Young writers’ construction of agency

Abstract

This paper considers young learners’ construction of agency in the context of classroom writing lessons. It draws on data from the Esmée Fairbairn-funded project, From Talk to Text: Using Talk to Support Writing, which investigated the relationship between talk and writing in early years classrooms. The paper reports on results from in-depth interviews with pairs of children in six classrooms in the south of England. It is argued that, although human beings have the ability to shape and influence their lives, this capacity is circumscribed by the context within which their activity is located. In order to examine human agency, it is necessary to explore the social contexts and cultural tools that shape the development of human ways of acting. Data presented here indicate a sense of agency in young writers’ classroom choices but raise questions about the efficacy of these choices.