[The initial stages of learning to write: age and socioeconomic differences]

Area of Science:

• Child Development
• Educational Psychology
• Sociolinguistics

Background:

• Socioeconomic status significantly impacts early childhood development.
• Early writing skills are crucial for academic success.
• Understanding disparities in writing acquisition is vital for equitable education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare writing performance in children from high (strata 4-5) and low (strata 1-2) socioeconomic strata.
• To analyze differences in writing notation, mode of production, and speech style.
• To investigate the influence of age and socioeconomic status on early writing development.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Initial and Emergent Writing Assessment (IEWA) tasks.
• Assessed 223 children aged 3-5 years across diverse socioeconomic kindergartens in Bogotá.
• Compared performance based on age and socioeconomic strata (high vs. low).

Main Results:

• Writing notation correlated positively with children's age.
• Significant differences in writing and speaking styles were observed between high and low socioeconomic strata.
• Writing as a mode of production was associated with both age and socioeconomic status.

Conclusions:

• Children from higher socioeconomic strata exhibited richer writing styles and notation.
• Disparities in writing skills are linked to unequal access to language comprehension and the meaning embedded in writing.
• Variations in writing performance were also noted between kindergartens serving high socioeconomic populations.