“Mommy, How Do You Write ‘Sarah’?”: The Role of Name Writing in One Child's Literacy

Abstract This study, set in the context of a longitudinal interpretative case study of the literacy learning of one child, Sarah, from age 2–5, documents the role and significance Sarah's name had in deepening her understandings of written language. Data, collected primarily through participant observations, interviews/informal conversations, and writing samples, were gathered in everyday literacy events. Sarah's name, the first writing she memorized and didn't invent, presented her with key issues she needed to confront in refining her literacy, such as the functions and forms of written language, upper- and lower-case letters, directionality, and the relationship between the orthographic and phonological systems of our language. This study highlights the critical importance of an authentic, purposeful, literacy-rich, supportive environment for children, providing them with time to invent, predict and guess how written language works, and compare their inventions with conventional spellings, particularly their names. Sarah's inventions and the interaction and support she received from others built her self-confidence as a learner and deepened her understandings of written language.