Look for the trees!

In developmental psychology there is ample evidence to support the effectiveness of positive reinforcement over punishers in the area of motivation.  In “Every Mark on the Page” Cusumano (2008) is not arguing that parents and community members view writing in a positive light merely for the sake of improving children’s self-esteem. Her goal is dispel erroneous beliefs and expectations regarding beginning writer’s efforts. She points out that the tendency is to remark on what is missing rather than recognizing what has been achieved. . I see a strong parallel within the dynamic of second language acquisition. It is widely accepted that hyper-awareness of pronunciation, gender agreement and tenses by second language learners and over-correction by their teachers has a stifling effect on creativity, experimentation and the development of convesation skills.  The process of unencumbered, non-analytical, free flow of ideas is critical in developing fluency beyond simple imitation and translation. Likewise, Cusumano warns “…too much intervention interferes with the risk taking necessary for young children to grow as writers.”

There are other factors for beginning writers that are often over looked or little considered. The attributing of meaning to words based upon symbolic representations is entirely arbitrary and is dependent on agreements of convention. There is nothing intuitive about the written symbols we use what they are meant to represent. Also, while most of us accept that the fine-motor skills and eye-hand coordination of five and six year old children is underdeveloped, we still expect spaces between words, letters to be forward-facing, upside-right and of consistent size. I challenge anyone to meet these demands using your non-dominant hand. Then try to copy one single sentence (from right to left) using a new alphabet.  অতারতারা বারো জাত এহানর মানুয়ে ঠা or 喺三義鄉有龍騰斷橋.