Learning literacy though play using interactive texts during storybook reading: A parent/child experience

Abstract

Based on first hand field notes, I undertook to research the reasons why children interacted or did not interact appropriately with a common emergent literacy experience, the readaloud. I explored the reasons why par‐ents/caregivers may not effectively participate in storybook reading, including reactions of parents/caregivers during four literacy events. I determined that the key to successful literacy experiences were first hand, personal involvement of the children in an active learning experience associated with interactive texts. Here, children were invited to create appropriate actions to accompany the story readings. Interactive texts appear to hold the key to successful early literacy experiences for preschoolers. © 2005 Published by Elsevier Inc.     

Development and evaluation of a Portuguese early literacy programme / Desarrollo y evaluación de un programa portugués de alfabetización temprana

Abstract

Over the last three decades, research in this field has addressed different early literacy skills and studied the pedagogical practices that promote the initial learning of reading and writing skills. This study develops a programme that promotes early literacy skills, called Ouvir as Letras (Listen to the Letters). The efficacy of the programme was evaluated in comparison with two implementations of the Portuguese preschool education curriculum: one structured and the other semi-structured, in a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test, post-test and follow-up. The study was carried out with the participation of 124 five- and six-year-old children who attended preschool in four schools in the north of Portugal. The results suggest that the Ouvir as Letras programme was more effective in facilitating the acquisition of basic skills to initiate children in the learning of written language.     

Fathers' involvement in young children's literacy development: Implications for family literacy programmes

Relatively few studies of family literacy programmes have investigated parents' experiences and whilst a number of such programmes have been specifically aimed at fathers, little is known about the involvement of fathers in programmes which target both mothers and fathers. This article reports fathers' involvement in a family literacy programme and their home literacy practices with their young children. The article provides a definition of family literacy and describes the context of the study, which was carried out in socio‐economically disadvantaged communities in a northern English city. Fathers' participation in their children's literacy was investigated through interviews at the beginning and end of the programme (n = 85) and home visit records made by teachers throughout the programme. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of these data indicate that, while fathers' participation in the family literacy programme was not easily visible, almost all fathers were involved to some extent in home literacy events with their children. During the programme, teachers shared information about literacy activities and the importance of children having opportunities to share literacy activities with their parents. Data indicate that fathers who were not mentioned by mothers as having been involved in their children's literacy were significantly more likely to be on a low income than those who were reported as being engaged with their children in home literacy activities. Fathers in the study were involved in providing literacy opportunities, showing recognition of their children's achievements, interacting with their children around literacy and being a model of a literacy user. Although involved in all four of these key roles, fathers tended to be less involved in providing literacy opportunities than mothers. While fathers and sons engaged in what might be described as traditionally ‘masculine’ literacy activities, fathers were more often reported to be involved with their children in less obviously gendered home literacy activities. The article concludes with discussion of implications for involving fathers in future family literacy programmes.     

Addressing individual difficulties in reading: issues relating to Reading Recovery and Pause,Prompt, Praise

Recently the DfES has issued guidance on ways to address the needs of students who experience difficulties in literacy through Wave Three provision in the National Literacy Strategy ( DfES, 2002 ). This guidance raises the issue of what kind of programmes might be initiated in mainstream schools that will improve what is available generally for pupils who experience difficulties. The original Literacy Taskforce report (1997) named Reading Recovery (RR) as one programme suitable for this purpose. It is not the only programme with 'proven' efficacy, however. This article compares RR and another New Zealand‐based programme, Pause, Prompt, Praise (PPP) with which it has a number of characteristics in common, in order to examine particular issues which are important to ensure that a particular programme can meet individual children's literacy needs and also have the potential for adoption by LEAs and schools in the current national curricular context. These issues are the underpinning rationales, assumptions about the reading process and questions of resources, ownership and control ( Openshaw et al., 2002 ).     

Delivering reading intervention to the poorest children: The case of Liberia and EGRA-Plus,a primary grade reading assessment and intervention

As governments, donors and implementation organisations re-focus Education for All Goals in terms of quality of education, increasing concerns have been raised over low literacy levels in developing countries. This paper provides key learning from the application of an early reading intervention applied in post-conflict Liberia, which included a robust assessment tool (Early Grade Reading Assessment) to measure the impact of the programme on students’ reading levels. A rationale for the design and methodology applied by the two implementing organisations (Research Triangle Institute (RTI) and Concern Worldwide) is provided, situated within the Liberian education context. The paper demonstrates the positive impact on programme quality, contextual relevancy and scale-up that a diagnostic baseline assessment has when linked to a tailored literacy intervention. Lessons learnt are presented to guide the identification of best practice in early literacy interventions at national-level and internationally.     

Literacy activity and health among older adults in the USA

ABSTRACT

Health literacy skills are known to be a key mediator of the relationship between education and health in the general population. However, one aspect of health literacy skills—individuals’ actual literacy activities—remains understudied, especially among older adults. Health disparities that are driven by inequalities in education and level of health literacy skills are particularly problematic for older adults since they are exacerbated in old age by disadvantages that accumulate over the life course. This study examined a nationally representative sample of US adults age 50 years and older (n = 2,573) using data from the 2014 Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). Parallel mediation analysis was conducted to examine the partial mediation effects of health literacy skills and literacy activity (i.e., reading at home) on the relationship between education and health. Results showed that both health literacy skills and literacy activity mediated the education–health relationship. On average, literacy skills mediated 31.89% and literacy activities mediated 9.59% of the effect of education of self-rated health. Literacy activity, such as reading, is an easily accessible, autonomous, and sustainable option for promoting health in later life. Policies that support the intersection of public health and education may promote lifelong learning and well-being among US adults.     

Literacy and disadvantage: learners' achievements in the early primary school years

Abstract

Worldwide, research shows that it is not easy to educate children from poor environments. Poor literacy achievement and poverty tend to go hand in hand. In developing countries, where education tends to be characterised by inequalities and disadvantage, there is a dire need to explore ways of boosting literacy levels in highpoverty schools. This article examines the effects of an out-of-school literacy enrichment programme on the literacy skills of Grades 1 and 4 learners at five disadvantaged schools in rural KwaZulu-Natal. A brief overview is given of the Family Literacy Project of which this study was a component, followed by the methodological details concerning the materials and procedures used in the assessment of the Grade 1 (Zulu) and Grade 4 (Zulu and English) learners' literacy skills. The learners' literacy performance is compared with those of learners who had not been in the programme. The findings indicate that greater exposure to literacy activities such as storybook reading in Zulu had a discernible impact on the learners' literacy accomplishments. The article concludes by identifying some educational implications that follow from the findings.     

Philosophy in Primary Schools: Fostering Thinking Skills and Literacy

We read for many reasons and this paper focuses on one of those – reading for thinking. It reports on the Philosophy in Primary Schools project and argues that one of the best ways teachers can add value to their work in literacy is by incorporating philosophical discussion with children through an approach called Stories for Thinking. It outlines what ‘philosophy for children’ is and how it can be used for developing the thinking skills that underpin literacy and higher order reading skills. It argues that a Stories for Thinking approach can enrich thinking and learning in the literacy hour, and uses evidence from teachers and children to illustrate the effects of the programme on classroom practice and on raising levels of pupil achievement     

Using information and communication technology (I.C.T.) to help dyslexics,and others,learn spelling

Abstract

Dyslexics have many problems, and spelling difficulties often persist long after reading has improved. It is therefore imperative that a well structured, sequential, thorough and cumulative multi‐sensory teaching programme is used to enable dyslexies, and others to reach their potential. Some excellent software, designed by experienced educators to help students improve their literacy and access learning, is described. Pointers are given to help teachers and others choose and use this good software and a list of some of the best software is given. All students, not only those with literacy difficulties, can benefit from using this software.     

The relationship between home literacy practices and developmental trajectories of emergent literacy and conventional literacy skills for Korean children

Previous studies with English-speaking families in the North American context demonstrated that home literacy practices have positive influences on children’s literacy acquisition. The present study expands previous studies by examining how home literacy practices are related to growth trajectories of emergent literacy skills (i.e., vocabulary, letter-name knowledge, and phonological awareness) and conventional literacy skills (i.e., word reading, pseudoword reading, and spelling), and by using data from Korean children and families (N = 192). The study revealed two dimensions of home literacy practices, home reading and parent teaching. Frequent reading at home was positively associated with children’s emergent literacy skills as well as conventional literacy skills in Korean. However, children whose parents reported more frequent teaching tended to have low scores in their phonological awareness, vocabulary, word reading and pseudoword reading after accounting for home reading. These results suggest a bidirectional relationship between home literacy practices, parent teaching in particular, and children’s literacy skills such that parents adjust their teaching in response to their child’s literacy acquisition. Furthermore, cultural variation in views on parent teaching may explain these results.

Theoretical and Practical Integration of Literacy and Numeracy in a University Academic Programme

Abstract

This paper reports on research into the enhancement of generic skills in academic numeracy in the context of an Australian university teacher education programme. The project addressed issues of what constitutes academic numeracy, the design and implementation of appropriate numeracy strategies, and how best to integrate tertiary literacy and numeracy in university courses. This paper presents an overview of the key stages of the project, and the development of its outcomes. The major outcome is a framework for academic numeracy, which is a means for identifying and describing the numeracy demands of academic texts and tasks.     

“Literacy Lift-Off”: an experimental evaluation of a reading recovery programme on literacy skills and reading self-concept

Worldwide, considerable emphasis is currently being placed on the provision of appropriate classroom-based preventative interventions and in-class literacy support, in preference to withdrawal methods of educational support. Many schools in Ireland are currently implementing Literacy Lift-Off in their classrooms. Literacy Lift-Off is an adaption of the well-known Reading Recovery programme. The current study aims to establish whether Literacy Lift-Off improves students’ literacy skills. It further seeks to determine what impact Literacy Lift-Off has on students’ reading self-concept levels. Ninety-two students aged between five years and six years six months (52 boys, 40 girls) attending four Senior Infant classes were recruited for this study. Two class groups were randomly chosen to act as an intervention cohort (n = 47) and two class groups were randomly chosen to act as a wait-list control cohort (n = 45). This experimental study evaluated the Literacy Lift-Off intervention on students’ letter identification, word attack skills, word reading, and reading self-concept beliefs. Intervention students were compared with control students who did not receive the Literacy Lift-Off intervention at pre-test and post-test levels. Results showed that while both groups showed significant change on all dependent variables from pre-intervention to post-intervention, those in the experimental group showed significantly more improvement on word attack skills, word reading and reading self-concept beliefs. This study showed that a whole-class reading recovery programme can be effective in improving literacy skills and reading self-concept.     

The emergence of reading literacy in post-primary teacher education: from the background to the foreground

While recognising the fact that historically teacher education and adolescent literacy are two fields that have had limited intellectual contact, the development of reading literacy is increasingly now accepted internationally as a core responsibility of all teachers and teacher educators. Adopting a socio-cultural perspective, this paper, drawn from the Learning to Teach Study, focused on the beliefs, knowledge and experiences regarding reading literacy of Irish post-primary student teachers on one initial teacher education (ITE) programme. The data were collected through three interviews with each of 17 student teachers. Results suggest that the surveyed student teachers had some concerns about their own literacy, had narrow conceptions of literacy, tended not to see it as their responsibility, held a minimal threshold view of literacy and viewed new digital technologies as a resource and motivator for their students’ literacy learning. Results are discussed in terms of how student teachers’ knowledge of literacy in ITE programmes could be reframed, extended and deepened.     

Functional literacy of Young Guyanese Adults

Functional literacy is interpreted as the ability of the individual to apply skills in reading, writing, calculation and basic problem-solving in those activities in which literacy is required for effective functioning in his/her own group and community. The paper describes the rationale, development and administration of the test used for measuring levels (high, moderate, low) of achievement in functional literacy in three domains (document, prose and quantitative). An assumption of the study was that a high level of functional literacy was required for the individual to function effectively in his/her own group and community. The context of the study is Guyana the most underdeveloped and impoverished country in the English-speaking Caribbean. The subjects are out of school youth in Guyana aged 14–25.Amongst the main findings are: only approximately 11% of the young people show a high level of functional literacy; females tend to have a higher level of functional literacy than males: and most of those at the low level never went beyond primary and low status secondary schools and usually end up unemployed or in semi- or unskilled jobs.     

A follow‐up study of the ABRACADABRA web‐based literacy intervention in Grade 1

This paper reports the follow‐up of a randomised control trial study of the ABRACADABRA web‐based literacy intervention that contrasted synthetic versus analytic phonics (Comaskey, Savage & Abrami, 2009) in kindergarten children from urban low‐SES backgrounds. Participants who received a ‘synthetic’ phonics+phoneme awareness training (n = 26) or an ‘analytic’ phonics+phoneme awareness training literacy intervention (n = 27) were tested on standard measures of literacy 1 year later. Results revealed a significant main effect (p < .01) for the analytic group performing better on passage reading comprehension. Modest advantages for children who received the analytic phonics programme were evident. We obtained an effect size favourably comparable with other studies, after adjusting for intervention duration (ES = .41). It is concluded that analytic phonics programmes may provide modest but significant sustained advantages in literacy for kindergarten children from low‐SES backgrounds.     

Learning strategies and reading literacy among Chinese and Finnish adolescents: evidence of suppression

Many arguments have been advanced in the context of the predictive correlation between learning strategies and reading achievement. There is insufficient understanding, however, of the subtle ways in which different types of learning strategies (i.e. memorisation, elaboration and control strategies) function in facilitating students’ reading achievement. A post hoc analysis was performed to examine this issue among Chinese and Finnish adolescents who participated in the PISA 2009 reading programme. A multigroup structural equation modelling found the suppression pattern among the three strategies: control strategy is positively related to reading literacy and this association increases substantially once memorisation and elaboration strategies are accounted for. There is evidence that Chinese adolescents outperformed their Finnish counterparts due to larger suppression effect from elaboration. Implications for models of learning strategies and intervention are discussed.     

Empowering immigrant women through bilingual fairy tales: linking family and school literacy practices / Empoderar mujeres inmigrantes a través de los cuentos bilingües: trazando puentes entre las prácticas de alfabetización en la familia y la escuela

Abstract

This paper presents the theoretical and methodological foundations of the Teixint Cultures ‘Weaving Cultures Together’ project: a communitarian research-action programme aimed at providing literacy skills in Catalan for African immigrant women, which uses their ‘Funds of Knowledge’ to develop bilingual books in Catalan, Arabic and Mandinka for their children. The results show the benefits of implementing projects that promote literacy activities at home as well as the empowerment of immigrant women.     

All empires fall,you just have to know where to push: Antecedent issues for a study of learning difficulties in Australia

Abstract

A subset of the corpus of gifted students who have learning difficulties are those who have specific literacy disabilities; gifted literacy disabled (GLitD) students. Estimates suggest that approximately 10 per cent gifted read at a level of two or more years below their expected grade level. Surprisingly then, these students have attracted comparatively little past research interest.

The present investigation examined the reading characteristics of a group of 37 primary level GLitD students aged between 78 and 121 months. These students displayed a discrepancy in literacy perfor‐mance of at least 1 standard deviation below the mean for their chronological age in at least one of reading prose accuracy, prose reading com‐prehension or isolated word reading accuracy. As well, their spelling and phonemic awareness (segmentation and blending) were assessed. Scores on the cognitive factors of the W1SC‐III identified two groups: a group of 20 students with superior performance (at least 130 points) on both Verbal Comprehension and Perceptual Organisation (the ‘superior VC + PO’ group) and a group of 17 students with superior performance only on Perceptual Organisation (the ‘superior PO’ group).

The two groups differed in the literacy patterns displayed. The superior PO group showed the greater level of difficulty, with all measures of literacy at least one standard deviation below their expected score. The superior VC + PO group showed lower performance on isolated word reading and spelling. They did not differ in phonemic awareness.

The literacy disability displayed by both groups is attributed to a specific preference for the use of global rather than analytic information processing strategies. This in turn influences phonemic awareness knowledge and consequently orthographic knowledge. The superior VC + PO group are more able to compensate for this cognitive disability.

The implications of this study for the diagnosis and instruction of GLitD students are discussed.     

Mexican Mothers’ English Proficiency and Children's School Readiness: Mediation Through Home Literacy Involvement

Research Findings: Home literacy involvement (e.g., shared book reading) has been linked to enhanced cognitive development and school readiness during early childhood. Furthermore, precursory reading and math skills are key predictors of high school achievement. This study examined prospective relations between Mexican mothers’ English proficiency, their home literacy involvement, and their children's school readiness (i.e., preschool reading and math scores). A large, nationally representative sample of preschool-age Mexican American children (N = 826) was used to test a theoretically derived path analysis that demonstrated that mother-reported home literacy involvement mediated the relation between mother-reported English proficiency and children's reading achievement, but not math. Results were evident even after key family and child characteristics were controlled. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest that Mexican American children's early education and development may be enriched by family literacy programs that enhance their mothers’ English proficiency and increase the frequency of home literacy activities.     

Exploring the Letterbox Club programme’s impact on foster children’s literacy: potent intervention or general support?

ABSTRACT

The book-gifting programme, the Letterbox Club, was developed as a response to the increased interest in ways of improving the educational outcomes of children in out-of-home care. By reporting quantitative and qualitative findings from a Swedish trial, and compiling findings from previous British evaluations, the purpose of this paper is to further our understanding of the programme’s potential impact. Pre/post measurements of the reading age of 72 foster children showed an average improvement of 2.5 months in comparison to the national average. With some exceptions, interviews with children and carers showed that the programme was well received and indicated that it could increase reading engagement and carer involvement. The current empirical base knowledge suggests that the Letterbox Club has a small impact on foster children’s literacy. The results do not allow for causal interpretations. Long-term outcomes are unknown. The programme lacks a theoretical foundation, and the implementation is dependent on individual and contextual factors. However, the programme is simple to administer, low-cost, and can reach a large number of children. The article therefore suggests that the Letterbox Club could be seen as a general supportive measure, and promotion of carer involvement is proposed as a way of improving its potential impact.