Researching the Learning and Teaching of Writing: A Retrospective Analysis of Paradigms Employed

Introduction

This chapter provides a retrospective reflection on the research paradigms that informed some of the research carried out by the author, as an academic researcher with a particular interest in literacy learning and teaching. While it is contended in the preface that “being clear about the paradigm in which the research is conducted is critical in ensuring all elements of the research exercise are congruent” (2016), the author of this chapter will argue that the way a researcher subconsciously understands the world, and how research should be carried out, may mean that a research project can follow the parameters of a particular paradigm without the paradigm having been explicitly named in the original study design.

The program of research discussed in this chapter operated between 2007 and 2014. The research involved multiple projects over the seven years. The author of this chapter was chief investigator for all projects; some that were single researcher projects and others that involved a team of researchers. The contexts for the projects were early childhood centers, preschools and/or primary schools in New South Wales and Victoria, two of the most populated states in Australia. The common link across the projects was their focus on understanding the learning and teaching of young writers. The projects examined what happens in the year before children start school (preschool) and the first two years of primary school from the perspectives of children and their teachers. While each of the projects will be discussed more fully later in the chapter, they are introduced briefly at this point in Table 1. It is these projects that provide the “data” for the chapter and its discussion of the place and power of the research paradigm.