We read, we write: Investigating the relationship between children's reading and their writing in upper primary school.

In this thesis I present the findings of an investigative research project which explored the relationship between children’s leisure reading and their volitional writing in the upper years of primary school. The data was collected in two primary schools in the north of England, using mixed methods. Quantitative data was collected in an online reading survey taken by 170 children, and qualitative data was provided by independent writing journals maintained by 38 participants. Through analysis of the data I demonstrate that the writing children choose to do is influenced by the texts they encounter as readers in terms of content, text type and linguistic style. By using Text World Theory as an analytical framework I examine the ways that children use language to create texts, and interrogate the ways that the contexts surrounding text production influence the texts children create. In a detailed examination of a variety of children’s written texts, including narrative, comic strip, informative writing and poetry, I show that children’s interactions and transactions with texts as readers and writers are complex and multiple. The narrative strategies that children use in different types of text and the ways in which they work multimodally to communicate meaning are illuminated by the analysis and provide insights into children’s learning and development in literacy. The importance of children’s enjoyment and agency in reading and writing is also a notable theme arising from the analysis. In addition I draw together socio-cultural, linguistic and psychological orientations towards literacy by making innovative use of Text World Theory and demonstrate the need for an holistic understanding of children as readers and writers. The findings of the study have implications for theoretical research into children’s literacy and for pedagogies of reading and writing in primary classrooms.