Essentials of Literacy from 0-7

A Whole-Child Approach to Communication, Language and Literacy

Tina Bruce, Jenny Spratt

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781849205993, 9781849205986
• eBook ISBN: 9781446242704
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Early Childhood Education

Children flourish in their development and learning when practitioners and parents work together. Childrens? development and learning are further enhanced when interconnected knowledge and understanding work together.

In this new edition the authors guide readers in understanding of child development. They highlight the need for those who work with young children to become reflective practitioners. Through a focus on the introduction of nursery rhymes, finger rhymes, action songs and poetry cards, the authors provide a gentle, child-friendly way to develop literacy 0-7.

Thoroughly revised and updated, this book includes:

- Case studies and examples

- Discussion of the primary framework

- Inclusion of schools as an educational setting

- Age-appropriate activities

- Further reading suggestions at the end of each chapter

This book is useful for teachers, practitioners, teaching assistants and childminders and for anyone working with children from birth to seven years in nursery and primary schools, children?s centres, foundation units, and at home.

Tina Bruce is an Honorary visiting professor in Early Childhood at Roehampton University.

Jenny Spratt is Head of EYFS and Children?s Centre Services for Peterborough Local Authority

Chapter 1

Introducing the Essentials of Communication, Language and Literacy

In this chapter we show how:

• reading and writing rest on the foundations of communication and language development;
• not every child will develop language or learn to read and write, but with support most children with special needs can learn to communicate;
• there are many diverse activities through which we help children into literacy;
• literacy teaching thrives in an encouraging and relaxed environment linked to the whole curriculum.

When should children be taught to read and write?

In most cultures of the world, literacy (being able to read and write, either in print or Braille or by using computer technological aids) is important and considered necessary for a full participation in society, and in order for each person living in that society to make a contribution. It is seen as a key to knowledge and understanding ideas, or reflection on feelings and relationships through information and literature.

Opening up the world of knowledge and understanding and finding there is lifelong satisfaction in communicating, with and without words, and in reading and writing, also equips children for survival in a fast-developing global world economy where the future is uncertain and unknown.

It involves:

• good communication (sensitive use of words/signs, body language, saying things without words)
• rich language (being articulate and being a sensitive listener)
• becoming a bookworm who reads avidly both for pleasure and for information
• writing mainly for pleasure (greetings to family and friends) and for other reasons as well
• writing so as to share ideas, put forward arguments, campaign, and reaffirm ideas.

In most countries of the world, children are between 6 and 7 years old when they are taught to read and write, because that is a good time biologically, and typically they then learn to do so within about three months. By this age language (either spoken or signed), unless there are socio-cultural challenges or disabilities, will be established. Articulation has developed, so that children can hear and say the sounds of a language. As speech and language specialists remind us, pronunciation and phonological awareness is linked to how children will tackle the links between phonics and graphics that are so central to being able to read and write. Having a wide enough vocabulary, and being able to say what you mean (the semantics) is crucial too. Children can be taught to bark at print, but reading with and for meaning is what it is all about. Language is hardwired to develop in the brain. The processes of reading and writing are not (Carter, 1999). Reading and writing depend on language in order to get going (as it were), and they piggyback onto language as they develop.

Do children (provided they are given a rich learning environment) learn to read and write naturally?

One view is that children will learn to read and write quite naturally, but only if they are in an environment that encourages this through:

• people around them reading and writing
• being read to
• engaging with literature and informational print as an important part of everyday life.

Parents might read a newspaper regularly, or at weekends. As they grow up children will see this focussed attention, and perhaps hear the various comments their mother or father makes about news items. They might see their parents making shopping lists and choosing programmes to watch on television or to listen to on the radio. They might also see them paying bills, writing in cheque books, or more often nowadays, writing on line at the computer. All this establishes an important backcloth that will in turn encourage children to engage with books and the mark-making which leads into writing.

Bedtime stories (Brice-Heath, 1983) can give children the opportunity to ask questions, and comment as they go, within an atmosphere of warm affection. Not all children are read to in this way, but there can be other times of day when stories can be read to them. Indeed such bedtime stories might be more practical for working parents. Kathy Goouch (in Goouch and Lambirth, 2007) writes about the way a group of graduate parents introduced their children to reading, writing, literature and information-seeking in exactly this way. Their children then possessed a rich language as a base on which to build their literacy development.

Involving children in writing shopping lists – perhaps making their parallel list in their own way, with their own marks and drawings – means that children are participating and becoming part of a writing community, in a relaxed and unpressured way. This is done in the spirit of everyone being involved, and the child is not expected to perform but to join in, doing what they can without being judged for how successfully they achieve adult ways of writing or reading. Having a go is the important thing, with the child’s efforts being taken seriously.

Friedrich Froebel (1782–1852) pioneered the thinking that children can learn a huge amount about communication, language and literacy when they share songs and finger rhymes with their parents. He called these the ‘Mother Songs’. Had he been alive today he would doubtless have included fathers too, but at that point in history the emphasis was on the role of mothers in the informal and natural education of children. The idea was to build on nature, with children’s natural enjoyment of rhymes, songs and stories as part of family life.

Johannella Tafuri (2008: 1) researched the musical development of young children who had been sung to in the womb. She, like Froebel, emphasized the importance of family singing, as it has ‘anthropological, cultural and social value in all cultures’.

Should children be taught to read as early as possible?

Another point of view is that children need to be inducted into reading and writing and the earlier the better. The argument is that becoming independent readers and writers as young as possible gives them the key to the door which opens up the world of literature and knowledge to them. They are then not dependent on others reading to them, or writing on their behalf. Until they can read fluently they are thought to find chunks of text confusing and therefore be unable to appreciate literature or non-fiction texts fully. The emphasis is on being able to read and write without help, rather than on Vygotsky’s (1978) notion of practitioners needing to aim their teaching, as he puts it, at the ‘ripening buds’ rather than the ‘opened flowers’ in order that children do not have to perform early but are supported by adults in their understanding. Sometimes their competence will develop steadily, sometimes in a burst, and sometimes it will plateau as if pausing for breath. Learning does not develop at the same pace throughout.

Key moments in the journey towards literacy

Is it important for practitioners to know about the biological, social and cultural development of children, and the subject knowledge of what is involved in literacy, literature and the seeking and sharing of knowledge and information, so they can learn how to put the two together in order to help children read and write.

The view of this book is that biologically-driven processes are a vital part of learning how to read and write. Without a body and a brain there is no question of this being possible! But we cannot just leave things to nature. Neuroscientist Colin Blakemore (2001) argues that ‘nurture shapes nature’. This means that there are important processes functioning both in the brain, and in the growing and maturing body. If we work with these we can help children to develop their learning with maximum impact. Our biological selves are shaped and nurtured by people, relationships and culture. This is particularly the case where reading and writing are concerned. We are not leaving things to nature – instead, we are working with nature.

We need to understand what is involved in the subject knowledge of literacy. What are the essentials of texts and how do they work? What are the mechanics of reading and writing? Some of the most important things in developing literacy are not always that obvious. The way the brain works to co-ordinate vision, hearing and movement is crucial here and so is the way each child develops as a symbol maker and symbol user. Talking, understanding what others say, and engaging in conversations are each part of this process.

The co-ordination of the hands, looking and hearing

How hands, ears and eyes will begin to co-ordinate is an important part of the journey into language and from there into literacy, literature, knowledge and information. (This will be explored in Chapter 3.)

Walking, talking and pretending: the excitement and celebration of the first steps in walking

When a baby becomes a toddler, and takes his or her first steps, family and friends will become awash with excitement – and so they should. This co-ordination of the body’s movements is one of the greatest landmarks towards literacy. By the time a toddler reaches this point in life, the long journey into communication, language and literacy will be well under way.

In her study of children singing in their families, and where a mother sang while her baby was in the womb, Johannella Tafuri (2008: 83) found that 71% of the 3-year-olds could sing in tune. This was of interest because children at this age do not usually do so. It was helpful if such singing continued after a child was born and if before that ‘there was music in the environment from the sixth month of prenatal life, with specific moments dedicated to singing and listening, in a family atmosphere of encouragement and praise’.

First words

The first time a child very obviously uses a word will be of enormous importance in a family. For children who have a hearing impairment, a communication disorder or learning difficulty, this may be their first use of sign language such as British Sign Language. Words or signs are symbols. They stand for something else, and are imbued with meaning. The words ‘Mum’ or ‘Dad’ are not the actual people. They stand for the person, who may or may not be present. There are simpler systems for children for whom this is too abstract, such as Maketon, using a picture exchange system, or the Objects of Reference, developed by Adam Ockelford (2008).

When a child begins to use words and phrases, symbolic thinking has opened up to that child who can then think about the past, present and future, and describe and comment on events and people, expressing their thoughts and feelings and developing ideas. Marian Whitehead (2009: 10) emphasized that the first word will be used spontaneously by children. It will also be used consistently and regularly in the same context and the same activity. The parent or carer will then be able to notice it.

Pretend play scenarios

Some researchers argue that language and other kinds of symbolic behaviours are separate systems. Others would argue there are different kinds of symbolic behaviour. You will find by reading this book that the important thing is to value both the early beginnings and the later developments of symbolic behaviour, such as pretend play, drawings and paintings, models, sculptures, dance choreography, musical composition and dramatic play scenarios. The pioneering Italian educator Malaguzzi (1998) described these as ‘the hundred languages of the child’. We open up a rich world for children when we help them to be symbol users and makers of their own symbols. But we need to remember the warning that relates to our use of the brain: ‘Use it, or lose it’.

In order for young children to (later) be able to read and write independently, these are the essentials of literacy

Literacy has its beginnings in communication and language. Here the adult and child share a story they have made together about a train’s journey. The adult tries to tune into the child’s ideas, ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• About the authors
• Introduction and acknowledgements
• 1 Introducing the essentials of communication, language and literacy
• 2 Observing children in an enabling environment
• 3 Parent/baby songs
• 4 Finger rhymes
• 5 Mark-making and writing
• 6 Action songs – on the spot
• 7 Action songs – moving around
• 8 Nursery rhymes
• 9 Poetry cards: mapping sounds onto letters
• Bibliography
• Index