Developing Children’s Language and Literacy Skills

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Family Stories

In Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model (1979), a child’s most basic environment is the microsystem, which includes his family. The culture of the society his family belongs to greatly influences how he imbibes the culture and how he expresses his developing personality. On this first level, all of the child’s relationships are bidirectional, meaning adults affect his behavior and vice versa (Berk, 2006).

Young children find the theme of family very interesting, especially because their first life experiences are with their family members. Listening to family stories truly captivates children, and as they listen, they get to relate the plot to their own lives.

Aims & Objectives

The activities planned have objectives that conform to the state guidelines set by the NSW Department of Community Services.

Provision of an environment supportive of communication and where language is richly used by both children and adults.

Appropriate use of language and communication with children.

Being responsive to children’s efforts to communicate both verbally and non-verbally and Active encouragement of children to use language and awaken them to the power of both verbal and non-verbal language.

(NSW Department of Community Services. Office of Childcare, n.d.).

Specifically, the activities also aim to:

Promote literacy skills and higher-order thinking
Encourage socialization and cooperation among the children
Develop comprehension skills
Encourage creativity
Foster appreciation for family

Anticipated Outcomes

Children will gain good comprehension skills from the storytelling activity.
Children will be aware of story elements such as characters, setting, plot, etc.
Children will know how to sequence events of the story.
Children learn how to express themselves in drawing, writing, and verbal stories.
Children engage in higher-order learning in coming up with alternative story endings.
Children learn how to communicate their ideas to peers.
Children develop good interpersonal skills during group activities.
Children get to appreciate family values and the moral lesson of the story.
Children gain ICT skills within the theme.

Time Frame: The activities may be done as an evaluation of the students’ skills gained after a story reading session. An example of a family story is Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Each activity may be done for the rest of the work period depending on the developmental level of the children.

The older the children, the longer the time allotted for the activity since they have more developed attention spans. This may be done again for another session or two. The important thing is that children do not get bored doing it and so it should be interspersed with other supplementary activities.

For Children aged 2-3

Prepare three pictures from the story – one for the beginning, another for the middle, and another for the end. Let the children arrange the pictures from beginning to end either from top to bottom or left to right. Let them explain what happened to each scene. As they progress, in the next sessions, more pictures may be added for them to arrange the correct sequence.

For Children aged 4-5

Instead of preparing the pictures, let the children draw the pictures. They can be assigned a particular scene from the story and have them dictate what is happening to the scene while the teacher writes down their verbalizations on the lines under the picture box where they are supposed to draw. Later on, let the children talk about their pictures in front of the class, then after everyone has shared, arrange themselves with the pictures according to the sequence of the story.

For Children aged 6-7

Have a number of strips of paper ready. On each strip, write down a phrase or sentence depicting a specific event in the story. Present the event strip to the class in random order. Let them reconstruct the story using the event strips. If they are just beginning to read, to prompt them in their reading, there can be a representative picture beside the words.

Writing: Changing Story Endings

Discuss the story after it is read to make sure the children understand it fully. With this base knowledge, try to raise their thinking to greater heights by asking them to group themselves into threes to come up with a different story ending. For example, instead of Goldilocks running away when she is awakened by the three bears, she gets adopted by the bears and is asked to live happily ever after with them. Or instead of scaring Goldilocks away, the three bears get to break into Goldilock’s house instead and try out her soup, her chair, and her bed. The children are encouraged to be creative in their thinking then later defend their points with critical reasoning. After the small group discussions, each group shares its endings with the class. The class votes for the best alternative story ending.

Technological Multiliteracies: Interactive Online Stories

Search the internet for interactive online stories with the theme of family. There are many available. Explore it first to make sure it is suitable to the developmental needs and level of the children. This activity may be for individual or paired children. Orient the children to the instructions of the online store. Be there to guide them in the first few minutes and when they manifest understanding and capability to work on their own, allow them to explore by themselves. These stories are interactive and would entail their active participation. Just be on hand to assist them if needed.

The activities detailed above are designed to develop literacy skills. Just what is literacy, and how does it develop in an individual? Venezky, et al (1990) provides an elaborate explanation, emphasizing writing as well as reading:

“Literacy is minimal ability to read and write in a designated language, as well as a mindset or way of thinking about the use of reading and writing in everyday life. It differs from simple reading and writing in its assumption of an understanding of the appropriate uses of these abilities within a print-based society. Literacy, therefore, requires active, autonomous engagement with print and stresses the role of the individual in generating as well as receiving and assigning independent interpretations to messages.” (p. 142)

Schools have been built to nurture and develop it and use a variety of methods to inculcate it in students, just so they may draw upon their literacy skills in becoming productive, learned individuals.

Emergent literacy is the term used to refer to the earliest period of a child’s literacy development, specifically the time between birth and when the child can read and write (Sulzby and Teale, 1991). According to emergent literacy theories, the child is the central figure in the construction of learning. His life experiences directly affect his literacy. One theoretical perspective in the area of emergent literacy is that children are innately predisposed to becoming literate especially if they live in a literary-rich environment – lots of books, pictures, films, software, educational posters, etc. The activities planned all expose the children to such an environment, including technology, which is very much a part of the children’s lives right now.

Piaget (1959) also has something to contribute to the theoretical perspective of literacy. According to him, literacy is actively constructed with a child’s interaction with the environment. Such interaction brings about learning, as concepts are constructed or changed, usually, differing from adult concepts. Still another perspective has been inspired by Vygotsky (1962), as he theorizes that a child learns literacy through conversation and involvement in literacy acts with an adult. This interaction between adult and child is called ‘scaffolding’. This occurs when a knowledgeable adult gently guides a child through successive literacy activities while relinquishing autonomy little by little to the child until such time he can do it on his own. This is manifested in the three activities when teachers first guide the children until such time they are ready to work on their own and develop skills by themselves.

Analysis of Learning Experiences

The story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears was used as an example because of its popularity and simplicity. It is a basic story that may be cultivated for a rich harvest of ideas and concepts. However, the choice of the story may be adjusted to the developmental level of the children. It may have been a good choice for the younger set, but if higher-order thinking is to be aimed at, then a corresponding reading level and story complication is called for. The sequencing of events activities was well designed with the developmental levels in mind, and it is expected that the children will respond well to it if an effective motivational teacher implements it. The Story ending activity would be limited to more verbal children aged 5 and up, as their language skills are more developed than the younger set hence they can express their ideas better to each other and to the class. The younger children aged 2-4 may be given an alternative activity like a game related to the story or a role-playing activity with props they can sort and classify into different attributes. The interactive ICT activity should be researched well by the teacher first before introducing it to the children. She herself must try it first to ensure that it will be appropriate for her students and that much value and learning will be derived from it. An alternative to this activity may be a film-showing activity that may be compared to the story told. Such analysis would elicit higher-order thinking in the children on top of being entertained.

Focus Child Language Analysis

Ali (age 4) was talking to his teacher one day, asking her what she would like to be when she grows up. She answers, “I wanted to be a teacher. I already am!

But I am also a writer.” Ali’s follow-up question was, “You don’t want to be a ‘more left’?”

Ali is a precocious little boy who speaks confidently to anyone. This sample of his conversation shows his wit as a manifestation of his logical thinking skills. This may stem from his quality interactions early on from the home. Beaty (2009) contends that children develop a sizable vocabulary even as young as 20 months if adults around them talk to one another and to them and showed affection and interacted playfully as opposed to their counterparts who received little or no adult interaction and verbal communication.

Ali’s loving parents have showered him with the love and attention he needs, making him confident enough to experiment with words and meaning. Hearing the word “writer” meant for him “right-er”, so he associated it with the directional word “left-er”. To an adult, it would seem like a punchline to a joke, which makes children’s innocent speech amusing to them. But to Ali, he meant to use the word as he saw fit in his own understanding of the word.

Clay (1998) posits that all children must take an active part in negotiating meanings. The sample depicted above is a clear indication of Ali’s experimentation in finding meaning to words with a supportive teacher who allowed him to. Conversations with adults are essential in the language learning of children. Piaget and Vygotsky, key people in the study of language and thought, believe that development will not take place unless children engage in rich, meaningful conversations with others by which language is internalized to more complex thinking (Neuman & Roskos, 1993).

Both theorists uphold that through language, children begin to decipher particular words from objects or actions and then words begin to stand for ideas. Next, thought begins to take on a symbolic function, such as Ali’s use of the word “righter” in the example above. He was successful in using the natural medium of language for representational thinking at a very young age (Neuman & Roskos, 1993).

How should young children like Ali be encouraged to develop their literacy skills? Educators use different approaches to help children become literate:

Whole language approach

emphasizes a holistic, meaning-based, and context-based approach in linking printed text with spoken language.

Little attention is paid to specific or isolated skills and limited emphasis is placed on the role of focused practice.

Language and literacy are viewed as integrated systems, and specific components of language such as the sounds of each letter are not learned in isolation (Norris & Hoffman, 1993).

Phonetic approach

emphasizes phonological awareness training

value the provision of specific and focused opportunities to practice segmenting words into phonemes, blending phonemes into words, and learning to rhyme.

Natural literacy

expands the concept of emergent literacy by emphasizing the role of interactions with adults or more competent peers in a child’s learning experiences.

Although the whole language approach and the phonetic approach seem to be opposing camps, there is good reason to suggest an integration of both for more effective literacy development. Watkins & Bunce (1996) gives the rationale:

“On the one hand, because the process of literacy acquisition occurs through natural, meaningful experiences with print and reading, these experiences should play a role in efforts to facilitate such skills. On the other hand, because phonological awareness contributes to early reading achievement, some focus on particular phonological awareness abilities appears warranted. Thus, a rationale exists for integrating whole language and phonological awareness perspectives in attempts to promote literacy proficiency in young children.” (n.p.)

The activities set forth above comply with the requirements necessary to meet the developmental needs of young children in terms of their literacy development. It is projected that the learning experiences will meet the objectives set forth above. Not only will they be literate, but these will also help them become good communicators in the future especially if they are exposed to more of such activities at a very young age.

References

Beaty, J.J. (2009), 50 Early childhood literacy strategies, Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, pp. 54-55.

Berk, L. (2006) Child Development, 7th edn, Pearson, Allyn & Bacon, Boston.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The Ecology of Human Development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Clay, M.(1998) By Different Paths to Common Outcomes, Stenhouse Publishers, Maine, pp. 5-32

Neuman, S. B., & Roskos, K. A. (1993) Language and literacy learning in the early years: An integrated approach, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Fort Worth, TX, pp. 27-31, 34-61.

Norris, J., & Hoffman, P. (1993). Whole Language Intervention for School-age Children. San Diego: Singular Press.

NSW Department of Community Services. Office of Childcare, n.d, NSW Curriculum Framework for Children’s Services.

Piaget, J. (1959) The Language and Thought of the Child. London: Routledge & Kegen Paul.

Sulzby, E. & Teale, W.H. (1991) “Emergent Literacy.” In R. Barr, M.L. Kamil, P., Mosenthal & P.D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research Volume II. New York: Longman.

Venezky, R., Wagner, D. & Ciliberti, B. (Eds.) (1990) Toward Defining Literacy, Newark, DE; International Reading Association.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1962) Thought and Language (E. Hanfmann and G. Vaker, Eds & Trans.) Cambridge, M.A.: MIT Press

Watkins, R. V., & Bunce, B. H. (1996). Promoting language and literacyskills in preschool classrooms. Invited presentation, Kansas Division for Early Childhood, Manhattan.

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