!
An!example!of!these!sociocultural!and!social!semiotic!perspectives!in!practice!can!be!seen!
in! the! work! of! proponents! of! CulturalSHistorical! Activity! Theory! (CHAT).! This! is! an!
approach! to! analysing! learning! as! units! of! action! through! the! cultural! context! in! which!
social! activity! and! interaction! is! taking! place! (Edwards,! 2011).! In! Cultural6 Psychology:6 A6 Once6 and6 Future6 Discipline,! Cole! (1996)! argues! that! cultural! tools! such! as! literacy! have!
values! attached,! and! he! asserts! that! applying! universal! developmental! approaches! to!
different! societies,! with! different! cultural! ideas! about! literacy,! is! restrictive.! Cole! argues!
that!school!education!(the!curriculum!and!pedagogy)!in!the!West!is!ideologically!‘futureS oriented’!relative!to!the!demands!of!the!‘elders’,!who!have!authority!in!deciding!what!will!
be!necessary!and!valuable!for!society!for!the!future.!Cole!gives!leverage!to!the!argument!
that!the!predominant!social!and!cultural!construction!of!education!and!childhood!is!based!
on!a!narrow!concept!of!children’s!developmental!progress.!He!rejects!development!as!the!
appropriation! of! superior! cultural! beliefs,! practices! and! values,! and! instead! attempts! to!
understand!language!learning!and!development!through!cultural!analysis.!
Cole! uses! the! concept! of! the! artefact,! as! a! cultural! object,! to! analyse! the!
interaction!between!the!individual!and!society.!He!agrees!with!Wertsch!(1994,!1998)!that!
social!uses!of!mediational!tools!are!central!to!meaningSmaking,!and!how!the!processes!of!
language!and!thought!can!be!understood.!However,!he!uses!the!term!artefact!instead!of!
tool,!as!an!artefact!is!able!to!exist!in!both!an!ideal!and!a!material6state!(Cole,!1996,!p.117).!
Consequently,! an! artefact! can! be! an! imagined! reality! and! one! of! matter,! both! having!
cultural!value.!Importantly,!the!ideal!form!of!the!artefact!affects!and!shapes!the!material!
form.! This! may! be! a! useful! approach! to! support! an! understanding! of! the! role! that!
children’s! writing! artefacts! have! within! their! social! context.! It! could! be! argued! that! they!
carry! both! an! ideal! and! material! reality! that! is! held! and! extended! through! social!
interaction!within!schooling.!There!is!a!connection!here!between!the!ideal!writing!artefact!
and!the!becoming!child!in!school!(a!conceptualisation!of!childhood!that!will!be!explored!in!
the!final!section!of!this!chapter)!in!how!cultural!expectations!and!beliefs!are!attributed!to!
writing!and!child!writers.!Within!the!CHAT!approach,!the!starting!point!for!analysis!is!how!
the! artefact! is! used,! spoken! about! and! altered! by! individuals! and! social! groups;! the!
practical6 activity! that! helps! us! understand! the! artefact! as! object! is! culturally! mediated.!
Here,! we! can! see! that! understanding! the! relational6 process! we! have! with! cultural!
artefacts! (both! as! ideals! and! material! objects)! is! important! in! how! the! ‘process6 of6 simultaneous6enculturation6and6transformation’!occurs!(Wells!and!Claxton,!2002,!p.!2).!!
The!idea!of!transformation,!through!mediated!activity,!recognises!the!importance!
of!learning!communities!and!the!practices!within!them.!Therefore,!the!primary!attention!
in! CHAT! research! is! often! focused! on! the! system! that! provides! the! historical! carrier! of!
culture! (Edwards,! 2011).! The! actors! who! engage! within! the! system! are! understood! in!
relation! to! the! specific! complexities! of! the! context! and! the! affordances! and! constraints!
that!are!in!place!in!how!artefacts!are!acted!upon!(Wells!and!Claxton,!2002).!Experiences!
of!children!engaged!in!social!activity!are!therefore!wedded!to!and!constituted!by!the!tools!
they!use.!A!good!example!of!this!is!in!how!social!networking!tools!are!key!to!how!virtual!
communities! are! organised! and! interact.! The! interesting! question! here! is! how! the!
appropriation! by! users! of! technology! as! a! social! tool! is! reconfiguring! shared! social!
experiences.! Technologies,! and! their! uses,! can! be! shown! to! be! extending! mediational!
processes!into!complex!multilayered!cultural!subjectivities.!
CHAT! criticises! the! convergence! of! political! and! economic! organisational!
structures!in!providing!a!homogenised!version!of!education!with!measurable!standards!as!
outcomes,! as! this! does! not! recognise! local! diversity! of! social! contexts! and! narrows!
cultural! practices! (Wells! and! Claxton,! 2002,! p.! 9).! These! structures,! Wells! and! Claxton!
argue,!limit!the!processes!of!cultural!mediation!and!place!the!child!as!a!passive!recipient!
of! learning.! Instead,! the! CHAT! approach! is! interested! in! ‘the6 intricate6 complexity6 of6 the6 unique6 moment6 in6 which6 a6 person6 interacts6 with6 an6 unprecedented6 material,6 social,6 and6 cultural6setting’!(Claxton,!2002,!p.!25).!!
CHAT! does! not! seek! to! contain! the! shifting! contexts! and! unpredictability! that!
form! the! struggles! and! challenges! within! mediation! and! appropriation.! It! recognises! the!
complexities!and!change!within!participatory!groups!and!social!contexts,!which!may!have!
different! goals! and! values.! CHAT! views! learning! and! development! as! cultural! action! that!
involves! physical,! sensory! and! spiritual! lived6 experiences,! and! as! a! result,! Claxton! and!
Wells! argue! that! views! of! cognition! need! to! be! expanded! beyond! notions! of! fixed!
development!within!21stScentury!research.!!
!
What!next!in!sociocultural!research!of!young!child!writers?!
!
What! appears! to! be! significant! in! this! section! is! the! link! between! the! symbolic! and!
representational! (as! meaningSmaking)! to! the! material! (the! social! context,! relationships!
and! tools).! Therefore,! it! appears! to! be! important! to! understand! localised6 knowledge!
(Geertz,!1983)!and!find!ways!to!closely!analyse!individuals!as!part!of!a!social!group.!How!
young! children! are! encultured! into! social! and! material! writing! activity! still! remains! a!
mysterious! but! fascinating! process.! How! we! explore! complex! meaningSmaking!
connections! as! culturally! significant! acts! within! places! and! through! relationships! is! a!
challenge.!
Children!as!writers!often!engage!in!a!considerable!reflective!process,!playing!and!
experimenting! with! structure,! form! and! content! as! they! explore! potential! possibilities!
within!language!(Cremin!and!Myhill,!2012).!It!is!this!agency!or!implicit!desire!of!children!to!
try!out!different!ways!of!being!a!writer!that!may!need!to!be!considered!further!within!the!
dynamic! between! the! writer! and! the! environment.! All! writers! form! subjectivities! in!
relation! to! others! as! part! of! the! writing! process.! All! writers,! as! ‘readers’! of! the! social!
environment,! look! for! the! signs! and! structures! on! which! to! frame! their! own! meaningS!
making! process.! But,! all! writers! are! also! moving! in! response! to! and! helping! to! change!
these!social!structures,!signs!and!symbols!to!meet!their!own!desires.!
The! next! section! looks! in! more! detail! at! young! children’s! writing! as! a! dynamic!
transformative! activity,! and! how! this! understanding! of! language! and! literacy,! as! altering!
meaning! through! expression,! has! been! recently! problematised! by! researchers! who! have!
embraced!a!wider!understanding!of!multimodal!symbolic!systems,!materials!and!bodies.!
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