writing to make
up a story.
Developing
Students make obvious attempts to write with
several recognizable letters and some familiar
words by utilizing beginning, middle, and ending
sounds. For example, share might be sHr, and
they may interchange upper and lower-case
letters. Children in this stage also begin to write
noun-verb phrases, such as MI CT RNS (My cat
runs). Work begins to look like writing, as the
words go across the page and begin to
incorporate spacing. Children will be able to
read their own writing aloud for a short time
after writing it, but later may not remember
what they intended to express.
Beginning
Beginning writers write about direct
occurrences that they, as well as others, can
read. They begin to write familiar short
sentences with a number of descriptive words,
and they use some capital letters and periods,
but do not always put them in the correct
places. Several letters are formed legibly.
Some words are spelled phonetically, but others
are correct. (Example: Once apon a tim ther
wuz a Fishrmn he whent fishing evryday.) In
fairy tale fashion, children will often start a
story with “Once upon a time” or finish with
“The end.” They will also revise their story by
frequently adding onto it.
Expanding
When students learn how to expand they write
about their experiences and interests. They
begin to think about their audience and adapt
their tone accordingly. For example, in a
holiday story, word selection, characterization,
and plot will differ when written for a
kindergartener than for a peer. Their stories
will include a beginning, middle, and end and
can involve elaborate descriptions and details.
Students will take pleasure in sharing their
stories with their peers and giving one another
feedback. Through this process, their spelling
of common words and editing skills continue to
increase but will still be somewhat inconsistent.
Students will no longer struggle with the
physical process of writing.
Bridging
With teacher guidance, students embark on
developing and organizing their ideas into
paragraph form. In this stage students are able
to write for multiple purposes, as this is a time
of practice. Their writing may be uneven with
the majority of attention focused on one
feature, with less attention paid to others.
Students are realizing that meaning can be
expressed through details, explanations, and
examples. Dialogue, similes, and alliteration
can be added during the revision-process with
teacher guidance and students will portray
more accurate editing skills.
Fluent
In this increasingly complex stage, the writer
has internalized the proper mood and tone. For
example, if a teacher assigns a written essay of
a historical figure, the student knows to write in
a serious tone. The writer may attempt to vary
sentence length and difficulty, and will start to
use transitional phrases successfully. These
writers have also internalized a range of literary
tools. Their writing is becoming more
consistent and organized within paragraphs,
and these paragraphs are connected fluently.
While revising their writing, students provide
examples, add reasons, and delete for
clarification. Their editing is more advanced, as
they find most of their own grammar, spelling,
capitalization, and punctuation errors.
Proficient
This level is sophisticated, as writers deal with
abstract and complex issues in a creative and
versatile manner. Writers are able to smoothly
transition from teacher-directed and selfselected topics. Children display enthusiasm in
revising and enjoy the art of writing.
Independent
These analytic writers have internalized the
writing process and have developed their own
distinctive style. As they evaluate their writing,
their style continues to adapt and grow.
*********************************
Adapted from: Hill, B.C. & Ruptic, C.A. (1994).
Practical aspects of authentic assessment (pp.
243-244). Norwood, MA: Christopher Gordon.