Emergent Literacy ECSE 604 Huennekens Why Is It Important?

Emergent Literacy Literacy development starts early in life and is highly correlated with school achievement All of the domains of a child’s development—physical, social-emotional, cognitive, language and literacy—are interrelated and interdependent. The more limited a child’s experiences with language and literacy the more likely he or she will have difficulty learning to read. ECSE 604 Huennekens

Emergent Literacy Key early literacy predictors of reading and school success include oral language, Alphabetic Code, and print knowledge. Well-conceived standards for child outcomes, curriculum content, and teacher preparation help establish clarity of purpose and a shared vision for early literacy education. Increased demands for program accountability are often heavily focused on assessments of children’s early literacy development. ECSE 604 Huennekens

Emergent Literacy Highly capable teachers are required to implement today’s more challenging early literacy curriculum. Teacher knowledge, respect and support for the diversity of children’s families, cultures, and linguistic backgrounds are important in early literacy development ECSE 604 Huennekens

Reading is Key Therefore, we need to focus on developing strong skills before begin formal reading instruction – especially for children known to be at-risk for later reading problems ECSE 604 Huennekens

Emergent Literacy Emergent literacy involves the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are developmental precursors to conventional forms of reading and writing (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998) ECSE 604 Huennekens

Predictive Skills and Abilities Oral language listening comprehension, oral language vocabulary Alphabetic Code alphabet knowledge, Phonological/phonemic awareness (the ability to discriminate sounds in words), invented spelling Print Knowledge/Concepts environmental print concepts about print ECSE 604 Huennekens

Predictive Skills and Abilities Children’s experiences with the world greatly influence their ability to comprehend what they read. What children bring to a text influences the understandings they take away and the use they make of what is read. ECSE 604 Huennekens

Predictive Skills and Abilities Children’s experiences with books and print greatly influence their ability to comprehend what they read. Reading with adults, looking at books independently, and sharing reading experiences with peers are some of the ways that children experience books. ECSE 604 Huennekens

Children at Risk Children from lower SES backgrounds Children who are English Language Learners Children with Language Delays ECSE 604 Huennekens

Emergent Literacy Emergent literacy skills are the basic building blocks for learning to read and write Emergent literacy skills begin developing in early infancy and early childhood through participation with adults in meaningful activities involving talking and print ECSE 604 Huennekens

Emergent Literacy Many candidate emergent literacy skills have been suggested, including oral language concepts about print environmental print alphabet knowledge phonological processing skills visual-perceptual skills emergent (pretend) reading emergent (pretend) writing ECSE 604 Huennekens

Emergent Literacy Consistent evidence exists that there are three primary domains of emergent literacy that are causally related to conventional reading & writing: Oral Language Phonological Processing Print Knowledge ECSE 604 Huennekens

Predictive Skills and Abilities Oral language is the foundation for literacy development. Oral language provides children with a sense of words and sentences and builds sensitivity to the sound system so that children can acquire phonological awareness and phonics. As they develop their own speech children demonstrate their understanding of the meanings of words and written materials. ECSE 604 Huennekens

Phonological Processing alphabetic languages like English represent sounds at the phoneme level “alphabetic principle” of letter-sound correspondences almost all poor readers have problems with phonological processing ECSE 604 Huennekens

Phonological Sensitivity Understanding that words are made up of smaller sounds helps children break “the code” between written language (the letters) and spoken language (the sounds). Segmenting, combining, onset & rime ECSE 604 Huennekens

Print Knowledge Understanding that it is the print that reflects the words and not other parts of books, like the pictures or the spaces between words Understanding that there are 26 different letters in English and that letters can look different and still be the same letter, as is the case for upper and lower case letters (or different print styles) ECSE 604 Huennekens

Emergent Literacy Evidence shows that these 3 skill areas are modular, meaning that their development is distinct…. Means that teaching in one area will not necessarily promote development in others Means that ideally would focus efforts on all three areas across preschool years Evidence suggests that focused instruction in all three areas can be successful ECSE 604 Huennekens

Recommendations All children should have access to early childhood programs with strong literacy components that include clear adaptations for children with special needs Early literacy curricula and teaching practices should be evidence-based, integrated with all domains of learning, and understandable to staff members ECSE 604 Huennekens

Recommendations Early literacy assessment should use multiple methods and use the information to improve both teaching and the total preschool program. Standards for early childhood professionals should require staff to meet early literacy instructional standards. ECSE 604 Huennekens

Recommendations Parent involvement programs should have a strong early literacy component that guides parents and caregivers in providing early literacy experiences at home. Support for English Language Learners should be specified and provided in both the home language and English where feasible. ECSE 604 Huennekens