Examining the effects of kindergarten writing instruction on emergent literacy skills: a systematic review of the literature

ABSTRACT The importance of teaching kindergarteners to be effective writers has been emphasized in recent years. The purpose of this article is to provide a systematic review of current experimental and/or quasi-experimental studies investigating writing instruction in the kindergarten setting. Framing the literature within three philosophical approaches, we identified instructional strategies related to increases in emergent literacy outcomes and gaps in the literature. The results from 15 intervention conditions from 2010 to 2020 indicated the overall effect size for kindergarten writing instruction was g = 0.37, 95% CIs [0.09, 0.64], suggesting that kindergarten writing instruction enhanced children’s early literacy outcomes. The findings from this article provide important instructional implications for kindergarten writing instruction.

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