Research in Young Children's Literacy and Language Development

Language and literacy development for different populations

Olivia N. Saracho

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781138091092
• eBook ISBN: 9781351609562
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The importance of the early years in young children's lives and the rigid inequality in literacy achievement are a stimulating backdrop to current research in young children's language and literacy development. This book reports new data and empirical analyses that advance the theory of language and literacy, with researchers using different methodologies in conducting their study, with both a sound empirical underpinning and a captivating analytical rationalization of the results. The contributors to this volume used several methodological methods (e.g. quantitative, qualitative) to describe the complete concept of the study; the achievement of the study; and the study in an appropriate manner based on the study's methodology.

The contributions to this volume cover a wide range of topics, including dual language learners; Latino immigrant children; children who have hearing disabilities; parents' and teachers' beliefs about language development; early literacy skills of toddlers and preschool children; interventions; multimodalities in early literacies; writing; and family literacy. The studies were conducted in various early childhood settings such as child care, nursery school, Head Start, kindergarten, and primary grades, and the subjects in the studies represent the pluralism of the globe – a pluralism of language, backgrounds, ethnicity, abilities, and disabilities. This book was originally published as a special issue of Early Child Development and Care.

Research, policy, and practice in early childhood literacy

Olivia N. Saracho

ABSTRACT

Young children are able to read before they experience formal reading instruction. They have unique backgrounds, experiences, and capabilities. As a result, young children need to have reading and writing experiences that are of interest to them and are developmentally appropriate for them, which also include the primary grades. This review examines the concept of emergent literacy in relation to its paradigm and developmentally appropriate literacy practices. It compares the perceptions and definitions of emergent literacy in several countries within the continents. It summarizes the research, history, policy, and practice on early reading instruction such as the national reading panel and national early literacy panel and its indicators of literacy proficiency at a later age.

Introduction

I struggled through the alphabet as if it had been a bramble-bush; getting considerably worried and scratched by every letter. (Dickens, 1861, p. 79)

The world is inundated with print. Every day, young children encounter print that motivates them in learning to read for personal and social reasons. Today, preschoolers are extremely aware about print and its meanings. In 1958, James Hymes showed that reading Asells itself@ to young children, because print messages are Ain the limelight@ continuously. Daily living Abeats the drums for literacy as the children‘s world is immersed with print that is not nearly comparable to any formal instructional programme (Vacca et al., 2014).

Literacy is composed of behaviours that focus on receptive [listening, reading] and expressive language [speaking, writing] (Saracho, 2004). Many young children learn to read and write before they attend formal school. They acquire literacy concepts when they (a) become aware of and interact with readers and writers and (b) attempt to read and write. In such situations, they develop an understanding about literacy that is bound by their prevailing representations of written language. The knowledge and principles of these representations transform when children consider language, text, and meaning. The extent, strength, and nature of the children’s interest with text determine their literacy learning. Ferreiro and Teberosky (1983) state:

… it is absurd to imagine that four- or five-year-old children growing up in an urban environment that displays print everywhere … do not develop any ideas about this cultural object until they find themselves in front of a teacher. (p. 12)

Children ages two and three progress (a) from babbling to creating understandable speech and (b) from observing print in books and composing scripts in their efforts to writing. Most children between the latter part of two years or starting at the age of three make reading-like and drawing-like scribbles and identifiable letters or letter-like shapes. Three-year-old children are able to recognize the golden arches that ‘stand for’ McDonald’s. While the majority of children who are three-years-old can use symbols in one instance, it is possible that they cannot apply this ability across all circumstances and domains without precise practice. Young children also begin to understand how marks function when they learn (1) that both hash marks and numerals represent numerical information, (2) the distinction between numerals and letters, (3) the differentiation between how letters perform in their own and their friends’ written names, and (4) to match letters to sounds within words. Occasionally, adults take advantage of television resources like Sesame Street to present two- and three-year-olds with examples of letters and corresponding sounds. Usually, these children are in childcare programmes where teachers and caregivers introduce them to various forms of reading and writing (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Very young children (1) become aware and interact with readers and writers, (2) make an effort to read and write, and (3) generate literacy concepts. They scribble and write, make-believe they are reading, respond to books that have been read to them, and interpret environmental print (Saracho, 2002), which are identified as emergent literacy behaviours.

Emergent literacy paradigm

Emergent literacy increases the children’s literacy development by encouraging behaviours that resemble literacy (e.g. pretend reading, scribbling) as actual reading behaviours, where social situations (e.g. play, family events) are an essential way to present to children literacy knowledge and practices. Children acquire both language and literacy through their everyday social experiences. In a social context, young children are able to practise language and literacy, as they understand it. In these situations, literacy is very clear, because young children discover and recognize the interactions between these two domains (Saracho & Spodek, 2006). Such actions are viewed as emergent literacy behaviours.

Definition

An emergent literacy concept expanded the literacy development theory to include literacy-like behaviours (e.g. scribbling, pretending to read) as authentic contributions, where social settings are used as essential resources to introduce children to literacy knowledge and practices (Saracho, 2012). Emergent literacy refers to children from birth through five years of age who are developing their reading and writing abilities before engaging in formal reading instruction. During literacy-related situations (e.g. book sharing, scribbling), emergent literacy shows (1) the children’s literacy benchmarks develop into regular reading and writing, (2) how the children’s abilities to read and write become apparent alongside, and (3) the way written literacy abilities surface progressively in the framework of oral language development. Young children absorb literacy in a developmental continuum, starting at birth. In literacy-rich environments, they acquire the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are the basis for reading and writing (e.g. telling the story based on their daily experiences, discussing pictures in books). The children’s emergent literacy is enhanced when prereaders are provided with opportunities to socially interact in a literate environment, which allows them to engage in active learning, problem-solving, and meaning making.

Developmentally appropriate literacy practices

Preschool children vary physically, emotionally, socially, and intellectually from other age groups (Saracho, 1993), which affects their literacy development. Their language and literacy programme in the school should be equivalent to their developmental level of emergent literacy. Young children need to experiment with literacy at their individual rate by exploring and experimenting with print (Vacca et al., 2014). Their reading programme needs to consider their abilities and the way they learn concepts and relationships by using vigorous experiences and discoveries to help young children develop literacy-oriented behaviours which can ease their initial reading instruction (Saracho, 1987).

Developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) indicates that the curriculum matches the young children’s learning developmental stages (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). Children need to learn in a flexible way to be able to construct knowledge. From a developmental perspective, children possess developing abilities, which should be used in providing learning experiences. Nearly all of the children have these abilities, but children may differ in their proficiency level to read and write when they first enter school. Therefore, the children‘s individual differences must be used in planning initial literacy experiences (Vacca et al., 2014).

DAPs in emergent literacy

The 1970s and early 1980s saw robust research activity in children’s early language development, early childhood education, and re-examination of the concept of reading readiness. This work resulted in Teale and Sulzby (1986) editing a book authored by various leading researchers of the time that proposed reconceptualizing what happens from birth to the time when children are able to read and write traditionally as a period of emergent literacy. In 1967, Clay’s (1975) revolutionary research demonstrated that no result ‘suggests that contact with printed language forms should be withheld from a five–year–old child on the ground that he is immature’ (p. 24).

The concept of emergent literacy increased throughout the 1980s and 1990s as part of DAP (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009) with an intended emphasis on offering children opportunities to learn about literacy [International Reading Association (now called the International Literacy Association (ILA)) & The National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998]. DAP is a framework of educational experiences for young children that was proposed by the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the International Reading Association (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009).

In 1998, the International Reading Association (IRA) and the National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) (1998) approved a position statement on young children’s literacy development that advocated a continuum for children’s literacy development regardless of age. This position statement proposed a continuum of children‘s literacy development, taking into consideration that children at any age could perform at any stage along the continuum. The continuum of children‘s literacy development embodies the following progression of apparent stages (Vacca et al., 2014).

(1) Awareness and Exploration Stage is initiated at birth and advances through the children’s preschool years. In constructing the groundwork for learning to read and write, young children observe their environment and inquire about print and print-related activities (e.g. listening and discussing stories). In this stage, young children (1) discover that print communicates a message; (2) display logographic knowledge when they specify environmental print such as labels, signs, cereal boxes, and other kinds of print; (3) pretend to read; (4) make marks (such as assorted shapes of scribbling and writing expressions) in an intent to write; (5) relate some letters to their speech sound; and (6) print letters or estimations of letters to characterize the written language.

(2) Experimental Reading and Writing Stage usually occurs in kindergarten when young children become aware of and explore spoken and written language. At this time, they (1) understand the basic concepts of print (such as left-to-right progression and top-to-bottom direction); (2) enjoy listening to others read; (3) embark in sustained reading and writing experiences; (4) prevail in letter-recognition and letter–sound relationships; (5) engage in rhyming experiences; and (6) initiate the writing of alphabet letters and high-frequency words.

(3) Early Reading and Writing Stage generally develops in first grade when teachers initiate formal reading instruction. At this stage, young children initiate (1) reading simple stories; (2) writing about topics that they know and are of interest to them; (3) reading and retelling familiar stories; (4) the acquisition of comprehension strategies; (5) accelerating their knowledge of letter–sound patterns to achieve accurate word identification skills; (6) their ability to read with fluency and recognize an extensive amount of sight words; (6) becoming knowledgeable about grammar (including punctuation, capitalization) when they maintain their writing about topics that are personally meaningful to them.

(4) Transitional Reading and Writing Stage occurs by second grade when young children initiate their transition from their early stages in reading and writing to engaging in more advanced literacy tasks. At this stage, young children (1) read with extensive fluency; (2) skilfully apply cognitive and metacognitive strategies in reading and writing; (3) display an expanding skill in all reading and writing components (e.g. word identification skills, sight word recognition, reading fluency, sustained silent reading, conventional spelling, proofreading).

(5) Independent and Productive Stage usually occurs in third grade when young children mature into independent and productive readers and writers. At this stage, young children (1) read and write gracefully based on their purpose and audience, (2) continue to develop as readers and writers, and (3) broaden and enhance their literacy skills and strategies (Saracho, 2002, pp. 119–120).

Teachers need to provide young children with instruction that matches their developmental level and that establishes new proficiency in both oral and written language. These interpretations have resulted from changes in developmental theories associated with literacy, language, and cognition, in the interpretation of diverse individuals who are currently in the standard classrooms, and in the disposition of reading education. For instance, currently, western educators have accepted Vygotsky’s (1962, 1978) theory, especially in the field of language and literacy. Vygotsky differentiates between ‘natural’ and ‘cultural’ development. Cultural development allows individuals to obtain concepts of cultural behaviour, integrating rational models. Language and literacy development is a paradigm of cultural development, which transpires within a socio-historic environment. Forms of knowledge that originated within the culture influence the children’s learning. Such forms of knowledge are transferred from the more refined to the less refined in a culture, from adults and older children to younger children.

A basic concept in Vygotsky’s theory is the notion of the ‘zone of proximal development (ZPD)’, which describes the realm of the children’s capability to succeed with a certain assistance. This kind of support has been described as ‘scaffolding’ or offering help to children as they progress in their lea...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• Introduction – Literacy and language: new developments in research, theory, and practice
• 1 Research, policy, and practice in early childhood literacy
• 2 Early reading and practice-inspired research
• 3 Creating mathematicians and scientists: disciplinary literacy in the early childhood classroom
• 4 Is dosage important? Examining Head Start preschoolers’ language and literacy learning after one versus two years of ExCELL
• 5 Testing a nested skills model of the relations among invented spelling, accurate spelling, and word reading, from kindergarten to grade 1
• 6 Young dual language learners’ emergent writing development
• 7 Quality standards matter: a comparative case study examining interactive writing in the preschool setting
• 8 Understanding influences on writing instruction: cases of two kindergarten teachers
• 9 Scaffolded writing and early literacy development with children who are deaf: a case study
• 10 Contributions of Skinner’s theory of verbal behaviour to language interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders
• 11 The effects of the Language for Learning programme on the social adjustment of kindergarten children
• 12 Are young children’s utterances affected by characteristics of their learning environments? A multiple case study
• 13 Translanguaging in a Reggio-inspired Spanish dual-language immersion programme
• 14 Conversation Compass© Communication Screener: a conversation screener for teachers
• 15 Talking about talk: reviewing oracy in English primary education
• 16 Talking the talk: translating research to practice
• 17 Language insights for caregivers with young children
• 18 Investigating predictors of fidelity of implementation for a preschool vocabulary and language curriculum
• 19 Parents’ shared storybook reading – learning to read
• 20 Multimodal play–literacy: a preschooler’s storytelling, drawing, and performing of dinosaur extinction theories
• 21 Increasing early reading skills in young signing deaf children using shared book reading: a feasibility study
• 22 Informational and fictional books: young children’s book preferences and teachers’ perspectives
• 23 A small-scale, feasibility study of academic language time in primary grade language arts
• 24 Literacy in the twenty-first century: children, families and policy
• 25 Family literacy programmes and young children’s language and literacy development: paying attention to families’ home language
• 26 Effective interventions to strengthen early language and literacy skills in low-income countries: comparison of a family-focused approach and a pre-primary programme in Ethiopia
• 27 Early literacy programme as support for immigrant children and as transfer to early numeracy
• 28 Childcare, language-use, and vocabulary of second-generation Latino immigrant children growing up in a new immigrant enclave in the United States
• 29 Supporting preschool dual language learners: parents’ and teachers’ beliefs about language development and collaboration
• 30 The relative importance of English versus Spanish language skills for low-income Latino English language learners’ early language and literacy development
• 31 Assessing the early literacy skills of toddlers: the development of four foundational measures
• 32 Development of the language proficiency of five- to seven-year-olds in rural areas
• 33 Evidence-based reform: enhancing language and literacy in early childhood education
• Index