The Primary English Encyclopedia: The Heart of the Curriculum, Third Edition
Transcriptional aspects of writing
See also handwriting, paragraphing, punctuation, spelling
These include spelling, punctuation, capitalisation, legibility and paragraphing. The distinction between compositional and transcriptional (or secretarial) aspects of writing was made by Frank Smith (1982).
Noting the physical effort young children put into spelling and handwriting, Smith suggested teachers encourage them to concentrate first on what they wanted to communicate (the composition of the content of their writing) and second on bringing the transcriptional aspects to a good standard. This approach was intended to prevent the inhibiting of the content of the writing by premature worry about the secretarial matters. The distinction is recognised in the National Curriculum English programmes where transcriptional aspects are referred to as ‘presentation’.
Smith, Frank (1982) Writing and the Writer London: Heinemann.
This is the complete article, containing 127 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
View More Summaries on Transcription (linguistics)
