COMMUNICATION LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Communication Language and Literacy

Communication Language and Literacy

Summary of Article “Becoming a literacy teacher: approximations in critical literacy teaching”

This is the study conducted by Melissa Mosleya which defines Children's Literacy Development. From as early as the first months through the second year of life, children's experiences with oral language development and literacy begin to build a foundation for later reading success (Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999; Strickland & Morrow, 1988; Weaver, 1988). From 2 to 3 years of age, children begin to produce understandable speech in response to books and the written marks they create.

From 3 through 4 years of age, children show rapid growth in literacy. They begin to "read" their favorite books by themselves, focusing mostly on reenacting the story from the pictures. Eventually, they progress from telling about each picture individually to weaving a story from picture to picture using language that sounds like reading or written language (Holdaway, 1979; International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998; Sulzby, 1991). At this time, children also experiment with writing by forming scribbles, letter-like forms, and random strings of letters (Barclay, 1991; Clay, 1975; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998; McGee & Richgels, 1996). They also begin to use "mock handwriting" (Clay, 1975) or wavy scribbles (Sulzby, 1985b) to imitate adult cursive writing. Letter-like forms or "mock letters" (Clay, 1975) are the young child?s attempt to form alphabetic letters; these forms of writing eventually will develop into standard letters (Barclay, 1991). When using various forms of writing, children maintain their intention to create meaning and will often "read" their printed messages using language that sounds like reading (Clay, 1975; McGee & Richgels, 1996; Sulzby, 1985b).

Around age 5, children enter school and begin receiving formal literacy instruction. Most children at the kindergarten level are considered to be emergent readers. They continue to make rapid growth in literacy skills if they are exposed to literacy-rich environments (Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999). Children at this age continue to "read" from books they?ve heard repeatedly. Gradually, these readings demonstrate the intonation patterns of the adult reader and language used in the book. Emergent readers are just beginning to control early reading strategies such as directionality, word-by-word matching, and concepts of print. They use pictures to support reading and rely heavily on their knowledge of language (Holdaway, 1979; Pinnell, 1996b; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998).

Children's writing also develops rapidly during the kindergarten year. Just as children?s reading acquisition does not occur in a linear path, children?s writing skills also reflect an overlapping development. Children continue to use the variety of writing forms developed earlier, but they typically add random letter strings to their repertoire; in effect, they create strings of letters for their written messages without regard for the sounds represented by the letters (Sulzby, 1989, 1992). At this age, children plan their writing and are able to discuss their plans with others. If allowed, they begin to use invented spelling (phonetic ...