CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON LEARNING AND TEACHING
2.4 I SSUES : C HILDREN L EARNING TO R EAD
2.4.1 Is early reading a maturational or developmental process?
The notion that children need to be ―ready‖ to learn to read appears to have been used first by Patrick (1899) in his article entitled ―Should children under 10 learn to read and write?‖
However the seminal works on reading readiness are by Huey (1908) and Morphet and Washburne (1931). In essence, this approach claims that biological maturation is a necessary precondition for learning. The concept of readiness was dominant for the first half of the 20th Century and is strongly associated with skills-based models of the reading process. This dominance had three important consequences: the emergence of a lucrative industry around reading readiness activities and materials; the hegemony of the notion that reading is about
perceptual identification and matching; and the absolute distinction between being a reader and a non-reader (Gillen & Hall, 2003, p. 4). A major consequence of behaviourism and
―reading readiness‖ was that researchers did not see the need to focus on children‘s thinking about or use of reading and writing before formal schooling.
It was not until the late 1970s and early 1980s that researchers started taking seriously literacy in early childhood (before entering formal schooling). Although Durkin (1993) investigated children who are already able to read when they start school, this was explicitly study of atypical children. A shift in focus occurred when Clay (1969) and later Goodman (1973/2003) started looking at children‘s strategic sense-making behaviours when engaged in literacy activities. Thus emerged the field of ―emergent literacy‖, which focused on the literate behaviours of young children before entering formal schooling who cannot yet read or write conventionally (Yaden, Rowe, & MacGillivray, 1999).
Emergent literacy refers to the natural and gradual development of reading and writing abilities from birth till the start of formal schooling. The approach of emergent literacy ushered in a conception of literacy as a broad set of print related activities, challenging a linear, intrapersonal view of literacy, and emphasising the connection between reading and writing. The importance of contextual factors such as parents/caregivers and literacy rich environments was highlighted. As Razfar and Gutiérrez observe (2003, p. 37) the methodological implication of emergent literacy studies was a shift from controlled experimental studies to the study of situated practice, often using ethnographic methodology.
More recently, social semiotic theory, which focuses on the ways in which meaning is created in social contexts, brought to the field of study of early literacy important new insights, among other things, about the ways in which children transform the world by the ways they represent things that interest them. This represents a shift away from ―emergence‖ or becoming literate, towards different ways of being literate. From this perspective, the practices and products of early childhood literacy are valued for what they are, rather than being seen as ―inadequate manifestations of adult literacy‖ (Gillen & Hall, 2003, p. 10). The curriculum in place in South Africa at the time of this research espouses this perspective.
Many models of reading (e.g. Chall, 1983; Ehri, 1991, Gough and Juel, 1991; Spear- Swerling, 2004) describe a series of phases that nearly all beginning readers go through in the
same sequence, though at different rates. The International Reading Association and the National Association for Education of Young Children (NAEYC/IRA, 1998) identify 5 stages in their position statement on developmentally appropriate practices for young children.
These are:
1. Awareness and exploration (preschool) also called Role-play reading;
2. Experimental reading and writing (roughly Grade 0/R level);
3. Early reading and writing (roughly Grade 1);
4. Transitional reading and writing (Grade 2);
5. Independent reading and writing (Grade 3);
6. The First Steps programme (Rees, 1994) adds a further step: Advanced reading and writing.
The South African education policy outlines 8 unnamed steps towards reading development, details of which can be found in Figure 7 below. Overall, the content of the South African steps roughly corresponds to the NAEYC/IRA lists.
Research indicates that these developmental stages are common to children learning a variety of alphabetic languages, but in ―transparent alphabetic languages, children may advance more rapidly through the initial phases of learning to read than do children learning English‖
(Spear-Swerling, 2004, p. 526). There does not appear to be research which relates these developmental reading stages to African languages.
Figure 7: Reading steps: What learners can do
(Source: South Africa. National Department of Education (2008b), pp.20-21)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1. I can open and page through a book.
2. I talk about pictures in a text 3. I can listen to a
story with understanding.
4. I can read my own name.
5. I know what a letter is and can name some letters.
6. I know what a word is and can recognise a few words 7. I can say or sing
some rhymes.
1. I can read and understand some texts (20 to 40 texts).
2. I can make sense of the illustrations in texts.
3. I can listen to a story with understanding.
4. I can answer questions about a story I have heard.
5. I know all the letter names.
6. I know all the letter sounds.
7. I can sound out three-letter words.
8. I can read over 50 common words (and, the, me, etc).
1. I can read and understand some texts (20-40 texts).
2. I can answer questions about texts I have read.
3. I can make sense of the illustrations in books.
4. I can listen to a story with understanding.
5. I can answer questions about a story I have heard.
6. I can retell a story I have heard.
7. I can sound out the beginning letters of words.
8. I can look at word endings and sort words into word families.
9. I know that vowels sound different in different words.
10. I can read words with a silent e at the end of the word.
(continued overleaf)
1. I can read and understand longer texts (20-40 texts).
2. I can answer written questions about texts I have read.
3. I can make sense of illustrations in books.
4. I can listen to a story with understanding.
5. I can retell a story I have heard.
6. I can sound out vowels in the middle of words.
7. I know that vowels can sound different in different words.
8. I can sort words into word families..
9. I can find words that rhyme.
10. I can sound out words beginning with two or three consonants.
(continued overleaf)
1. I can read and understand stories.
2. I can read and understand poems 3. I can read and
understand information texts.
4. I can read and understand posters.
5. I can use a dictionary.
6. I can answer oral and written questions about texts (compre- hensions).
7. I can write a book report.
8. I can complete a summary of a text.
9. I can sound out or make good guesses about new words as I read.
10. I can read and spell 300 common words.
1. I can read and understand stories and chapter books.
2. I can talk about characters, plots and illustrations in a story.
3. I can read and understand children‘s magazines.
4. I can read and understand elements of poetry (rhyme etc).
5. I can read and understand elements of information texts (diagrams, timetables etc).
6. I can read and reply to invitations and messages.
7. I can use a dictionary, sound out or make informed guesses about new words.
(continued overleaf)
1. I can read and understand stories and chapter books.
2. I can talk about characters, settings, plots, illustrations and values in a story.
3. I can read and understand elements of poetry (rhyme, alliteration, simile etc).
4. I can read and understand elements of information texts (instructions, plans, timetables, recipes, maps etc) I can use a contents page and an index.
5. I can read and understand advertisements.
6. I can use a dictionary, sound out or make informed guesses about new words.
7. I can answer oral and written questions about texts (compre- hensions).
(continued overleaf)
1. I can read and understand chapter books.
2. I can talk about the main points and purpose of the text as well as the characters and plot.
3. I can read and understand elements of poetry ( rhyme, alliteration, simile etc).
4. I can read and reply to invitations and personal letters.
5. I can read and understand elements of information texts (instructions, plans, timetables, recipes, maps, etc).
6. I can use a dictionary, thesaurus, contents page and an index.
(continued overleaf)
1. I can read and understand stories.
2. I can read and understand poems.
3. I can read and understand information texts.
4. I can read and understand magazine articles.
5. I can read and understand Invitations.
6. I can use a dictionary.
7. I can answer complex questions about text.
8. I can complete a summary of a text.
9. I can listen to a story with understanding.
10. I can sound out or make informed guesses about new words.
11. I can read and spell 300 (sic) common words.
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
11. I can sound out words with three or four letters.
12. I can read 100 common words (and, the, me, etc).
11. I can read and spell 200 common words (and, the, me, etc).
8. I can answer oral and written questions about tests (compre- hensions).
9. I can complete a summary of a text and a book report.
10. I can read and spell 400 common words.
8. I can complete a summary of a text, a book report and a book or film review.
9. I can read and spell 500 common words.
7. I can read and analyse
advertisements and pamphlets.
8. I can use different reading strategies to make informed guesses about new words.
9. I can answer oral and written questions about texts
(comprehensions).
10. I can complete a summary of a text as well as a book report and a book and film review.
11. I can read and spell 600 common words.
12. I can read in different ways (skimming, scanning, read slowly and carefully etc).
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A key concept relating to emergent literacy is ―awareness of print‖. Children who are raised in print-rich environments or who have been to preschool, usually start school with an awareness that print (writing) is a source of information, that (in reading an alphabetic texts) written words are different from pictures, that the message conveyed by a particular piece of text does not change, that there can be a relationship between experience and writing, and that texts are organised in predictable ways (T. D. Johnson, 1992, p. 72). They know how to turn the pages of a book and know the conventions for reading books in the particular script used in their community. Marie Clay‘s widely used ―Concepts of Print Test‖ (Clay, 1985) pays attention to the reader-like behaviours listed above. Children who do not have an awareness of print when they start school, as in the case of many South African children, need to develop this awareness at school, and explicit teaching of these concepts is most beneficial.