pre-school literacy in the light of the european tradition veronika szinger kecskemét college...

PRE-SCHOOL LITERACY IN THE LIGHT OF THE

EUROPEAN TRADITION

Veronika Szinger

Kecskemét College Teacher Training FacultyHungarian Department

CONTENTS

PRE-LITERACY

Approaches of Literacy

Historical Background

Methodological Background

Kindergartens

Emergent Literacy

Literacy Events at Home

Parental Roles in Pre-Literacy

Hungarian Research (results and conclusions)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING AT A YOUNG AGE

Critical Period

Conditions

Approaches of Literacy

Literacy, reading and writing skills have an ordered approach, some of them are actual, some not.

They are only workable if they take into consideration people’s social circumstances.

Literacy must be integrated otherwise it cannot fulfil its requirement in society, in the education system and peoples’ lives.


The official, dominant literacy and the Hungarian state appeared at the same time, at the beginning of the 11th century in our country.

Both of them had very close relations with religion → school, state, literacy and language policy are the same age in Hungary.

The social status of literacy was the same as in Western Europe in the Middle Ages and the following centuries.

Reading and writing education was in Latin, and Hungary was the last country in Europe, which finished this tradition.

The next official language after Latin was German, → for centuries children and adults were unable to learn to read and write in their mother tongue.


Methodological background

Until now the methodology of foreign language teaching (including literacy teaching) could not make progress in the required reading and writing skills.

School traditions are based on out-of-date methods, not only in Hungary, but in several European countries too.

The problem of mother tongue education and foreign language teaching comes from the former language interpretation: descriptive linguistics

Nobody dealt with the children’s first or second language acquisition on a theoretical level.

This approach changed radically only in the seventies of the last century, even then not sufficiently.

Methodological background

Kindergartens

The history of Hungarian kindergartens is only two houndred years old.

According to the philosophy of that age people were unable to understand the features of childhood development.

In the beginning books were written for children but these were without theoretical conception.

Today only the basic skills essential for reading and writing need development at this young age.

Kindergartens

In developed societies every human has some relationship with written language.

Every generation must seek to improve lifelong literacy skills but only by enhancing age specific skills.

General skills (important for learning). • logical thinking • verbal and visual memory • attention • imagination.

Special skills (necessary for reading and writing) • creating communicative behaviour • understanding the function and aim of literacy • habits of visual communication (tools of writing, directions) • expressive and receptive skills (perception) • language awareness and metacognitive skills • manual development

By starting early preparation we consider the roots of reading ability!!!

A written form of communication is indisputable in education. In school, literacy is seen as central to many classroom activities. Learning becomes more complex, with various demands on students to use reading and writing skills to analyze or to solve problems.

Emergent Literacy

Even before formal literacy education, most children meet literacy in a spontaneous way.

Emergent literacy is the term used to describe young children’s developing literacy skills before formal reading and writing instruction in school.

They begin constructing notions of literacy during the preschool years (due to reading aloud, reciting rhymes, telling stories, drawing pictures, playing games) and early experiences support children’s literacy growth.

Weinberger (1996) demonstrated that children’s literacy abilities at the age of 5 predicted their reading levels at age 7. It means children’s reading habits and skills are already well established by that age.

The home environment serves as an important influence in the development of emergent literacy skills in young children.

The home serves as a setting in which language and literacy is first encountered.

Parents are their children’s first teachers.

What parents do, (or they fail doing) has a lasting impact on their child’s reading skill and literacy.

Emergent Literacy

Literacy Events at Home

E.g. family members engage in shared story reading.

Children sit next to or on the lap of an adult They are encouraged to follow the pictures. They can see the text. They can note how the reader moves his or her eyes and turns pages. Acquire basic technical skills. Picture books help children make up, talk about and ask questions about stories which they can relate to their own lives. Shared reading develops vocabulary. Learn that words represent ideas and objects.

They can also see when parents

are reading newspapers jotting down a telephone number following a recipe in front of the

children.

The more parents can involve children in daily reading activities, the more interested in reading children become.

Joint book reading positively influences young children’s acquisition of language and literacy skills.

Positively influences their motivation to read.

Parental Roles in Pre-Literacy

The sociolinguistic complexity of this question is indisputable.

Schools, classrooms, communities and also families can all be understood as cultural groups constructing their own views of literacy and what it means to be literate.

Knowledge and literacy are constructed differently across families and vary depending on culture and social class.

The most academically succesful students are those whose family literacy practices are more congruent with school literacy practices.

Family illiteracy often persists from one generation to the next.

The relationship between the home literacy environment and children’s literacy knowledge or skills are being examined.

317 families are participating from different

social classes.

Current Hungarian research is revealing 6-year-old Hungarian children’s literacy background within the family.

The questionnaire consists of the following parts:

1. At first, indicators of literacy practices were asked of parents: their level of education their job the structure of the family whether they participate in some kind of

postgraduate training or evening class.


2. The second part of the study investigates the physical literacy environment and parents’ own literacy activities.

Questions about: the number of books the length of daily reading activities visiting libraries writing letters and notices using computer and Internet buying books as gifts collecting picture books.

3. The third part of the questionnaire tries to reveal the main characteristics of home literacy events.

Questions about: elder sisters’ and brothers’ role in the

process of literacy education the frequency of oral story telling or reading

stories from books.


4. The last part indicates children’s book knowledge and their language awareness.


Results and conclusions until now:

The single most significant predictor of children’s literacy is their mother’s literacy level. The more education a mother has, the more likely she is to read and buy books to her child.

Adult education transforms families’ literacy environment, since reading and learning from books and writing activities get more importance, that children may observe.

Public libraries are underutilized – only 40 percent of mothers and less than 30 percent of fathers visit libraries regularly. It shows a significant relationship with parents’ education.

The rate of library users among elder sisters and brothers is quite high, 86,7 percent. This result can be attributed to one of the roles of school: creating positive attitude towards reading.



Elder children may act as models even if parents have low literacy skills and they ignore such activities.

Writing homework and other school tasks are examples for little children how to behave properly in these situations. Quite early they pretend to read and write, practising the function of literacy.

Elder brothers and sisters can become a child’s daily readers too.

Grandparents read less for their grandchildren, due to the increasing number of nuclear families.

Mothers – regardless of education level – are more involved in certain reading connected activities than fathers. Such activity, for example, is buying books as gifts for children. In many families buying presents is the mother’s duty, similar to making shopping lists or writing letters, postcards, invitations; they have to keep contact with relatives and friends.

Storytelling or reading tales is again mainly mothers’ duty, but sisters’ and brothers’ participation is growing, while grandparents are less involved than they were earlier.


Please indicate with a cross whether you agree or disagree with the statement or you can not decide.

AGREE NOTAGREE

I DO NOTKNOW

Mastery of the reading and writing skills is essential for good school results.

For a successful life good reading and writing abilities have no prime importance.

In the pre-school period giving books to children is unneeded since they can not read and they do not know what books are good for.

One’s logical thinking and memory can compensate poor reading and writing abilities.

Children under the age 6 are too young to learn about reading. In the pre-school period children’s fundamental activity is playing, meeting literacy so early may cause damage in the development of their personality and cognitive skills.

Intelligence means literacy, we gain our knowledge mainly from books.

Good reading and writing skills are essential for an advantageous position in one’s life.

Former experiences in literacy assure advantage in school during the acquisition of reading and writing.

In the modern world up-to-date knowledge is gained not primarily from books.

Please underline the statement you agree.Most children are interested in literacy before the formal education. (Already in the pre-school period) This interest:Should be ignored Shouldn’t be ignored I do not know

AGREE NOT AGREE I DO NOT KNOW

Mastery of the reading and writing skills is essential for good school results. 98,7 % 0,6 % 1 %

For a successful life good reading and writing abilities have no prime importance. 19,2 % 71,8 % 9,1 %

In the pre-school period giving books to children is unneeded since they can not read and they do not know what books are good for.

1,3 % 97,4 % 1,3 %

One’s logical thinking and memory can compensate poor reading and writing abilities. 21,4 % 67,9 % 10,7 %

Children under the age 6 are too young to learn about reading. In the pre-school period children’s fundamental activity is playing, meeting literacy so early may cause damage in the development of their personality and cognitive skills.

19,8 % 64,3 % 15,9%

Intelligence means literacy, we gain our knowledge mainly from books. 83,5 % 13,2 % 3,2 %

Good reading and writing skills are essential for an advantageous position in one’s life. 91,0 % 6,5 % 2,6 %

Former experiences in literacy assure advantage in school during the acquisition of reading and writing.

76,9 % 10,7 % 12,3 %

In the modern world up-to-date knowledge is gained not primarily from books. 40,7 % 43,9 % 15,4 %

Please underline the statement you agree.Most children are interested in literacy before the formal education. (Already in the pre-school period) This interest:Should be ignored Shouldn’t be ignored I do not know 2,3 % 94,5 % 3,3 %

In the Parental Reading Beliefs:

Relationship is not absolute between theory and practice.

Parents with lower education level in most cases have the same positive attitude towards literacy as highly qualified adults even if their reading and writing ability is rather poor.

Some of the middle class parents are afraid of too early formal education, they reject every form of preparation for school in the question of reading and writing too.

The changing role of literacy in our modern world: it is not considered the only source of knowledge and information anymore.

Critical Period

Critical period is the notion that language is best learned during the early years of childhood, and that after about the first dozen years of life, everyone faces certain constraints in the ability to pick up a new language.

1. Biological /neurological argument Neurological plasticity of the young brain → after a

certain age it is lost and lateralization is completed. E.g. Nativelike pronunciation in any language is

attainable only by children.

2. Psychological argument Contrast with adults children are free of inhibitions

3. Extension The earlier children start learning a foreign

language, the more time they have to acquire it.

Contrary opinion:

Olson and Samuels: adults are better than children (adult learners seem more successful and better motivated + they have cognitive and linguistic maturity).

David Stern: No single stage of life is more optimal than other. „Each age of language learning has its own particular advantages and disadvantages.”

Krashen: older is better for rate of acquisition, but younger is better in the long run.

Conditions:

Positive attitude towards the target language Methods Material (books etc.) Physical surroundings Continuity Frequency Language teacher (his/her knowledge of the target

language) Language teacher (psychological, pedagogical and

methodological preparedness) Emotional attitudes of the learner Other(s):…………………………………………………

Thank you for your attention

and participation