The Importance of the Early YearsSandra Hogg & Tracey Roden

RDG 692/EDCI 690Spring 2013

“One of the best predictors of

whether a child will function competently in school and go on

to contribute actively in an

increasingly literate society is the level to

which the child progresses in

reading and writing.”~IRA & NAEYC,1998

What We Know About the Early Years…Children take their first important steps to read

& write early in life. ~Halliday, 1969

Long before children demonstrate literacy skills, they begin to acquire basic understandings about the concepts of literacy & its functions. ~Read, 1971

Children use symbols, print, play, and oral language to created “textual” tools to create and convey meaning long before schooling begins. ~Dyson, 1993, 2003; Y. Goodman, 1980

What We Know About the Early Years…From early experiences & interaction with

adults, children begin to learn letter-sound relationships & acquire significant knowledge about the alphabetic system. ~Durkin, 1966

As children continue to learn, they stretch & reorganize their experiences & knowledge into patterns that allow for “official school literacy.” ~Dyson, 2003

From these experiences children learn that reading & writing are valuable tools that will help them with many things in life.

Growing Evidence that Early Learning Experiences are Linked to Future School Success…

Key predictive skills & abilities:Oral language (listening comprehension, oral language

vocabulary)Alphabetic code (Alphabetic Knowledge,

Phonological/Phonemic awareness, invented spelling)Print knowledge/concepts (environmental print, concepts

about print)

Other indicators Rapid Automatic Naming, visual memory, and visual perception abilities

~NELP, 2008; Strickland & Shanahan, 2004

Research Establishes 4 Principles of the Early Years & Literacy Acquisition…

1. Oral language is the foundation for literacy development.

2. Learning to read and write starts long before first grade and has long-lasting effects.

3. Children’s experiences with the world greatly influence their ability to comprehend what they read.

4. Children’s experiences with books and print greatly influence their ability to comprehend what they read.

~Strickland, 2006

Oral language is the foundation for literacy development. Oral language provides children with an understanding of

words & sentences which builds sensitivity to the sound system to acquire phonological & phonemic awareness.

Through their own speech children demonstrate the meanings of written materials.

Children from families that provide rich language & literacy support do better in school. ~Hart & Risley, 1995, 2003

Exposure to less common, more sophisticated words at home relates to vocabulary acquisition ~Dickinson & Tabors, 2001

Strong relationship between vocabulary development & reading achievement ~Clay, 1975

Learning to read and write starts long before first grade and has long-lasting effects.

Children’s phonological awareness is a indicator of potential success in decoding print.

Children who fall behind in oral language & literacy development before formal schooling are less likely to be successful beginning readers. ~Juel, 1988

Responsive adults support children’s ongoing, self-motivated learning. ~NRP, 2000; Durkin, 1966

Children’s experiences with the world greatly influence their ability to comprehend what they read…

Children’s background knowledge is built from a child’s experiences.

Children with limited experiences may have difficulty in comprehending unfamiliar topics or subjects.

Because of the range of experiences, one teaching method or approach is not likely to be effective with all children.

Children’s experiences with books & print greatly influence their ability to comprehend what they read.

Knowledge about print is built from children’s experiences with books & other forms of print. ~Holdaway, 1979.

Shared reading experiences have an important role in fostering early literacy development by building background knowledge, concepts about books & print. ~Teale & Sulzby, 1986.

ReferencesClay, M. (1975). The early detection of reading difficulties. London:

Heinemann.

Dickinson, D., & Tabors, P. (2001). Beginning literacy with language: Young children learning at home and school. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.

Durkin, D. (1966). Children who read early. New York: Teachers College Press.

Dyson, A.H. (2003). Popular literacies and the "all" children: Rethinking literacy development for contemporary childhoods. Language Arts, 81(2), 100-109.

Dyson, A. H. (1993). Social words of children learning to write in an urban primary school. New York: Teachers College Press.

ReferencesGoodman, Y. (1980). The Roots of Literacy. Claremont Reading

Conference Yearbook, 44, 1-32

Halliday, M.A.K. (1969). Relevant models of language. Educational Review, 22, 26-37.

Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (2003). The early catastrophe: The 30 million word gap. American Educator, 27(1), 4-9.

Hart, B., & Risley, T.R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

Holdaway, D. (1979). The foundations of literacy. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

ReferencesInternational Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young

Children. (1998). Learning to read and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for young children. Newark, DE: IRA.

Juel, C. (1988). Learning to read and write. A longitudinal study of 34 children from first through fourth grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, 437-447.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Developmen, NIH, DHHS. (2008). Developing early literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Read, C. (1971). Pre-school children’s knowledge of English phonology. Harvard Educational Review, 41(1), 1–34.

ReferencesStrickland, D. S. & Riley-Ayers, S. (2006). Early literacy: Policy

and practice in the preschool years. New Brunswick, NJ: NIEER.

Strickland, D. S. & Shanahan, T. (2004). Laying the groundwork for literacy. Educational Leadership, 61, 74-77.

Teale, W. H., & Sulzby, E. (1989). Emergent literacy: New perspectives. In D.S. Strickland & L.M. Morrow (Eds.), Emerging literacy: Young children learn to read and write (pp. 1-15). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.