Emergent Literacy Learning Research Articles

Reported and Enacted Emergent Literacy Instruction: Understanding Young Students With Extensive Support and Complex Communication Needs, Opportunity to Learn

Literacy instruction has an important role in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) because spelling and writing support precise communication. Unfortunately, few students with extensive support needs and complex communication needs (ESN/CCN) develop literacy skills at or above the first grade reading-level. Given that learning to read and write begins with extensive emergent literacy learning opportunities, limited skills may result from insufficient opportunity to learn (OTL) emergent literacy skills. This study examined the instruction provided in early U.S. childhood classrooms to students with ESN/CCN to understand OTL during this critical period. This study used a concurrent embedded mixed methods design integrating a survey of teachers of students with ESN/CCN ( n = 26) with a qualitative multiple case study ( n = 2). Results suggest the time teachers are devoting to instruction is not translating into increased OTL for individual students. Solutions that may increase learning opportunities and implications for future research are discussed.

Making Mistakes: Children's Errors as Opportunities for Emergent Literacy Learning in Early Childhood

AbstractErrors are essential for emergent literacy learning because they reveal the gaps in young children's knowledge. The ways in which teachers respond to these errors can have important implications for children's knowledge building; yet, there is limited information for teachers about how to effectively respond to children's errors in emergent literacy contexts. In this article, we describe a framework grounded in research and theory for responding to children's errors. We describe a two‐step process for acknowledging and responding to children's errors along with specific error‐handling practices, and illustrate the application of this framework using real‐world, data‐driven examples. We also provide recommendations for creating a classroom environment that challenges children, builds their confidence as learners, and welcomes their errors. This article will equip teachers with practical guidance for leveraging preschool‐age (i.e., 3–5 years) children's errors as opportunities for enhancing emergent literacy learning.

A Brief Review of Young Children’s Home Digital Literacy Practices

COVID-19 has created significant changes in the everyday lives of teachers, children and parents. Due to school lockdowns in the spring semester of 2020, teachers shifted from in-person classroom teaching into “emergent remote teaching” (Hodges et al. 2020, para. 5), where digital tools and software were used for instruction and teacher-student communications. Many children have also shifted their social lives from face-to-face to virtual interactions (Hutchins 2020); for example, engaging in online family story reading, social media participation, and joining after school activities digitally. This pandemic has highlighted the importance of being literate in digital environments for children. Digital literacy, that is, literacy practices undertaken across multi-media, involving “accessing, using and analysing digital texts and artefacts in addition to their production and dissemination” (Sefton-Green et al. 2016, p. 15). The importance of the digital world and digital tools for the post-COVID future where digital literacy could become more prominently featured for teachers, children, and parents must not be underemphasized.
 
 In this presentation, I reviewed the literature on young children’s digital literacy practices at home. Many studies have illustrated the benefits and various kinds of learning that children get from their digital play at home, including emergent literacy learning (Neumann 2016), digital citizenship (Bennett et al. 2016), etc. Moreover, I presented the complex trajectories of children playing with their digital devices and toys at home (Marsh 2017). In the 21st century children’s home play, the boundaries between the virtual and physical worlds are blurring (Marsh 2010; O’Mara and Laidlaw 2011; Carrington 2017).
 
 More importantly, this literature review suggests a gap and an opportunity for future researchers to explore home digital literacy of children, who are from minority backgrounds in Canada, as literacy practices are socially and culturally situated. This presentation illustrates the importance of my proposed doctoral research, as my research aims to explore Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) children’s digital home literacy practices in Canada.

Young children’s digital literacy practices in the sociocultural contexts of their homes

This socioculturally framed case study investigates the digital literacy practices of two young children in their homes in Finland. The aim is to generate new knowledge about children’s digital literacy practices embedded in their family lives and to consider how these practices relate to their emergent literacy learning opportunities. The study asks two questions, ‘How do digital technologies and media inform the daily lives of children in their homes? Moreover, how do the sociocultural contexts of homes mediate children’s digital literacy practices across operational, cultural, critical and creative dimensions of literacy?’ The empirical data collection drew on the ‘day-in-the-life’ methodology, using a combination of video recordings, photographs, observational field notes and parent interviews. The data were subjected to thematic analysis following an ethnographic logic of enquiry. The findings make visible how children’s digital literacy practices are intertwined in families’ everyday activities, guided by parental rules and values. The study demonstrates children’s operational, cultural and creative digital literacy practices. The study also points out the need for more attention to children’s critical engagement in their digital literacy practices.

Looking or talking: Visual attention and verbal engagement during shared book reading of preschool children on the autism spectrum.

Children who have an autism diagnosis often have trouble learning to talk and read. These difficulties become noticeable before children start school and may be linked to lower attention and engagement in literacy-related activities such as sharing storybooks with their parents. To date, few researchers have looked at possible ways to measure how children on the autism spectrum engage during shared storybook reading, for example, where children look or how much they talk, and how this may be related to their letter-name knowledge and their vocabulary knowledge. In this study, we analyzed videos of 40 preschoolers on the spectrum and their parents sharing an unfamiliar storybook. We wanted to see whether where children looked (i.e. toward the storybook, their parent, or elsewhere) and how much they talked were related to what their parents did (e.g. ask questions or provide prompts) and/or children's letter-name knowledge and vocabulary. The videos were coded for different child and parent behaviors. We found that where children looked and how much they talked were strongly related to each other and what parents did during the shared book reading interaction, particularly asking questions and using prompts. In contrast to what we expected, where children looked was not related to children's letter or vocabulary knowledge. Overall, results of the study draw attention to the connection between what parents do and what preschoolers on the spectrum do when sharing storybooks and provide directions for future research.

Early childhood educators' knowledge about language and literacy: Associations with practice and children's learning.

Educators' language and literacy knowledge is considered important for informing classroom practices and thereby supporting children's early language and literacy development. This includes both disciplinary content knowledge (knowledge concerning how oral and written language are structured and map to one another) and knowledge for practice (knowledge of effective strategies and practices for supporting early language and literacy). In this study, we examined the associations among 485 early childhood educators' content knowledge and knowledge for practice, their observed language and literacy practices, and the emergent literacy learning of 2004 children enrolled in their classrooms. We found significant, positive correlations between measures of educators' content knowledge and knowledge for practice and classroom practice, indicating that early childhood educators with greater levels of knowledge tended to exhibit more desirable classroom language and literacy practices. We also found significant, positive associations between educators' knowledge and children's print concept, letter naming, and phonological awareness learning, but not children's oral language learning. The associations between educators' knowledge and children's print concept learning were mediated by classroom practice. Together, these results reiterate the importance of educators' language and literacy knowledge and also provide some support for practice as the mechanism through which knowledge relates to children's learning.

Emergent Literacy Practices and Support for Children with Disabilities: A National Survey

A national mail survey of Head Start preschool teachers ( N = 500) was conducted to assess their practices, the availability of specialist support, and their views related to emergent literacy instruction for Head Start children who have a disability or developmental delay. The responding teachers ( n = 254) reported that (a) nearly one quarter of the children in their class were receiving special education and related services, (b) the majority of them did not work with a special educator, (c) they were using a variety of strategies to support emergent literacy learning for children with disabilities in their classroom, and (d) more than 90% of them strongly disagreed or disagreed with the statement “Children with disabilities are not ready for emergent literacy instruction in preschool.” These results are discussed within the context of the need for additional research and professional development and support for preschool classroom teachers.

Inclusion as an instructional approach: Fostering inclusive writing communities in preschool classrooms

Preschool students with disabilities engage in social interaction with peers less often than children developing typically in inclusive classrooms. This research explores how divergent theories of literacy learning, those inherent in the structure of special education and those promoted by scholars interested in emergent literacy learning, impact upon inclusive classrooms. This qualitative case study details how a writing community in an inclusive preschool classroom promoted social engagement and literacy learning of all students. The study highlights one preschooler with a disability to showcase one way in which these divergent theories of learning might be bridged.

Teachers enacting a technology-rich curriculum for emergent literacy

PictoPal is the name of a technology-rich curriculum with a focus on emergent literacy of Dutch kindergarteners. A case study design was used to examine teacher technology integration within PictoPal along with their perceptions about teaching/learning, technology and technology-based innovations. Observations were undertaken on pupils’ engagement and teachers’ technology integration within PictoPal. Interviews were used to examine teachers’ perceptions. Pupils’ emergent literacy learning was examined in a nonequivalent control quasi experimental design. Four kindergarten teachers and four classes (N = 95 pupils) participated in the use of PictoPal. The findings suggest that a high extent of technology integration is related to: a developmental approach to teaching/learning; positive attitudes and expectations towards technology-based innovations; and positive perceptions of support in stressful work conditions. Significant learning gains were found for the experimental group using PictoPal. High pupil learning gains were not related to a high extent of technology integration. Senior kindergarteners engaged to a higher extent with PictoPal than junior kindergarteners

Home and Instruction Effects on Emergent Literacy in a Sample of Chilean Kindergarten Children

The study examines the home literacy experiences, emergent literacy skills, and instructional experiences of a sample of Chilean kindergarten children (n = 126) and kindergarten families (n = 188) nested in 12 kindergarten classrooms from different socioeconomic status groups and types of schools. Descriptive information is given showing the level of literacy knowledge of the children and the literacy experiences that they encounter both at home and in the classroom. Multiple regression is used to test the effect of home and instruction variables on emergent literacy learning in kindergarten and later in first grade. Findings show that Chilean children in the sample are exposed to less literacy experiences than children in developed countries, at home and at school. Results also show that, in spite of little explicit code instruction going on in classrooms, this measure had a positive significant effect on literacy growth in kindergarten. Results are compared with those of developed countries, especially the United States.

Emergent literacy of deaf children.

This article reviews the literature on emergent literacy in young deaf children, focusing on the nature and course of both emergent reading and emergent writing. Beginning with definitions and background information concerning emergent literacy as a field of study, it examines instructional approaches that support emergent literacy learning. The review of the literature is organized into four major sections that reflect the body of work to date. The article concludes with an eye toward the future of emergent literacy in pedagogy, theory, and research.

Bilingualism

04–652 Castro, D. and Gavruseva, E. (University of Iowa; Email: elena-gavruseva@uiowa.edu). Finiteness and aspect in Spanish/English bilingual acquisition. First Language (Bucks, UK), 23, 2 (2003), 171–192.04–653 Gutierrez-Clellen, Vera F. (San Diego State U., CA, USA; Email: vclellen@mail.sdsu.edu) and Kreiter, Jacqueline. Understanding child bilingual acquisition using parent and teacher reports. Applied Psycholinguistics (Cambridge, UK), 24, 2 (2003), 267–288.04–654 Jaffe, Alexandra (California State U., USA; Email: ajaffe@csulb.edu). Talk around text: literacy practices, cultural identity and authority in a Corsican bilingual classroom. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism (Clevedon, UK), 6, 3&4 (2003), 202–220.04–655 Marian, Viorica (Northwestern U., IL, USA; Email: v-marian@northwestern.edu) and Spivey, Michael. Bilingual and monolingual processing of competing lexical items. Applied Psycholinguistics (Cambridge, UK), 24, 2 (2003), 173–194.04–656 Martin, D., Krishnamurthy, R., Bhardwaj, M. and Charles, R. (School of Education, University of Birmingham, UK; Email: d.m.martin@bham.ac.uk). Language change in young Panjabi/English children: implications for bilingual language assessment. Child Language Teaching and Therapy (London, UK), 19, 3 (2003), 245–266.04–657 Olmedo, Irma M. (College of Education, U. of Illinois-Chicago, USA; Email: iolmedo@uic.edu). Language mediation among emergent bilingual children. Linguistics and Education (New York, USA), 14, 2 (2003), 143–162.04–658 Ruan, J. (U. of Oklahoma, USA). Toward a culture-sensitive pedagogy: emergent literacy learning in Chinese-English bilinguals in America. Language, Culture and Curriculum (Clevedon, UK), 16, 1 (2003), 39–47.04–659 Seeff-Gabriel, B. (Department of Human Communication Science, University College London; Email: b.seeff@ucl.ac.uk). Phonological processing: a platform for assisting second-language learners with English spelling. Child Language Teaching and Therapy (Clevedon, UK), 19, 3 (2003), 291–310.

An Interactive Taxonomy of Mothers and Children During Storybook Interactions

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the social construction of interactions between mothers and children with a variety of developmental disabilities during storybook interactions. The study used interpretive methods to describe the participation of 20 preschool children and mothers in storybook interactions in terms of their interactive and communicative participation. Data were collected via home videotapes of mothers and children engaged in storybook interactions with novel (unfamiliar) storybooks for 15- to 30-minute interaction samples. Mothers were also interviewed concerning their beliefs and practices concerning early communication and literacy. Findings yielded an emerging interpretive taxonomy for observing and conceptualizing the social milieu of adults and children during storybook interactions that may be useful for enhancing communication and emergent literacy learning. The taxonomy may also be useful clinically to help parents and clinicians develop interaction styles that facilitate interaction and communication in emergent literacy contexts.