Literacy Empowers Lives Priscilla L. Griffith, Ph.D. University of Oklahoma

What is Literacy? Reading –Critically –With understanding (comprehension) –Many different types of text –For a variety of purposes Writing –Comprehensible text –For a variety of purposes Describe List Convince Amuse Personal satisfaction

What is the empowerment of literacy? Enables us to maintain our personal satisfaction and safety Allows us to advance within our world Transmits our culture from one generation to the next Promotes an ever-advancing civilization

What is the path to literacy? ERF –Curriculum –Assessment –Instruction

EARLY READING FIRST PATH TO LITERACY CURRICULUMINSTRUCTIONASSESSMENT The knowledge and skills to be learned, i.e., what we teach  phonological awareness  concepts of print  alphabet knowledge  listening comprehension of text  oral language How we teach the curriculum  interact in literacy centers  use language in dramatic play centers  participate in interactive storybook reading  participate in shared reading with big books  study print from big books  listen to and read alphabet books  do shared writing with teacher as scribe  engage in interactive writing  listen to and play with language through rhyme and alliteration  listen to and make rhymes  learn letter-sound correspondences  write with invented spelling  sort pictures based on sound or meaning Determine how well we taught the curriculum to plan instruction  progress monitoring assessments  portfolios

Teacher knowledge and decision-making directs the path to literacy for our ERF children. Curriculum Assessment Instruction TEACHER

The Path to Literacy Oral language Portfolios

Why Oral Language? Parents and early childhood educators want children to become good readers and writers. They are fully aware of how crucial reading and writing skills are to school success. But parents and early childhood educators may not know how important language development is in preparing preschool-age children for later literacy development. (Snow, Tabors & Dickinson, 2001)

The [4 th grade reading] gap can’t be confined to reading because it starts long before children are readers, and continues long after they have mastered decoding skills. From age 2 on, there exist large differences in children’s familiarity with unusual words, standard pronunciation, and complex syntax…. (Hirsch, 1995)

Vocabulary knowledge, arguably one of the most important hallmarks of an educated person, is essential for comprehending texts at all levels….First graders from middle class and affluent families know twice as many words as children from families living in poverty. (Flood, Lapp, Flood, 2006)

In our Oklahoma P.R.I.D.E. grant we see significant differences between children who were in our grant classrooms and those in our comparison group classrooms on our measure of oral language development. That sounds wonderful. But consider that the comparison group classroom children scored at the 6 th percentile while the Oklahoma P.R.I.D.E. classroom children scored at the 11 th percentile. That means that 89% of the children taking this test nationwide scored higher than our Oklahoma P.R.I.D.E. children. We have to do a better job with oral language development.

Oral Language Meaningful Differences

How did Hart and Risley study children’s home language experiences? What were the meaningful differences? What are the implications for ERF teachers?

How did Hart and Risley study children’s home language experiences? 42 families –13 families upper SES –10 families middle SES –13 families lower SES –6 families on welfare Observations began when the children were 7-9 months old. Monthly hour-long observations Observations continued for 2 ½ years Recorded behaviors of each person that were likely to be followed by a change in the other person’s behavior Paid $5 for each observation. Observers never interacted with the children. Maintained reliability through initial training for observers and recalibration of observer techniques every 6 months

What were the meaningful differences? Heard More Words

Professional By age 3 heard more than 30 million words More different words of all kinds, complex (multiclause) sentences, past and future verb tenses, declaratives, and questions 5 prohibitions per hour Affirmative feedback more than 30 times per hour Preparing children to participate in a culture concerned with symbols and analytic problem solving Welfare 10 million words Less than half the language experience of working-class children in each hour of their lives 11 per hour Affirmative feedback about 5 times per hour Preparing children to participate in a culture of established customs – obedience, politeness, and conformity

What were the meaningful differences? Learned More Words

What are the implications for ERF teachers? Characteristics of Quality Interactions with Children

Just Talk The more we talk to children, the more words they will hear over time. So ramble on. Talk to children beyond what is required to manage or provide care. Remain involved through casual talk about activities.

Listen Focus on what children have to say in order to encourage more child talk. Listen to add information, encourage commenting, and prompt elaboration.

Be Nice Maintain a positive emotional tone. Name the right behaviors rather than commenting on children’s misbehavior. Children should hear more affirmative language than prohibitions. –An effective form of affirmative language is an approval with a repetition.

Give Children Choices Use yes/no and wh-questions to remind and instruct children. –“Have you put the blocks away?” –“Which color are you going to use on that?” Use levels of prompts to teach making choices. 1.State a social rule: It’s cold. You will need to wear your coat outside. 2.Question: Can you get your coat? 3.Demand: Get your coat.

Tell Children About Things Name, repeat, and restate to help children understand. Put words to what children seem to be thinking or feeling. Tell children what is worth noticing or remembering. Tell children about what to expect and how to cope.

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