Early literacy interventions: The relative roles of storybook reading, alphabetic activities, and their combination

The study examined the differential contributions on vocabulary and alphabetic skills of three literacy programs: (a) storybook reading program; (b) alphabetic skills program; and (c) a combined program. It was expected that storybook reading would enhance primarily vocabulary while alphabetic skills training would promote primarily alphabetic skills. Program by age interactions were examined in two age groups (3–4 and 4–5 years old) to test whether the storybook reading program may be more productive for the younger children whereas alphabetic skills program more productive for the older children. Twelve low-SES preschools participated in the study, three in each program and three as a comparison group. Results indicated that the children in the three intervention programs progressed significantly more than the comparison group on name writing, letter knowledge and phonological awareness. Further, the alphabetic skills program outperformed the other groups on word writing, letter knowledge and initial letter retrieval, whereas the storybook reading program outperformed only the comparison group. Results on the combined program were mixed – enhancing more initial letter retrieval and book vocabulary than storybook reading program. In general, no differences emerged in the progress of younger versus older children except on receptive vocabulary – the younger surpassing the older in all programs.     

Yough,literacy and participation

The number of illiterates in the world continues to grow. Simultaneously, there are few if any literacy efforts in the world today that do not depend upon the energies and skills (and sometimes ideas) of young people. Youth's participation in the provision of literacy, in some industrialized as well as in many developing countries, is classified according to three patterns: the project pattern, the programme pattern, and the campaign pattern. The project pattern is not seen to hold out the prospect of enabling youth to make serious inroads into growing illiteracy. Conversely, the campaign pattern seemed largely exceptional. Suggestions are made to draw on elements of both the project and the campaign patterns to show ways of enrichting, systematizing and generalizing the programme pattern.

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Zusammenfassung Die Zahl der Analphabeten in der Welt wächst ständig. Gleichzeitig aber gibt es heutzutage wenig Alphabetisierungsbestrebungen, die nicht von den Kräften und Fähigkeiten — (und manchmal auch den Ideen)-junger Leute abhängen. Die Teilnahme Jugendlicher an Alphabetisierungsvorhaben werden in einigen Industrieländern ebensowie in zahlreichen Entwicklungsländern in drei Gruppen unterteilt: dem Projekt-, dem Programm- und dem Kampagnemuster. Das Projektmuster stellt nicht in Aussicht, daß Jugendliche die Möglichkeit haben, ernsthaften Fortschritt mit dem Problem des wachsenden Analphabetentums zu machen. Andererseits erscheint das Kampagnemuster zum größten Teil nicht wiederholbar. Es werden Vorschläge unterbreitet, Elemente sowohl aus dem Projekt-als auch aus dem Kampagnemuster einzubeziehen, um aufzuzeigen, wie das Programmuster bereichert, systematisiert und verallgemeinert werden kann.

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Résumé Le nombre d'analphabètes adultes ne cesse de croître dans le monde. En même temps, seuls peu d'efforts d'alphabétisation-peut-être aucun-ne dépendent pas, dans le monde d'aujourd'hui, de l'énergie et des compétences (et quelquefois des idées) des jeunes. Dans quelques pays industrialisés comme dans de nombreux pays en développement, la participation des jeunes à l'offre d'alphabétisation peut être classée selon trois modèles: lemodèle-projet, lemodèle-programme et lemodèle-campagne. Quelle que soit sa valeur symbolique, le modèle-projet n'offre pas la possibilité aux jenunes de faire de sérieuses incursions dans l'analphabétisme croissant. Inversement, le modèle-campagne semble être exceptionnel dans une large mesure. Il semble, cependant, possible de tirer des éléments des deux modèles — projet et campagne-pour suggérer des approches et des moyens d'enrichir, systématiser et généraliser le modèle-programme.

     

Building Equitable Literate Futures: Home and school computer-mediated literacy practices and disadvantage

This article examines the complex connections between literacy practices, the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and disadvantage. It reports the findings of a year-long study which investigated the ways in which four families use ICTs to engage with formal and informal literacy learning in home and school settings. The research set out to explore what it is about computer-mediated literacy practices at home and at school in disadvantaged communities that makes a difference in school success. The findings demonstrate that the 'socialisation' of the technology--its appropriation into existing family norms, values and lifestyles--varied from family to family. Having access to ICTs at home was not sufficient for the young people and their families to overcome the so-called 'digital divide'. The article concludes that old inequalities have not disappeared, but are playing out in new ways in the context of the networked society.     

Blue listerine, parochialism, and ASL literacy

There are not many elements of human life that have had as significant an impact on our development as literacy. Literacy has certainly been, and remains, a crucial issue especially in Deaf Education and in the Deaf World. The traditional definition of literacy has been exclusively understood as reading and writing. However, this article is intended to provide a thoughtful and provocative commentary that supports adopting new directions and comprehensive definitions for understanding literacy, which includes both written and signed languages. By applying ideas from Deaf Studies and New Literacy Studies we will conduct a thorough exploration of the fundamental components of literacy and illuminate important political and practical applications related to Deaf Education.     

Starting small: Building preschool teacher knowledge that supports early literacy development

A growing body of research is emerging that investigates the teacher knowledge base essential for supporting reading and writing development at the elementary school level. However, even though increasing recognition is given to the pivotal role that preschool teachers play in cultivating children’s early literacy development, considerably fewer studies have examined the knowledge base of these early childhood educators. This paper will discuss the existing research literature and then examine a recent study that investigated the knowledge constructs of 20 preschool teachers. Findings indicate that preschool teachers lack the disciplinary knowledge required to promote early literacy and, in fact, tend to overestimate what they know, creating a potential obstacle for seeking additional knowledge. Recommendations for strengthening professional development programs and developing more robust measures of preschool teacher knowledge are proposed.     

Freire,literacy and emancipatory gender learning

The contributions to education of one of the great Latin American thinkers, Paulo Freire, have been enormous. His voice and wisdom have inspired educators globally. Three particular contributions – to emancipation, to literacy, and to dialogue – are explored in this article through a critical lens. From a gender perspective, Freire’s path to consciousness-raising is crucial for emancipation but so also is empowerment, a notion contributed by the women’s movement. Adult literacy, Freire’s vehicle to raise consciousness, has been challenged by a recognition of the complexity underlying its acquisition, a factor we still have to incorporate in training and teaching programmes. Dialogical approaches in adult education, essential as they are to the attainment of deeper understanding of social phenomena and the possibility of consensual social action, build on a long trajectory of efforts to use public space for collective advancement. Situating Freire against a denser historical background enables the recognition of his merits and at the same time rescues the confluence of similar perceptions as well as different ideas in the construction of our contemporary world.     

The role of Aboriginal literacy in improving English literacy in remote Aboriginal communities: an empirical systems analysis with the Interplay Wellbeing Framework

Indigenous language endangerment is critical in Australia, with only 120 of 250 known languages remaining, and only 13 considered strong. A related issue is the gap in formal education outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people compared with other Australians, with the gap wider in remote regions. Little empirical research exists in Australia to explore the role of developing Aboriginal literacy through bilingual education to address these combined issues. As a ‘shared space’ collaboration between remote communities, government, and scientists, the Interplay Wellbeing Framework and associated Survey were designed to represent community values and priorities in a quantifiable system to inform policy and practice. A cohort of 842 Aboriginal people aged 15–34 years from four remote communities completed individual surveys designed and administered by Aboriginal community researchers. We applied structural equation modelling to this data to understand the role of cultural indicators on education outcomes. Results confirmed the importance of strong relationships between community and schools. Furthermore, learning about culture and learning literacy in ones first language in schools to develop Aboriginal literacy, is established as a necessary step to improve English literacy in remote schools. This suggests bilingual education and strengthening culture and community involvement in schools are necessary to improve both education outcomes and language preservation.     

小学拼音教材与《汉语拼音方案》的关系

小学拼音教材与《汉语拼音方案》之间有十分密切的关系,但二者的性质又有所不同。《汉语拼音方案》是具有群众性、科学性、法定性的拼音方案,小学拼音教材则是汉语拼音教学法改革的产物。小学拼音教材采用变通的方法,把y、w作为声母教学,规定16个整体认读音节,省教15个韵母和儿童难以理解的各种拼音规则,不教字母表、隔音符号,使拼音教学化繁为简,化难为易,收到了事半功倍的教学效果。作为小学教师,必须搞清楚小学拼音教材与《汉语拼音方案》之间的关系。     

Rethinking literacy: communication,representation and text

In this article I want to consider shifts in the use of the word ‘literacy’ and the implications for classroom work with texts, particularly the implications of the rapid and radical emergence of new relationships between different modes of representation and communication ( Kress, 2003; Raney, 1996; Unsworth, 2001 ). My concern is to argue that any approach to classroom literacy needs not only to recognise the new forms of text which children meet every day but to give multimodal texts a firm place in the curriculum. Further, if the text experience of young learners about these new combinations of modes of representation are to be realised in the classroom, then we need a framework for describing those texts. An approach which takes account of the rhetoric of design may be a way forward.     

Apprenticeship in literacy

A four-level taxonomy is proposed for categorizing the ways in which literacy is defined operationally in education. The four levels—performative, functional, informational, epistemic—are distinguished in terms of conceptualizations of the relationships between writing and speaking and between writing and thinking. This taxonomy is then used to examine the results of recent research on early literacy development. Two major findings emerge: (a) the universal predisposition among children to develop actively an understanding of the forms and functions of written language and (b) differences between cultural groups in the ways literacy activities are organized. It is argued that an emphasis should be placed on the highest level of literacy in the school curriculum and that this should be the case forall children and at all ages.     

A meta-analysis of reading-level match dyslexia studies in consistent alphabetic orthographies

Annals of Dyslexia - We provide a meta-analytic review of all group-comparison studies that used reading-level match design, were conducted in highly consistent European orthographies, included...