Comprehensive descriptions of early writing development are needed to adequately inform instruction and intervention and yet knowledge about how early writing develops is fragmented. This paper provides a critical review of longitudinal studies of early writing development with specific attention to the logics of inquiry used. Twenty-seven studies of children up to age 10, spanning 34 years from 5 countries, are included. Researchers’ theoretical framing, research questions, definitions of writing, study designs, time span, analytic procedures, measurement or classification of writing, key findings, and attention to context or instruction are examined. Findings show that definitions of writing vary considerably or, in some instances, are nonexistent. These definitions have implications for the research designs and measures used, and how data were classified. Many studies describe developmental trends in a global way but few describe how the development occurs or goes awry. Few studies examine cognition in conjunction with context. Similarly, few studies present strong theoretical orientations toward writing with coherent connections between problem formulation and design, measures, or classifications used. Recommendations for future research are provided.

中文翻译：

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对早期写作发展研究中探究逻辑的批判性评论

需要对早期写作发展进行全面的描述，以充分指导和干预，而关于早期写作发展方式的知识却是零散的。本文对早期写作发展的纵向研究进行了批判性回顾，特别关注了所使用的探究逻辑。包括对来自5个国家的34岁的10岁以下儿童的27项研究。研究人员研究了理论框架，研究问题，写作定义，研究设计，时间跨度，分析程序，写作的度量或分类，关键发现以及对上下文或指导的关注。调查结果表明，写作的定义相差很大，或者在某些情况下不存在。这些定义对所使用的研究设计和方法具有影响，以及如何对数据进行分类。许多研究以全球的方式描述了发展趋势，但很少有研究描述发展是如何发生或出现问题的。很少有研究结合上下文来研究认知。同样，很少有研究在写作问题和设计，措施或分类之间建立起连贯的联系，从而提出了强有力的理论指导。提供了未来研究的建议。