Emergent Literacy: �What It Is & �Why It Matters
Oracy
The term oracy was coined by Andrew Wilkinson, a British researcher and educator, in the 1960s. This word is formed by analogy from literacy and numeracy. The purpose is to draw attention to the neglect of oral skills in education.
Emergent Literacy
Emergent literacy involves the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are developmental precursors to conventional forms of reading and writing (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998)
Children who get off to a good start in early reading rarely fall behind (Reutzel and Cooter, 2008 p. 80 )
Those who have a good start continue to do well, while those who come to school without a strong background in important skills consistently have a hard time getting what they need to easily become good readers and writers (Wren, 2003).
A love of books, of holding a book, turning its pages, looking at its pictures, and living its fascinating stories goes hand-in-hand with a love of learning." (Laura Bush, 2003)
Emergent literacy skills are the basic building blocks for learning to read and write
Emergent literacy skills begin developing in early infancy and early childhood through participation with adults in meaningful activities involving talking and print
The Building Blocks
Cognitive Development
Language Development
Physical Development
Cognitive Development
Children’s brains have a trait known as plasticity. (not preprogrammed)
Children are born with the cognitive ability to learn any language. LAD
Language Development
Language Acquisition Models
Acquired system
Learned System
Natural Order�Input-output�Monitor Model�
It takes children about 12 years to gain the level of proficiency in their L1 that will enable them to continue developing that language for the rest of their lives;
It takes children (and adults) at least 2 years to gain the basic level of proficiency in a new language that will enable them to use it for ‘everyday’ communication; and if they do not hear the L2 outside the classroom, it takes much longer.
Social /Emotional Development
Emergent Literacy Skills
Environmental print
Concepts about print
Oral Language
Visual perceptual skills
Alphabet knowledge
Phonological processing skills
Emergent writing
Emergent reading
Learning to read doesn’t just happen at school. Early literacy skills begin at home and continue to grow and develop as a child progresses through school.
Elements essential to children’s development
- Responsive Adults
( Folk practices, pragmatics, culture)
(allows them to internalize new ideas and skills, eg. risk-takers)
- Quality, Responsive, Developmentally Appropriate Materials (writing center, music center, art shop)
- Real experiences (interactive, field trips)
- Teaching in context (narrative understanding)
How do we prepare them?
I’M ON A TRIP
Let’s go!
I’m going on a trip and in my suitcase I will pack a…
P
I’M ON A TRIP
Let’s go!
I’m going on a trip and in my suitcase I will pack an…
O
TOUCH AND FEEL ME BAG
WHAT TO DO?
-bag with different real objects
HOW TO DO IT?
Students work in pairs or small groups to practice using adjectives. They are given a bag filled with a variety of objects, choose one without looking, and must describe it and then guess what the object is before pulling it out of the bag.
WHY DO IT?
To develop oral fluidity
TOUCH AND FEEL ME BAG
Let’s try this!
Guess what’s inside.
From my bag , I can feel something __________________.
cotton
Emergent Reader�