Developing Early Literacy: Assesment and teaching (Sampler) by Eleanor Curtain Publishing

Developing early literacy: Assessment and teaching is a handbook for understanding and teaching early literacy. It focuses on the development of reading, writing, speaking and listening for children from birth to eight years, and is written for teacher education students and practising teachers working in early childhood settings, including preschools and the first years of school. This second edition includes significant new content with links to the Australian Curriculum: English, and the Early Years Learning Framework; evidenced-based assessment procedures for improving early language, reading and writing; practical examples of teaching strategies in action in a range of classrooms and settings; further information on oral language and its links to reading and writing; additional information on vocabulary and on the development of comprehension strategies. It explores: ways of systematically observing and assessing children’s literacy development

current summaries of research into oral language, home and community languages and literacy, play and literacy, reading, writing and new literacies the importance of children’s literature and reading aloud

using different text types for scaffolding children’s reading and writing word work: phonemic awareness, phonics and vocabulary the importance of teacher modelling, sharing, guiding and encouraging independent activities practical ideas for planning, teaching and managing the literacy program activities and games for making connections between children and families, using literature in the classroom, developing phonemic awareness, understanding concepts of print comprehension, teaching letters and making the letter–sound connections, word study, cooperative learning and more

Susan Hill is an Associate Professor at the University of South Australia where she teaches courses in early childhood education, early literacy and multiliteracies. She has written more than 20 books for teachers on literacy related topics. Her research for many years has been in the area of early literacy development before school and beginning to read and write in school.

Second Edition

This book is the result of many years of research into children’s literacy development and highlights the practical implications for teaching young children to read and write. It is underpinned by three important beliefs: scaffolding children’s learning is vital; children are active problem solvers; and learning needs to be connected to children’s worlds.

Assessment and teaching

developmental phases of literacy

i t i d Ed

Developing early literacy Assessment and teaching Susan Hill

o n d E di ti o

To purchase a full digital copy click here. To purchase a hard copy of this book, click here for the Eleanor Curtain Publishing shop.

www.developing-early-literacy.com

For Alex, my daughter, who has challenged and made me rethink every assumption I have held about learning. First published 2006 This new and revised edition first published 2012 Reprinted 2012. Digital Edition 2020 Eleanor Curtain Publishing Level 1, Suite 3, 102 Toorak Road, South Yarra, VIC 3141, Australia www.ecpublishing.com.au Text © Susan Hill 2006–2020. This product is protected by copyright law, and under international copyright conventions, applicable in the jurisdictions in which it is published. Purchasers of this product may have certain rights under applicable copyright law to reproduce parts of the product. Purchasers must make the necessary enquiries to ascertain whether and to what extent they have any such right in the jurisdiction in which they will be using the product. Without limiting any such right, purchasers may in addition make copies of the black-line masters included with this product provided that: (a) the number of copies printed does not exceed the number reasonably required by the purchaser for its teaching purposes; (b) those copies are only printed and are not further copied or stored or transmitted by any means; (c) those copies are not sold, hired, lent or offered for sale, hire or loan; and (d) every copy printed clearly shows the following notice in a footnote ‘© 2012 Susan Hill. Published by Eleanor Curtain Publishing.’ All other rights reserved National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Hill, Susan (Susan Elizabeth) Title: Developing early literacy: assessment and teaching / Susan Elizabeth Hill. Edition: 2nd ed. ISBN: 978 1 74148 982 8 (pbk.) Subjects: Language arts (Early childhood) Language arts (Primary) Dewey Number: 372.6044 Edited by Ruth Siems / Anne McKenna Designed by Tom Kurema Printed and bound in China through Colorcraft Ltd, Hong Kong For support material go to:

www.developing-early-literacy.com

Contents

Acknowledgements

viii

Preface

Introduction: Developing early literacy

1 Developing early literacy

Social constructivism A developmental process Different pathways to literacy Teaching literacy: great debates Differentiated instruction Chapter summary

3 5 10 11 14 18

Part 1: The foundations

2 Oral language

20 Learning language—learning through language—learning about language Language is a symbol system The development of spoken language Functions of language in preschool and school Connections between oral language and literacy development Oral language and literacy research Factors that affect language acquisition Oral language assessment Teaching strategies for encouraging language development Oral language text structures and features Chapter summary

3 Homes and communities The changing family Research into involving parents and families Literacy in different families

20 21 24 29 36 37 39 41 45 53 55 57 57 58 58

Contents

Indigenous literacy Making home–school connections Literacy experiences at home Chapter summary

63 67 77 79

Part 2: Scaffolding literacy development

4 The literacy program

Reading aloud Shared reading The language experience approach Guided reading Independent reading Writing What does the literacy program look like? Chapter summary 5 Children’s literature Reading aloud Levels of narrative complexity Literature and picture books What makes a good picture book? Involving children in exploring and analysing literature Critical literacy Storytelling Choosing and using children’s literature Chapter summary 6 Phonological awareness Phonological awareness and early literacy Phonemic awareness Assessing phonemic awareness Teaching activities Chapter summary 7 Reading development What is reading? Concepts of print The development of reading skills and strategies Reading development: beginning and early–emergent Reading development: emergent, early, transitional and extending

83 83 92 95 99 99 100 101 102 102 104 107 112 119 121 123 126 132 133 133 134 139 148 160 161 161 164 166 166 170

Contents

Records of reading behaviour Chapter summary 8 Teaching reading Using the four roles of a reader Three steps in a reading lesson Teaching readers to solve problems Teaching activities Teaching and learning activities Chapter summary 9 Reading comprehension Comprehension and young children The interaction between reader, text and activity Teaching reading comprehension Teaching comprehension strategies Comprehension strategies before reading Comprehension strategies during reading Comprehension strategies after reading Metacognition Explicitly teaching a new comprehension strategy Activities for active reading Assessing comprehension Chapter summary 10 Word work: phonics The alphabetic principle and letter identification Teaching sounds mapped to letters The content of phonics Assessing letters and sounds Chapter summary 11 Teaching phonics Different approaches to teaching phonics A combination of approaches and teaching strategies Practical ideas for teaching phonics Phonics activities from stages 1–5 Chapter summary

183 194 196 196 201 202 205 209 214 215 215 216 217 221 222 225 226 227 228 231 236 240 241 241 243 245 256 259 260 260 266 267 276 299

vi Contents

12 Word work: spelling The development of phonics in writing Assessing spelling What words do children need to learn to spell? Teaching beginning spellers Spelling strategies Chapter summary 13 The development of writing Spoken and written language The early development of writing Stages in children’s writing How reading and writing support each other Assessing writing Developing understanding of the writing process Chapter summary 14 Teaching children to write Writing and multimodal literacies Teaching strategies The writing conference Chapter summary 15 Reading and writing different text types Language features of information texts and narratives What text types are useful for young children? Deconstructing and constructing different text types Research on information texts The features of common text genres Design features of information texts Working with children: beginning research Chapter summary 16 Multiliteracies Multimodal texts and young children Design elements of multimodal texts Multiliteracies pedagogy Fairytale: a unit of work using multiliteracies Discussing the issues Chapter summary

300 300 303 305 306 308 311 312 313 314 316 319 321 327 329 330 333 334 340 342 343 343 344 346 348 350 353 355 360 361 361 365 366 372 380 381

vii

Contents

17 Teaching English language learners Controversy and debate Theories of language acquisition and development in young children Methods of teaching English to young children Practical ideas for teaching language to young children Chapter summary

383 383 385 387 388 395

Part 3: Managing the literacy program

397

18 Small groups in the collaborative classroom

398

Cooperative learning in action Cooperative learning is an intervention strategy Small groups and cooperative learning Some of the best cooperative learning strategies The benefits of cooperative learning Chapter summary 19 Planning and managing literacy learning Designing a literacy curriculum A subject approach to the literacy curriculum Activities for literacy learning centres The steps to designing an integrated curriculum Organising the classroom for learning Chapter summary

398 400 406 408 412 414 415 415 419 423 429 433 435

Appendices 436 1 Dolch’s list of basic sight words

436

2 Fry’s 300 high-frequency words

437

Glossary 438 References and further reading

442

Index 459

viii

Acknowledgements

The author and publisher would like to thank the following for granting their permission to reproduce copyright material: Cover image from The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, 1986, Penguin Group; Cover image from Who Sank the Boat? by Pamella Allen, 2007, Penguin Group; Cover image from Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne, 1998, DK Publishing (Penguin Group); Extract from The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Swieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith, Viking Books, a division of Penguin Books, New York, pp. 23â&#x20AC;&#x201C;24; Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge copyright. The author and publisher would welcome any information from people who believe they own copyright to material in this book.

Preface

Developing early literacy: Assessment and teaching is about teaching early literacy. It explores the various stages of early English literacy development and acknowledges that all children develop quite differently in response to different previous experiences and their own individual differences. Assessment is highlighted because it is through observing and assessing children’s language and literacy that teachers can make plans for future teaching. However, most of all this book is about teaching, because we, as teachers, have the power to make a difference to the literacy learning of young children, and effective early literacy teaching in preschool and school has been found to have a significant impact on later literacy development. This new edition of Developing early literacy contains new and updated information throughout. There is additional information on language, literature and literacy strategies and more on teaching young children to read, write and use multimodal texts. There is comprehensive information on assessing children’s language, phonemic awareness, reading and writing. This book is organised around three key ideas:

• • •

how literacy develops how to assess literacy development how to teach literacy.

I believe that teachers in the early years lay the foundations for future literacy success. Literacy is a very generative process in that every book enjoyably read to a child builds language knowledge and skills for future development. There are many teaching ideas in this book, and they can be adapted to suit the children you teach. Children require creative and flexible teachers who can assess the their literacy learning and use this as a basis for planning exciting programs. The book is grounded in research about what is known about early literacy learning in English and the teaching ideas take this research into practice. Knowing about phonemic awareness, phonics and the teaching of reading is important—but teachers will get the best results if they know a lot about their children—their favourite football teams, favourite cartoon characters and songs, as these may be the very vehicle to make the link between spoken and written language. I wish to gratefully acknowledge my teaching colleague Chris Hastwell who demonstrated the importance of providing careful explicit teaching in reading and writing. I also thank the children and teachers at Gilles

x Preface

Street School. I wish to acknowledge the teachers and children from the South Australian Department of Education and Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Services for important research that was undertaken into multiliteracies. I would also like to acknowledge the careful work of Sarah Rose and Lisa Nechvoglod who contributed in many ways to this book and I am grateful to the next generation of teachers, great text critics, who provided me with excellent feedback. Ruth Siems provided excellent, constructive editorial skills in making this book accessible to many readers. I am grateful to the many beginning teachers, experienced teachers and academics who have provided feedback on the previous edition of the book and I have incorporated many of their suggestions in this edition. All efforts have been made to reference and acknowledge the important work of colleagues working in this area.

www.developing-early-literacy.com Go to the Developing early literacy website for video examples of ways to assess childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s phonemic awareness, reading development, reading fluency and writing. Downloadable assessment proformas to be used alongside the videos are also provided.

Introduction

Developing early literacy Literacy is developmental; however, there is no one universal pathway for all children

CHAPTER 1

Developing early literacy

Leo was so sad. He could not do anything right. All the other animals could read and write their names, he just scribbled. Leo’s father watched Leo for signs of blooming. Leo’s mother recognised that ‘Leo was just a late bloomer’. Leo’s friends continued to grow and do things as the seasons changed. Then one day, in his own good time, Leo bloomed! He could read! He could write!

(Leo the Late Bloomer, Kraus 1971)

Leo the Late Bloomer is the story of a lion cub who couldn’t read and write, even though all his friends could. His father watches over him fearfully, wondering when he will develop, while his mother just waits for him to read and write in his own time. The story highlights the different roles that adults can play in helping children read and write—on one hand being anxious and worried that their child is being left behind, on the other just waiting for development to occur. Leo took his own time in learning to read and write and as he was doing this he was watching, thinking about and exploring the world around him. Adults, however, can play a vital role in children’s development. Learning to read and write is not easy for all children, and it is important to find out what children can do and then lead them to new learning. Effective teachers harness children’s interests and plan an instructional program to develop children’s reading and writing. Reading and writing begins at birth, and continues steadily as children develop. Some people think that young children learn to read and write best of all by rote learning and repetitive drill of letters and words. However, this is not the way to learn to read and write, as rote learning works best as a way to teach memorisation of facts. It is not effective for learning the strategies and complex problem-solving required for reading and writing. Other people think that children learn to read and write best of all by being left alone and having masses of books available for them to pick up and learn from by themselves. This is also not the best way to learn, as most children require careful guidance from an adult. Still others think that all children learn in the same way, and move through identical stages at the same age, taking the same amount of time. 2

Developing early literacy

Fortunately, children are different, they learn differently at very different rates and some children require more support than others. Three important ideas to understand about early reading, writing and word work are:

• • •

adults scaffold children’s learning children are active learners and problem solvers learning is connected to children’s worlds.

This book emphasises these three ideas and grounds early literacy learning in a social constructivist philosophy. This philosophy views children as active learners and problem solvers, and emphasises the importance of connecting to children’s worlds so that learning is relevant and builds on what children already know. Literacy is reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing and involves the knowledge and skills required to engage in activities required for effective functioning in the community. Because of the breadth of concepts involved in literacy—media literacy, visual literacy, functional literacy—the plural term literacies may be used. Technology continues to increase the complexity of literacies—reading online, participating in virtual classrooms, sending emails—and literacies are increasingly multiple and dynamic. (For a further definition of literacy see Position Statement of NCTE Executive Committee, National Council of Teachers of English, 2008.)

Social constructivism A social constructivist view of learning draws on the theories of Dewey (1964) and Vygotsky (1978). Both theorists view learning as social, collaborative and active.

Dewey Children need to explore how they learn and how knowledge develops by asking questions and then actively seeking answers.

Dewey saw the classroom as replicating the community where children engage in authentic learning, playing out important social roles and learning social responsibility. Vygotsky focused on how children develop, and the role of adults in leading the child’s early development. Dewey wrote about the process of inquiry as the way by which we attain knowledge, whether it be the commonsense knowledge that guides the ordinary affairs of our lives, or the sophisticated knowledge arising from scientific inquiry. Dewey is also known for highlighting the positive social value of education and the importance of educators—firstly listening closely to children, and then giving them direction through activities.

Developing early literacy: Assessment and teaching

For Dewey, the process of learning how to learn was central. Children need to explore how they learn and how knowledge develops by asking questions and then actively seeking answers. For teachers, this means inviting children to think about their thinking strategies to explore how they learn. This is like inviting children into a ‘learning club’ to better understand how knowledge is gained and how it is structured and organised. In Dewey’s philosophy of education, children collaborate to learn as members of a community, actively pursuing interests in cooperation with others. Dewey believed a child is best prepared for the demands of responsible membership within a democratic community when engaged in a process of self-directed learning, guided by the cultural resources provided by teachers. Alongside these ideas of the classroom as a community is the importance of viewing the child within the local context of the family and society.

Vygotsky Five of Vygotsky’s ideas are very important for educators of young children— children construct knowledge; learning leads development; learning can’t be separated from its social context; language plays a central role in intellectual development; and the concept of the ‘zone of proximal development’. The first idea—that children actively construct knowledge—means that children need to be actively engaged in organising and exploring ideas. In preschools and schools this means being involved in hands-on experiences— science experiments, constructing block and cardboard structures, and exploring the properties of living and non-living things are all important. So, too, is the adult in supporting children to classify and organise information, asking questions and encouraging children to reflect on their thinking. The second idea—that learning leads development—means if the child is given a label, for instance, the name of an animal such as a ‘zebra’, this will accelerate the child’s ability to understand the concept that animals can be named and classified into groups. If the child is at the zoo looking at a zebra and the teacher tells the child the name of the animal, zebra, this will enable the child to recognise other zebras at the zoo, zebras in picture books, and also to recognise zebras in other representations such as drawings. This labelling, linked to a real experience, leads the child into exploring and classifying other animals. Vygotsky’s third important idea is that learning cannot be separated from its social context. Peers assist and support the learning process. However, it is not simply a matter of pairing children for peer support, as a crucial factor in collaboration is having a common goal. Working to achieve a common goal involves each person asking questions, explaining and bringing different points of view. In a nutshell, if children don’t have the same goal—to read a good book, to play a game on the computer, or create a shared big book about a classroom event—then collaboration is not effective. The fourth point—that language plays a central role in intellectual development—comes about because it is through language that the higher mental functions such as symbolic thought are communicated. In the example

Developing early literacy

above, an adult supports a child’s greater understanding of the concept of ‘zebra’ by focusing the child’s attention on the features of the zebra, asking questions to help them recognise a zebra in other situations, in books, photographs and drawings. Language helps to refine thoughts, leading to higher mental functions. The fifth and the most important of Vygotsky’s ideas is the zone of proximal development. This concept has influenced teachers and researchers to scaffold learning so that children achieve success. According to Vygotsky, the child has two levels of performance: the first is the level they are capable of achieving independently; and the second is the level of performance that they reach with assistance. The distance between these two levels is referred to as the zone of proximal development. For instance, an adult sitting beside a child who is drawing a picture of a zebra might focus the child’s attention on the colours of the zebra. They might ask ‘What colour will you draw the zebra?’ In this way, the adult moves the child from the level of unassisted learning to the level of assisted learning within the child’s zone of proximal development. With help from an adult, the child may now begin to use accurate representational colours to draw the zebra and this, in turn, may lead to drawing other animals with attention to colour. The key ideas in social constructivist learning are:

• • • • •

children construct knowledge learning leads development learning occurs in a social context language plays a central role in intellectual development the zone of proximal development.

A developmental process

Learning to read, write and gain word knowledgeis a developmental process.

Learning to read, write and gain word knowledge is a developmental process, and there are many ways to describe the phases of development (Barone, Mallette & Xu 2005; Holdaway 1979; Temple, Nathan & Burris 1982; Elster 1994; Sulzby 1985). The phases in literacy development used here are: Beginning (0–3 years of age); Early-emergent (3–5 years of age); Emergent (P–Kindergarten); Early (K–Year 1); Transitional (Years 1–2); and Extending (Years 2–4). This enables teachers to envisage the distance or the zone of proximal development between what children can do and more sophisticated understandings. The development within these phases is described in more detail in later chapters. Teachers can use these phases as benchmarks of literacy development to plan for future learning. The first step is to observe and identify where the child stands in terms of development. Many children develop word knowledge, reading and writing as parallel processes. For example, a child at 3 years of age may be reading by exploring the pictures in books, beginning to understand that signs and symbols in books represent a message, and attempting to write by scribbling.

Developing early literacy: Assessment and teaching

Figure 1.1 Phases in literacy development Words Reading Writing Beginning

Begins to scribble Separates scribble that represents writing and the more free-flowing scribble for drawing

Earlyemergent

Uses scribble with random letters and numerals Uses initial consonants to write words, e.g. ‘P’ for people

Emergent

Records the initial and final sounds in a word Begins to use vowels and consonants, e.g. PEPL for people, WUNS for once

Handles a book Turns the pages Looks at pictures Listens to book read aloud, joins in with book reading Chooses favourite books, joins in with books read aloud, memorises rhymes and predictable books Turns the pages, uses left to right directionality Begins to grasp concept of words Left to right, top to bottom directionality Reads word-by-word matching spoken word to print. Can retell a simple story

Early

Can write many high-frequency words Can write many one-syllable three- and four-letter words including blends Can write one-syllable word families with onset and rime Building a vocabulary of topic and interest-based words

Transitional

Uses a range of strategies to write words; visual for high-frequency words, phonics and morphology Recognises that some sounds are represented by two letters, e.g. ship, rain, nose and moon

May still read word-by-word matching each printed word with a spoken word

Understands that signs and symbols tell a message Scribble can contain drawing and writing Invents some letters and repeats these Letters and numbers appear Beginning of directionality Copies some letters Writes letters and words. Leaves spaces between words Begins to understand a sentence and some punctuation Understands that another person can read their written words Writes about topics that are meaningful Can write in simple sentences

Uses multiple sources of information and self-corrects if the reading doesn’t make sense

Is aware of and can use most forms of punctuation

Adjusts reading style to the type of text. Retells the text in sequence. Increasing fluency of reading and reads vocalising aloud

May use repetitive sentences such as ‘I like …’

Reads with more fluency in phrases rather than word-by-word

Can write several sentences with several ideas and includes punctuation

Reads silently

Records own ideas. Checks spelling and punctuation

Can retell main ideas and summarise what has been read Uses a variety of strategies to comprehend texts

Extending

Pretends to write on paper with crayons, paint or pencils

The speed of writing increases and the ideas rather than the mechanics of writing take over

Uses visual, morphological and phonic strategies to spell complex words

Changes style of reading to suit the text type

Writes a range of text types suited to different audiences

Vocabulary suited to different genres such as scientific language with information texts and descriptive figurative language with narratives

Careful close reading for directions and research reports and more fluent reading for narrative and descriptions

Revises, edits and proofreads, checks for flow and meaning of texts

Uses a range of reading strategies to identify new words and comprehend texts

Uses a range of punctuation conventions Can construct a paragraph with topic sentence. Can link several ideas in a formal piece of text

Developing early literacy

These phases in literacy development are a guide only, and are not closely age related as some 3-year-olds may have sophisticated concepts about print and some 6-years-olds may require extra support to develop these concepts.

Beginning In the beginning reading phase, babies, infants and toddlers like to explore books, catalogues and magazines. They explore them by touching, looking, tasting, smelling and listening to the words read aloud. They love to listen to stories with lots of repetition, rising dramatic action and comforting resolutions. They also enjoy information books with photographs of objects in their world. They learn to turn the pages, look at the pictures and join in with well-known stories. They ask to hear stories read again and again. In writing, they learn to hold crayons and pencils and scribble. They are learning that writing conveys a message—a way to communicate— because they have seen the people in their family write. The scribble can be large circular movements and in time the scribble changes. In the beginning phase the scribble slowly changes into drawing and writing-like scribble. Writing like scribble can look like the beginning of wavy lines whereas the drawings are free flowing and circular. The writing is usually linked like handwriting and they are beginning to make the distinction between symbols for drawing and writing. The writing may mean something quite different each time it is read.

Early-emergent In the early-emergent phase, children actively join in with an adult reading their favourite stories. If a child has had a book read aloud to them each day, by age 3 they will have heard over 1000 stories. Many books are asked for again and again, and children like to memorise rhymes such as ‘Humpty Dumpty’ and predictable books such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? They turn pages from left to right and play at reading aloud to themselves. Some children attend to the words at this stage and begin to read the print.

Developing early literacy: Assessment and teaching

Children’s writing becomes a mixture of drawing and writing, and sometimes replicates picture books so there is print on the page with a large scribble drawing. They begin to write letters and numbers, realising that there are individual symbols to communicate meanings. Some words and letters are copied, particularly the child’s own name, or the first letter in their name. Letters may be invented as the child explores the symbols, figuring out the features of different letters and numerals such as F, E, 3, B and 8, which all look similar. In word knowledge, the scribble changes to show letters and sometimes numerals which are repeated again and again. Children may write the initial letters of words—for example the letter ‘p’ might represent the word people. They are listening to the words spoken and associating the first sound with a letter. This is a huge intellectual feat, as they begin to crack the alphabetic principle in the English code.

Emergent In the emergent phase, children learn the concept of a word. They begin to read words aloud, realising that each written word has a spoken word association. This word-by-word reading may be known as voice pointing or word pointing as they connect the written word with the corresponding spoken version. When the word doesn’t make sense, the child rereads and self-corrects. In this phase, children can retell the events that occur in a simple story. In writing, children show their growing understanding of a word, and there are spaces left between each word. They are starting to understand the meaning of a sentence and are developing ideas about punctuation such as commas, question marks, full stops and quotation marks. In word knowledge, children listen to words and record the initial and final sounds with associated letters. The words children write may include some vowels based on the sound they hear and the letter that best corresponds. Sometimes the letter name is used for a sound such as cAK for cake, where the A is the name of the letter yet also fits the long /a/ sound; similarly, when LIK is written for the word like the vowel is the name of the letter. Invented spelling is common, as children match the sounds they hear to the letter names or sounds associated with letters.

Early In the early phase of reading, some print-to-voice matching continues. Print concepts such as directionality, top to bottom and left to right, are well under control. The child’s reading is usually vocalised and, even if asked to read silently, there may be sub-vocalising as the child solves problems to identify new words. The child is using visual information to

Developing early literacy

read the printed words as well as syntax and meaning, and self-corrects if the reading doesn’t make sense. The child writes simple sentences with most forms of punctuation, for example capital letters, full stops, quotation marks and question marks. Often there are many ideas linked with the word ‘and’—‘… and … and … and …’ There may be some repetitive sentences, for example ‘I like … I like … I like …’ These sentences are known as sentence stems, and they often occur in children’s beginning reading books. Many of the high-frequency words recognised in reading—words such as the, was, is, a—are now also used in writing. Often the first 20 high-frequency words, including the child’s name, are used confidently in writing. The spelling of three-letter words using phonics becomes more common, and groups of words in word families—bat, cat, fat, sat—occur, as well as lists of words with the same initial consonant, the ‘s’ words, or consonant blends such as the ‘st’ words.

Transitional At this phase children are fine-tuning their reading and writing strategies before becoming fluent readers and writers. They have built up fluency when reading aloud, and chunk the words in phrases together, rather than reading word by word. Reading silently occurs and changing the form of reading to suit the particular text is occurring. For example, narratives may be read quickly and information texts with factual details may be read more slowly and deliberately. Children in this phase have built up a repertoire of strat egies they use to understand the meaning of a text, such as posing questions, and organising and classifying information into graphic organisers. The child has developed greater ease with the mechanics of writing, such as letter formation and writing linked script, so the writing is faster and more efficient. Children may write paragraphs elaborating on one idea, and draft their writing several times, proofreading, revising and editing. At this stage, children use a variety of spelling strategies—at times using phonics, and at other times the morphological base to build words, such as happy, unhappy, happiness; medicine, paramedic, medical; and port, import, export, portable, porter. They realise that some words do not fit common patterns and need to be learned by memory.

Extending In the extending phase, children can write quite elaborate texts and use a variety of text types suited to different audiences. They are familiar with revising and editing, and they read and reread their writing to check for meaning and flow of the text.

Developing early literacy: Assessment and teaching

In word work children use a variety of strategies to spell complex words: phonics, and visual and morphological strategies. Their vocabulary is suited to the different genres—for example, scientific terms are used within scientific reports and descriptive language is used with narratives. Children’s reading is silent and they read quickly and fluently, adapting their style of reading to suit different text types. They will use closer reading for procedures and reports and skim texts for information to answer questions. They have a repertoire of strategies and can articulate what strategies are important for different tasks.

Assessment Assessment helps the teacher to understand what the child has learned and to plan the next step.

Assessment helps the teacher to understand what the child has learned and to plan the next step. Assessment is ongoing. It takes place by observing the child, talking with the child and having the child engage in reading and writing activities. Teachers can gain an insight into the next teaching step by examining the context where successful learning takes place. Asking questions such as the following focuses the teacher’s thinking on the context for successful learning, and helps to build up knowledge of what elements and what strategies to use next.

• • • • • •

In which settings is the child successful in getting things done? In which settings does the child need further support? In which settings does the child appear comfortable? When does the child seem confused? In which contexts does the child work alone? In which settings does the child prefer to work with others? (Based in part on Owocki & Goodman 2002)

Different pathways to literacy We know that all children develop differently, and that there is no one universal lock-step linear path to literacy development. However, the fact that there are possibilities of alternative pathways to literacy (Clay 1998) does not lessen our responsibility to introduce children to texts and text types that are not easily accessible outside of school. On the contrary, the fact that children take many different pathways in literacy development emphasises the educator’s need to access children’s symbolic and social resources more fully (Dyson 2002). This means finding out what children bring from home to school and carefully building bridges from this. Literacy development can be unpredictable, as early starters don’t necessarily continue to make high progress. The quality of teaching influences the child’s progress in each year of school, and the literacy program itself

Developing early literacy

affects continued literacy development. Children who start later than others can make rapid growth, but only if the teacher, the literacy program and the families provide additional support (Hill et al. 2000). What individual differences affect literacy development? The child’s view of themselves as a learner certainly plays a role. The child’s sociocultural identity kit, while changing and dynamic, also influences learning. The fact is that being a girl or a boy in particular communities does affect how the child views reading and writing. Even within classrooms, the social dynamics of relationships between children and between teacher and child can have a negative or positive effect on progress. Individual cognitive processing abilities are also important, as are tenacity, staying power and an individual’s emotional disposition.

Is there one program that works for all? The task … is to develop a literacy program that challenges and inspires children to learn …

Is there one program or approach that works for all children? Is there one program that is a sure-fire winner for children who experience difficulties? There are many excellent programs that claim to increase the reading scores for all children; however, there is no one teacher-proof program and all teachers modify, weave together and adapt programs. The task for teachers is to develop a literacy program that challenges and inspires children to learn, and which makes sure that children acquire skills and strategies in a consistent way so they feel successful. Teaching children to read and write is not reducible to a simple set of techniques or strategies. ‘Rather, strategies and techniques must be adapted to the contextual experiences of the teacher and learners at the moment of engagement— whereby the student is moved to a newer, more refined level of knowledge and understanding’ (Barone 2003, p. 306).

Teaching literacy: great debates Over the decades there have been numerous debates and controversies about the best way to teach literacy. In Nila Banton Smith’s book American Reading Instruction (1965), she writes that literacy instruction seems to go along quietly then all of a sudden this pattern is abandoned. ‘Then a new plan becomes popular and we teach reading according to this plan until another turning point arrives’ (p. 424). In the 1960s there were debates on whether it was best to teach children to read with special alphabets invented to make the English language easier to read. In another approach children learned to read with reading machines, where individual children read and answered questions and received immediate feedback about their responses.

Developing early literacy: Assessment and teaching

In the 1980s the debate was between literature-based instruction and skills-based approaches. Literature-based reading emphasised the use of authentic literature for independent reading, read-alouds and collaborative discussions. The skills-based programs used a commercially available basal reading program and followed a sequence of skills ordered in difficulty (Foorman & Torgesen 2001). In the 1990s Snow, Burns and Griffin (1998, p. 199) identified debates between three main approaches to teaching the beginning of literacy, particularly the teaching of phonics and decoding skills in a print-rich environment:

1 2 3

As well as explicit instruction, children also require meaningful, enjoyable texts.

Implicit phonics in which the emphasis is on whole connected text, with alphabetic learning assumed to go on implicitly Embedded phonics in which sound spelling patterns are systematically embedded in connected texts Direct code in which letter–sound correspondences and practice take place with various kinds of text.

According to Snow, Burns and Griffin, there is enormous variation in how teachers actually teach reading, and classrooms that claim to be whole language may look nothing like each other. In implicit phonics or whole-language approaches, teachers give priority to children’s construction of meaning, and phonics is taught opportunistically in the context of meaningful reading and writing. The teacher is viewed as the facilitator of learning rather than the director of learning. There is authentic assessment, and portfolios of children’s work are used to show progress. The teaching of phonics is implicit and children read a variety of literature and information books. Embedded phonics involves teachers using word families where a word containing the target spelling pattern is presented—for example dog—and then children are encouraged to build up families of words by deleting the first consonant or consonant blend, for example, dog, fog, log, clog, frog, slog. Children can find words in reading books that fit these patterns and are then encouraged to write using these words. They are learning phonics and decoding by a process of analogy where, if they know one word dog, they can then work out other ‘og’ words. Children use levelled books and trade books. Guided reading is an embedded phonics approach (Foorman & Torgesen 2001). In direct code instruction, children are taught letter–sound correspondences and spelling conventions explicitly, and these letter–sound correspondences are practised and extended. Independent reading is introduced through a graduated series of books with controlled vocabulary designed to offer practice with the sight words and phonics. Children are encouraged to sound out words they don’t know. Debates about whole language, embedded or direct code approaches suggest that implicit and embedded approaches benefit children who bring high levels of literacy to the classroom work. Children who have difficulties

Developing early literacy

learning to read require instruction ‘that must be more explicit and comprehensive, more intensive and more supportive than the instruction required by the majority of children’ (Foorman & Torgesen 2001, p. 206). Recently, several large national inquiries and reviews of the research into the teaching of literacy have taken place: in Australia, Teaching Reading (Rowe 2005); in the United Kingdom, Independent Review into the Teaching of Early Reading (Rose 2006); and in the United States, National Reading Panel (2000) and the National Early Literacy Panel (2008). These large reviews and government inquiries explored evidence-based research studies into the teaching of literacy, to inform policy and funding. They were conducted largely because of the awareness of the literacy achievement gap between children living in poverty and non-dominant cultures and children in more economically advantaged mainstream communities. The inquiries reached similar findings and led to the development of forms of national literacy standards. The Teaching Reading report and the National Reading Panel findings were similar: teach phonological awareness in K–1, phonics first and fast, comprehension strategies through explicit instruction, vocabulary through a range of approaches, and fluency through oral reading practices (Pearson & Hiebert 2010). The National Reading Panel report findings have influenced policy and practice in the United States, Britain and Australia. The National Early Literacy Panel (NELP) has been more controversial. It reviewed research into the early precursors to school success in literacy. Six variables were found to be predictive of later measures of literacy: alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid automatised naming of letters/digits, rapid automatised naming of objects/colours, writing/writing name and phonological memory. The NELP report provided a useful summary of research into the predictive skills and abilities of young children birth to 5 years; however, as in earlier literacy debates, there were many critics of the report. Critics of the NELP report claim that teaching of narrow sets of skills does not take into account the global language competencies which influence reading comprehension and later literacy development throughout school. Also, a narrow focus on a set of subskills in beginning reading does not acknowledge the strengths that children from non-dominant cultural groups bring to school. Knowledge of different cultures and different languages will enhance children’s participation in the multilingual and multicultural world. Researchers in the early literacy field call for more research into effective early literacy pedagogy, more research into the prominent role of oral language in literacy development and more research to understand family literacy practices in diverse communities (McGill-Franzen 2010). The tensions and debates about early literacy pedagogy are important because development varies widely within and across individual children, and timelines for individual children do not follow a straight line (Genishi & Dyson 2009).

Developing early literacy: Assessment and teaching

Differentiated instruction In the same classroom, teachers work with children who are at very different stages of literacy development and this requires differentiated instruction (Ellis, Gable, Gregg & Rock 2008). Differentiated instruction is a process where the teacher matches the learning objectives, how the student learns, and the student’s ability level, interests and learning styles. Read the following case studies of children, all in the same class. What are their different experiences prior to school, different strengths and different ways of approaching reading and writing? How will the teacher adjust teaching strategies to scaffold learning for each child?

CASE STUDY

— Pete Pete liked cars, bikes and toy soldiers, and he was encouraged to play outside on his bike and inside in his room with his army men. When he watched his dad make motorbike models or work on the mural in his room, the interactions were demonstrations, not verbal instructions. Pete’s dad liked to show Pete how to do things whether it was drawing or making models of motor bikes. Pete’s mum said that Pete had a mind of his own and if you could show him, not tell him what you were trying to say, then he was happy. Pete’s parents did not believe they had a strong tutoring role in his learning. They had a view of ‘let them be kids while they can’ and being a kid meant playing outside with wheel toys, or inside playing with computer games or watching TV. Pete’s parents claimed that children learn through experience and it didn’t matter how much you told them, they had to learn through their mistakes. Pete attended preschool for two days of the week and took part in an individualised, child-centred curriculum. Children could choose from a range of activities and there was lots of enjoyable immersion in books, songs and poems. There was a sense that Pete did not see many purposes for literacy other than writing and reading his name on his possessions and being entertained by the illustrations in a picture book. When Pete started school he thought reading was a snap. It was too easy. He read the small reading books by telling the story from the illustrations and he came up with great tales. It was sad to have to tell him that the story is actually in the printed words and not just the illustrations because some of Pete’s stories were more entertaining than those in the reading books. When Pete was assessed at the close of the first year of school he knew some sounds that letters represent. He also said some of the letter names but was confused about what were letter names and what were the sounds the letters represented. He knew some high-frequency words but was not fluent with these; in fact he tried to sound out words like was sometimes forwards w-a-s,

Developing early literacy

and sometimes backwards s-a-w. His writing showed influences of first reading books. Figure 1.2 is an example of Pete’s writing—‘In the jungle is a lion. In the jungle is a tiger.’

Figure 1.2 Pete’s writing

Pete read emergent reading books by telling a story based on the illustrations. He read little alphabet books such as ‘W’, and said ‘lady’ for ‘woman’ and ‘spider’ for ‘web’ and commented ‘This is so easy!’ Pete’s literacy development showed knowledge in several areas: highfrequencywords, letter identification and letter–sound relationships. Firming up his high-frequency words, plus attending to print detail would have helped support his development. Also, Pete loved soccer and played twice during the week and on the weekend. He liked books about sport. Finding emergent reading books where he had to read carefully to find information about soccer and sports may have increased his interest in reading.

CASE STUDY

— Christianne Christianne, at 3 years of age, wanted to be a teacher like her mother when she grew up. From the beginning literacy phase she played with her dolls, putting them all out like a classroom and teaching them the alphabet and how to write. Even before preschool Christianne knew the names of the letters of the alphabet and could sing the ABC song with no problems at all. She spoke very clearly in sentences, following her mother around asking how to write words. Her parents read to her at night. At the preschool, she chose to read in the book corner. She wrote at the writing centre. The preschool program was filled with language and literacy experiences and at home there were conversations about what Christianne did during the day. Christianne’s grandmother looked after her while her mother worked,

Developing early literacy: Assessment and teaching

and although she did not read and write English, she translated all the English songs and fairytales into Greek for Christianne to read. At 5, when Christianne first began school, she would take home the small levelled texts that she was reading in school and read them aloud to her mother. She copied the text word by word and also the illustrations. She began to make her own small reading books. The writing samples that were collected for Christianne showed that she liked to copy books, and also if she wrote at home her mother helped her with the spelling. Christianne moved easily from home to school. Her mother was a teacher and the two sat down in the evenings, mother doing her school preparation and Christianne doing her homework. She was a very, very keen beginning reader and writer. Below is an example of a book she made. She has written ‘I can juggle’. Note the phonetic spelling of ‘juggle’—jugwr.

Figure 1.3 Christianne’s writing

Developing early literacy

CASE STUDY

— Sean Sean was interested in watching cartoons and videos and he had a very large video library. He liked to draw fighting machines and cartoon characters. Before he started school his mother thought that he had a learning difficulty when compared to his older brother. Most people she spoke to about Sean said to let him take his time and develop at his own pace. In preschool Sean spoke in short phrases and was hard to understand. Sometimes he communicated with gestures and by touching or grabbing people, and he sounded a lot like cartoon characters on television. When Sean began school his mother spent a lot of time at the school. She was very worried about how Sean was settling in and coping with the routines. If Sean was interested in a topic or a book the teacher had read aloud, he would engage. If he wasn’t interested he sabotaged instruction to get out of school work which he didn’t want to do—already he felt a failure. As he battled to gain respect from his peers he developed his great sense of slapstick humour, carefully honed by repeated watching of videos. After several months in school Sean struggled when reading a simple book with one- or two-word captions. He knew a few letters like S, N, E and A, the ones in his name. He had a small number of familiar high-frequency words that he could read. Over the next few years, Sean became more alienated from school. He felt a failure in the academic world and his mother was frustrated by this and paid for phonics-based tutoring outside school hours. But school was not a happy place for Sean and by the second year of school he had been suspended three times. Should more time be given to wait for Sean to develop? What does Sean do well? He does have quite a large vocabulary but it takes time and trust to access this. He knows a lot about cartoon plots, characters, sound effects. Would using Sean’s interest in cartoons and helping him construct simple oral sentences then writing them down on sentence strips to create early language experience texts be a useful way for Sean to progress? Sean required intervention very early on, before formal schooling. His language development in preschool showed that there were only some words that he used confidently. Support was needed at this stage as it is very difficult for children who speak in one- or two-word sentences to move confidently into learning how to read and write.

Developing early literacy: Assessment and teaching

Chapter summary Learning to read and write is developmental—but not in a lock-step, stepby-step progression. Each child’s experiences with language and literacy prior to school will have an effect on their later literacy development. This is because language and literacy are generative processes—the more children talk, read and learn, the more they can talk, read and learn. In social constructivist theories of learning, adults and more able peers play a key role in supporting literacy learning. Language plays an important role in intellectual development in that when children learn a new concept or new vocabulary this will accelerate their thinking. The learning children engage in will lead their development into new directions in the future. It is necessary to scaffold children’s learning if they are to move to the next step in learning. The zone of proximal development highlights the importance of finding out about the child’s current level of development and then scaffolding the learning to the next stage. The developmental phases of beginning, early-emergent, emergent, early, transitional and extending show how reading, writing and word work complement and inform each other and develop in unison. There is, however, no one universal pattern that all children follow. Children’s experiences and abilities in the years before school have an impact on learning to read and write in the first years of school. Differentiated instruction—assessing what children can do and then planning an appropriate literacy program—is necessary to support all children to become readers and writers. No one program or approach works for all children and skilful teachers weave together activities and teaching strategies to fit the context and experiences of children.

Index

academic language proficiency 384–5 active listening 46, 49–50 active problem solving 163, 232, 243 active reading 217, 221 activities 231–6 activities based on four roles of a reader 209–13 comprehension 228–36 cooperative learning 408–12 emerging concepts of print 205–8 English language teaching 388–95 funds of knowledge 72–9 literacy learning centres 423–9 literature teaching 128–9 phonemic awareness 143–6, 148–57, 158–9, 424–5 spelling 311 teaching phonics 267–99 alliteration activities 151, 269 and phonemic awareness 137, 138–40, 197 phonemic awareness activities 145, 424 alphabetic knowledge 198, 336 principle 197, 198, 214, 241–2, 266 analogy 12, 98, 270 and phonics 198–9, 264–5 guess the covered word 261 key words 261 onset and rime 159, 199, 247–8, 278, 426 analytic phonics 261 arguments 32, 56, 410 assessment comprehension 236–40 concepts of print 164–5 letters and sounds 257–8

literacy learning 432–3 oral language 41–45 phonemic awareness 139–47 questions to ask 10 reading 183–95 spelling 303–5 writing 321–6

bedtime reading 62–3 beginning phase 5, 166 and reading development 166–8 reading 7 spoken language 24–6 writing 316, 320 beginning research 355–9 beginning spellers 306–7 bilingual children, special forms of competence 383, 385, 394 bilingual method 387 blending tasks 155, 156, 159 blends 249–52 activities 211, 258, 284, 286–90 Bloom’s comprehension questions 237 Brown’s developmental stages 26 buddy system 390, 427

character, in picture books 113 children’s literature award winners 126, 130–2 choosing and using 126 children’s names 153, 267–9, 272, 277, 278 cipher (full alphabetic) reading 256 classroom library 127–8, 433–4 classroom organisation 433–5 code breaker 87, 98, 196–9 activities 209–12 collaborative activity 394 components of language 21 compound words 137, 254, 256, 293, 306

comprehension 134, 135, 191, 195, 199 and decoding 215–16 assessing 236–40 Bloom’s questions 237 connecting prior knowledge 216 literal, interpretive and inferential questions 189, 199, 236 predicting, clarifying, summarising, questioning 221, 227, 232, 233, prompts 189 reader, text and activity 216–17 teaching strategies 221–7, 228–30 comprehension strategies after reading 199, 223, 224, 226–7 before reading 222–5 during reading 223, 224, 225 computers 367–71 impact on children 380–1 concepts of print 164–5, 205–8 assessing 164–5 early 205–8 emergent 205–8 connecting home and school 58, 70–7, 368, 389–90 connecting with families and communities 72–7, 386, 415 consonants 210, 243, 246–7, 254, 258, 278, 286 blends 249–52 digraphs 252 contractions 255 conversational fluency 384 cooperative groups vs. traditional groups 401 cooperative learning 398–400 and small groups 406–8 benefits 412–13 strategies 408–12 cooperative skills 403–6

459

460 Index

critical literacy 120, 121–2, 189, 197, 199, 215, 236, 348, 353, 355, 364, 377, 378, 379, 380 cues from meaning, structure, sound and print 163 curriculum integrated 429–33 multidisciplinary 416–17 subject by subject 416

descriptions (text type) 33, 345, 352 detecting sounds 141, 147, 157, 211 Dewey’s theories of learning 3–4 dialogic reading 77, 127 dictation 189, 297, 304 differentiated instruction 14 digital photographs 69, 73, 95, 361, 364–5, 374, 417, 424 digraphs 245, 252–3, 254 activities 290 diphthongs 253–4 direct code instruction 12 discourse 21, 31, 34, 38, 45, 46, 216 discrete language skills 384–5

early phase 5, 166, 170 reading 8–9 reading behaviours 177–8 reading development 170 writing 321 early text features 171, 178–81 early-emergent phase 5, 166 reading 7–8 reading development 166, 168–70 spoken language 27 writing 316–17 electronic books (e-books) 363, 380 Elkonin boxes 156–57 embedded phonics 12, 265 emergent phase 5, 166, 170 reading 8 reading behaviours 171–2 reading development 170 shared book experience 87–92 writing 317, 321, 323 emergent text features 171–7 English language teaching debates 383–5 methods 387–8 everyday print 267, 269, 346–7 explanations 32–3, 345, 352 explicit instruction 13, 261, 347–8 expositions 32–3, 345, 346, 352 extending phase 5, 166

reading 9–10 reading behaviours 182 reading development 170 writing 316, 318–9 extending text features 171

five essential components of reading instruction 134 flexibility principle 314 fluency of reading 134, 191–2 calculating a rate 193–4 rubric 193–4 format and layout, in picture books 114 four roles of a reader 87, 196–200, 339 activities 209–13 functional user 364, 378–9 functions of language 29–31 funds of knowledge 64–5, 67–72, 363 activities 72–7

graphic cues see visual cues grammatical terms and examples 34–5 graphophonic cues 163 group membership 402–3 group work guidelines 406–7 guided reading 82–3, 92, 95, 100, 265–6, 408, 419–20, 422 after reading 98 before reading 96 during reading 97–8 guided writing 83, 100, 164, 327, 333, 334, 336, 339–40, 342, 419

Halliday’s seven speech functions 30 Heath’s study of literacy practices 58–63 heterogeneous groups 401, 402, 406 high-frequency words 9, 166, 189–90, 195, 206, 209, 218, 256, 282, 303, 305 307, 321, 384, 426 Dolch’s list of basic sight words 436 Fry’s 300 high-frequency words 437 the first 60 190 word recognition assessment 191 home-learning stories 69

illustrations, in picture books 114, 115, 116, 117–8, 120 immersion approach 388 implicit phonics 12 independent reading 82, 83, 84, 89–90, 99, 100 independent spelling 301, 303 independent writing 83, 100, 327, 333, 334, 336–7, 340, 347 indigenous literacy 63–4 and social inclusion 63 and teaching styles 64–5 inferential questions 189, 199, 232, 236 information texts 9, 73, 222, 232, 335, 343–4, 347, 348–50, 379 and beginning research 355–9 design features 353–5 web pages 354 inquiry-based learning approaches 363, 378 integrated curriculum 417–19 designing 429–33 interactive writing 99, 335–6, 339, 419 internet 74, 129, 333, 355, 361, 365, 368, 418 interpretive questions 189, 199, 236 invented spelling 8, 300, 317 and phonemic awareness 135, 266–7

jigsaw 234–6

kinaesthetic 261, 372 KWL 212–13, 229, 231, 432

language acquisition 39–40, 385–6, 389, 391, 394 language experience 37, 90, 92–5, 100, 109, 205, 334, 419 approach to writing 336–7 stories 206, 276, 277, 424 language style, in picture books 114–15 learning level 170, 183–5 letter identification 241, 242 letter knowledge 197, 198, 242 letter–sound connection 12, 135, 169, 198, 242, 274, 300, 319 activities 276–80 games 281–3 sequence for introducing 275 levelled books 12, 92, 182–3, 195 linear principle 315

461

Index

listening to children read 78 literacy (definition) 3 literacy curriculum 415–19 week-long literacy program 100 literacy learning centres 98, 266, 421–2 alphabet centre 424–6 book browsing centre 427 interactive literacy centre 427–9 organisation 422 word centre 426–7 writing centre 423–4 literal, interpretive and inferential meanings 380 literal questions 189, 199, 236, 239 literature 83, 89, 107, 109, 110–11, 112, 116, 119, 126, 128–9, 219, 234, 411 see also children’s literature literature-based instruction 12 look-cover-write-check 308, 310 low-frequency technical words 218

Maintown 59, 60, 61 making words 205, 208, 262–3 mapping sounds to letters 243–5 meaning cues, teacher prompts while reading 97–8, 189, 200–5, 236, 269 meaning maker 87, 97, 98, 196–7, 199, 364, 378–9 activities 212–13 metacognition 216, 227–8 metalinguistic awareness 34, 406 mnemonics and spelling 309 modelled reading 82, 83, 346 modelled writing 83, 99, 100, 334–5, 337, 419 morphemes 25–6, 291, 308–9 morphology 243 see also word building multiliteracies 361 and learning difficulties 369 and print-based literacies 361–2 map 363–4, 377–8, 379 pedagogy 366–72 research into 361–5 multimodal texts 333–4, 361–4, 365–6, 368, 375, 377 children writing 333

narratives 32–3, 104, 343–4, 345, 351 power of 109–10 structure of 112

oddity tasks 138, 159 onset and rime 138, 159, 245, 247–9, 263 activities 283–6, 426 and analogies 159, 199, 247–8, 278, 426 awareness of 146–7 open-ended questions 39, 49–50, 52, 93 oral language 20, 135, 137, 166, 216, 218, 219, 255, 321 activities 54 assessment 41–2 connections between vocabulary, syntax, conventions 36–7 features 54 genres 32–3, 53 promoting 45–6, 150 structures 54 taking roles 55 vocabulary 24, 38, 218 oral language assessment 41–2 narrative skills 45 observing language functions 42–3 sentence repetition 43–5 vocabulary 41 otitis media 41

parental involvement 58–63, 69, 77–9, 87–8, 389–90, 392–5 phases in literacy development 5–7 phonemes 21, 22, 25, 133–5, 137, 148, 243, 274, 336 analysis of 138 detecting 147, 153–7 in English 136, 241 manipulation tasks 139, 158 segmenting 146, 153–7, 158 phonemic awareness 22, 87, 98, 134–6, 243, 266–7, 300 activities 148–59, 424–5 and code-breaking 197–8 assessment tasks 139–47 development of 137–9 levels of task difficulty 138–9 stages of 245–6 phonetic cue reading 256 phonetic spelling 16, 302 phonic generalisations 244–5, 308 phonics 134, 135, 158–9, 241, 243 activities 276–99 analogy 198–9, 264–5 and writing 87, 300–3 approaches 260–6 as a spelling strategy 308

content of 245–56 teaching opportunities from shared book 85–6 whole to part 198–9, 263–4 phonological awareness 28, 39, 45, 133–5, 243, 256, 266–7, 336 phonological cues 202, 204 phonology 21, 22, 24, 37, 83, 133, 163, 202, 204, 216, 243, 300, 320 picture books 83, 103, 104, 107 artistic devices 116–18 and bibliotherapy 111 and early reading 109–10 and language and literacy development 103, 108–9, 110–11 and reading development 111, 127 counterpoints and contradictions 120–1 evaluating 115 factors to consider 112–14 visual analysis 120 playful language 46 plot, in picture books 104, 110, 111, 113–14, 115 pocket charts 212, 270, 297, 420, 423 point of view, in picture books 114, 116, 117, 120, 121 pragmatics 21, 23, 24 pre-alphabetic reading 256 prephonic spelling 301 print-based vs. electronic or digital literacies 362, 364 procedures (text type) 32–3, 344–5, 351 publishing conference 341–2

readers’ theatre 128, 238, 419, 420, 428–9 reading lessons 201 process 161–2 stages 170, 183, 205, 216, 225 as problem solving 83, 95, 97, 163–4, 166, 170, 181, 186, 201, 202–3, 204, 209, 220, 225, 415, 419, sampling, predicting, confirming, self-correcting 166 reading aloud 61, 83, 102, 205, 206, 219, 300, 392–3 benefits 102–3 guidelines 106

462

Developing early literacy: Assessment and teaching

and literate language 107 and parents 77, 88 to 2-year-olds 104 to 3- and 4-year-olds 104 to babies 103 reading and writing, relationship between 319–21 reading cues 163, 166, 203 integrating all sources 202, 204, 225 reading fluency see fluency of reading real-life centres 48 reciprocal reading 232–3 records of reading behaviour 183–94 analysing 184 example of 187–8 and reading strategies 185–6 and self-corrections 185–6 taking 184 recounts 32–3, 345, 350–1 reports 32–3, 345, 352 retelling 128, 199, 226, 231 different text types 238–9 prompts 239 rubrics 239–40 rhyme 148–9, 150, 270 and phonemic awareness 134–6, 137, 146, 197 phonemic awareness activities 137–8 rhymes 7, 25, 52, 77, 89, 102–4, 133–4, 138, 148–9, 150, 168, 267, 270–1, 278, 391, 393 Roadville 59, 60–61

scaffolding children’s learning 3, 5, 14, 400, 415 language development 50–3, 62 literacy learning 82, 91, 96, 127, 182–3, 228 writing 100, 333, 336, 341, 379 schwa sound 136, 254 SCUMPS 49–50 segmenting phonemes, awareness of 146 self-monitoring while reading 204–5 semantic cues 97, 163, 203, 204 semantic webs 199, 201, 212, 220, 239, 298, 432 semantics 21, 23, 24, 163, 166, 202–3, 204, 218, 220, 225 semiotic systems 362 semi-phonetic spelling 301–2

setting, in picture books 110, 112, 113, 115, 116, 118 shared and interactive writing 99, 335 shared book experience 87–92, 336, 419 a format for using 84–6 teaching opportunities 84–6 shared reading 77, 82, 83–7, 103, 104, 110, 264, 298, 344, 408, 418, 423, 427 shared writing 83, 99, 327, 334, 335–6, 338 show-and-tell 50 sight words 166, 191, 197, 436 sign principle 314 skills-based instruction 12 social constructivism 5, 363, 385 spaces between words 135, 164, 306, 315, 320, 322 spelling errors 303, 305 spelling 243, 300 assessing 303–5 essential words 305 invented 8, 135, 266–7, 300, 317 prephonic 301 semi-phonetic 301–2 strategies 308–9 spoken language, and written language 313–14 story maps 128–9, 224, 226, 420, 424, 428 storytelling 29, 123–6, 393–4, 422 stories to tell 124–5 tips 125–6 structural analysis of sounds 245, 254–8 activities 290–9 syllable splitting tasks 139, 158–9 syllables 22, 85, 133–4, 254–5, 271, 284 and phonemic awareness 135, 137, 197 phonemic awareness activities 145, 148, 152–3, 424–5 and spelling 306–7, 308 syntactic cues 163, 201, 216, 225 syntax 9, 21, 22, 28–9, 34, 36–7, 40, 41, 50–1, 52, 136, 166, 216, 218, 220, 225 syntax cues 163, 201, 203, 216, 225 teacher prompts while reading 201 synthetic phonics 260

talking to children 49, 390 teaching letters 274–5 technology management 371, 381 temporary spelling 198, 301, 319 text critic 87, 98, 196, 197, 200 activities 213 text features 104, 171, 216–17, 350–2 early 171, 179–82 emergent 171, 173–8 extending 171 gradients of difficulty 171 transitional 171 text levels 182–3, 195 text types 344–6, 350–2 oral language 32–3, 53 text user 87, 98, 196, 197, 200 activities 213 theme, in picture books 112 think and check strategy 355 to-with-by 83 Trackton 59, 61–2 transformer 364, 378–9 transitional phase 5, 6, 67 reading 9 reading behaviours 181 reading development 170 writing 318, 325 transitional spelling 303 transitional text features 171

VAKT phonics 261 visual cues 163, 164, 169, 186, 202–3, 204, 216, 225, 243, 256, 303, 391 teacher prompts while reading 202 vocabulary 24 importance of for literacy development 36 three-tier model 218 vocabulary-rich classrooms 38–9 vowel digraphs 252, 253, 310 vowels 243–4, 247, 254, 278 long 258, 290 phonemes 275 short 258, 290 Vygotsky’s theories of learning 4–5

whole-to-part phonics 198–9, 263–4 word building 308–9 word differentiation assessment141–3 word sorts 293 word study 262, 290–9

Index

word walls 198, 219–20, 263–4, 276, 278, 291 interactive 295, 311 word wheels 209–10, 286, 289 wordo 291–2, 311 words and phonemic awareness 87, 137, 145, 147 phonemic awareness activities 149, 158–9 writing interactive 99, 335–6, 339, 419 language experience approach 336–7 modelled 83, 99, 100, 334–5, 337, 419 shared 83, 99, 327, 334, 335–6, 338 writing conferences 340–1 individual 340–1 group 341 writing information texts 335 writing in the literacy program 99–100 writing narratives 335 writing process 327–9 writing development 321, 349

Y charts 405

463

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Second Edition

Assessment and teaching

developmental phases of literacy

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