1. THEORIES OF
LEARNING
AND
EARLY LITERACY

2. OBJECTIVES
Define emergent literacy
 Explain the importance of
home literacy to early literacy


3. DEFINITION OF EMERGENT LITERACY
Emergent literacy is a term first
used by Marie Clay to describe
how young children interact with
books and when reading and
writing, even though they could
not read or write in the
conventional sense. A vast
amount of research has since
been done within the fields of
psychology, child development,
education,
linguistics,
and
sociology.

4. Emergent literacy is a gradual
process that takes place over
time from birth - until a child can
read and write in what we
consider to be a conventional
sense. A key to the term literacy
is the interrelatedness of all parts
of language: speaking, listening,
reading, writing, and viewing. It is
never too early to begin reading
to a child.

5. ELEMENTS OF EMERGENT LITERACY
The process of learning to read
and write begins very early in a
child's life. Children have contact
with many forms of
communication right from the
start. Most children can identify
common signs and logos by the
age of 2-3. They will begin to
experiment with written forms of
communicating by scribbling long
before they can read.

6. ELEMENTS OF EMERGENT LITERACY
Reading and writing develop at
the same time in young
children and are interrelated.
Children do not learn how to
read first and then learn how to
write. Writing is often easier for
some children to begin with
than reading.

7. ELEMENTS OF EMERGENT LITERACY
The functions of reading often
promote
the
learning
of
reading.
Literacy
often
develops from the need in real
life situations to get something
done or to read so that they
can learn. Literacy is not a set
of isolated skills, but rather a
set of processes that children
see as a means to achieve
goals.

8. ELEMENTS OF EMERGENT LITERACY
Children learn literacy through
active engagement with books
and
writing
opportunities.
Children
reconstruct
their
knowledge
by
rereading
favorite books.

9. ELEMENTS OF EMERGENT LITERACY
Listening to books plays a very
important role in the literacy
development of children. Reading to
children each day is one of the most
beneficial ways in which a parent can
promote literacy. Children develop a
feel for the nature of written language
at a very early age by listening to
books read aloud. They begin to
understand the function of reading
and develop a positive attitude
towards it.

10. ELEMENTS OF EMERGENT LITERACY
Children pass through the
stages of emergent literacy
in different ways and at
different ages. These
developmental stages lead
to the skills needed for both
reading and writing
acquisition.

11. Parents can promote early literacy
development for infants by:
* introducing cloth or cardboard books with
brightly colored pictures
* reading books that have rhyme, rhythm and
repetition like nursery rhymes
* pointing out words in the environment (such
as on signs, etc) and explaining the meaning
of the words

12. Parents can promote early literacy development
for toddlers and preschoolers by:
* surrounding children with a literature rich
environment filled with books, magazines,
games, etc.
* reading simple stories with one central character
and a basic plot
* responding to questions your child might have
about print in your house or elsewhere in the
environment
* supporting early writing by making sure that
paper,
crayons, pencils and markers are

13. THE
IMPORTANCE
OF
HOME LITERACY
TO
EARLY LITERACY

14. THE IMPORTANCE OF HOME LITERACY
TO EARLY LITERACY
Early childhood professionals have long
recognized the importance of language and
literacy in preparing children to succeed in school.
Early literacy plays a key role in enabling the kind
of early learning experiences that research shows
are linked with academic achievement, reduced
grade retention, higher graduation rates, and
enhanced
productivity in adult life.

15. Literacy learning starts early and
persists throughout life.
In the past, our field has talked about
early literacy in terms of what was
called
reading
readiness,
the
necessary level of preparation
children
should
attain
before
beginning formal reading instruction.
Key factors or predictors include oral
language,
alphabet
knowledge,
knowledge of how the sounds of our
language link to the alphabet, and
knowledge about print.

16. Reading readiness largely focused on
targeted instruction in kindergarten and early
first grade. While the notion of certain
predictors has been maintained, the way we
look at their development has changed.
Today’s research suggests that learning to
read and write is an ongoing and emerging
process from infancy. This is consistent with
what has been learned from neurocognitive
research about young learners and learning.
From the earliest years, everything that adults
do to support children’s language and literacy
really counts.

17. Oral language and literacy develop
concurrently.
Although oral language is foundational to
literacy development, the two also develop
concurrently. What children learn from
listening and talking contributes to their
ability to read and write and vice versa. For
example, young children’s phonological
awareness (ability to identify and make
oral rhymes and manipulate the individual
sounds – phonemes- in spoken words) is
an important indicator of their potential
success in
learning to read. Phonological awareness
begins early with rhyming games and
chants,
often on a parent’s knee.

18. • Children who fall behind in oral language
and literacy development are less likely to
be successful beginning readers; and their
achievement lag is likely to persist
throughout the primary grades and beyond.

19. • It is not enough to simply teach early
literacy skills in isolation. Teaching children
to apply the skills they learn has a
significantly greater effect on their ability to
read and write.

20. Children’s experiences with the
world and with print greatly influence
their ability to comprehend what
they read.
True reading involves understanding.
What children bring to a text, whether oral
or written, influences the understandings
they take away. The more limited a child’s
experiences the more likely he or she will
have difficulty with reading.
There are two kinds of experiences
that are highly influential to literacy
development: background knowledge
about the world and background
knowledge about print and books.

21. THANK YOU!