Analysis Of Emergent Literacy

Adolescence is a trying time when one struggles to gain independence while still under authority, understand one’s roles in an unforgiving hierarchy, and still find a way to form an identity. With all of this it’s no wonder that one later looks back on the adolescent years with bittersweet nostalgia. However, it also brings to mind the influences that shape us at this critical point in time. While reading the case studies in Margaret Finders’ Just Girls: Hidden Literacies and Life in Junior High, I was struck with the realization that in my middle school and early high school years I was what Finders referred to as a tough cookie. Which lead to an important question, did my own literacy practices shape my identity or did my identity shape my literary practices? In this paper I will explore how literacy practices and literacy underlife are shaped by the processes in which adolescents build their identities.

A literacy rich environment is essential for any emerging reader. Emerging literacy reflects "children's natural growth and awareness of print in the environment" (Genisio & Drecktrah, 1999, p. 227) and therefore the environment has to contain suffient enough manifestations of this print and other literacy material presented in an attractive way without overwhelming the child. "Clearly, literacy-rich environments are of value. They allow children to practice literacy behaviours and language in ways that make sense to them" (Roskos & Neuman, 1994, p. 264).

The article called “Literacy: A Lineage” by Melanie Luken and she wrote about her experience of her love for reading and writing. She became interesting to reading and writing because of her dad who one, which inspired and encouraged her to became interesting to reading and writing. She enjoyed writing the poems about her dad and her that they went to riding the bikes. She has developed her ability to understand her literacy of reading and writing because her father taught her. Her quote, “In the same way, my passion for reading and writing developed in me through the influence of my father who has a deep love of literature himself” (Luken 133). That is meaning father loves literacy so he taught

I completed my literacy field experience at Isanti Intermediate School/School for all Seasons in Isanti, MN. I was able to complete my 20 hour observation in a 1st grade classroom (primary), a 3rd grade classroom (intermediate), and conducted fluency tests in a 5th grade classroom. Each class had approximately 22 to 25 students. Also during this literacy class, I was also able to spend a few days observing a 3rd/4th grade classroom and a kindergarten classroom through a couple of sub jobs I completed. I need to note that my understanding was that 3rd grade was part of the intermediate program so I completed half my observation and assessment time with a 3rd grade classroom and completed a 3rd grader assessment. I am happy to say

Since a child going up, literacy was not my strong suit. Literacy throughout my life seem not to cope with me. Later as I grew up, literacy meant to me that it is one’s ability to read, write, and speak. More importantly there is a more meaning of literacy, meaning that not only writing, reading, and speaking, but able to understand, analyze, and communicate with other peoples’ ideas. Soon enough literacy has made an impact on my life, it has been and will be a lifelong process. Literacy will always be with me, starting from my past and ending in my future.

One of the most eye opening experiences of my life occurred in the second grade. I would have never thought that doing one simple assignment in elementary school could change my whole perspective on literacy. My understanding of literacy was sparked when I had read my first real book. I remember sitting down on the vividly colorful carpet day dreaming about playing Mario Cart on my Nintendo 64 while everyone was obediently listening to the teacher read a book out loud. It wasn’t that I did not know how to read or listen, I just didn’t care. Reading to me used to be tedious because I did not understand the purpose of it. I did not grow up with the luxury of my parents reading to me because they weren’t literate in English, so I had to figure out for myself why literacy is vital in everyday life. My ongoing learning experience with literacy can be traced back to one simple visit to library.

Learning to read is beginning to develop earlier in elementary grades. Students are expected to be emergent readers by the time he or she leaves kindergarten and enters first grade. If a child is not, he or she is labeled as being behind. According to Hughes (2007) emergent readers are using early reading strategies in consistently, read easy patterned text, retell text with simple storyline, and respond to text at a literal level. Hughes (2007) also says literacy develops in young children through play, daily conversation and interactions with text of all kinds. Many children come with emergent literacy skills; can recognize signs and labels, scribble letters, retell stories by pointing at pictures and talking about them, and some have varying degrees of phonemic and phonological awareness. This essay will define and explain implication for each theory in learning to read.

In this task I am going to identify 2 different theories of language development I am going to be doing, Naom Chomsky and Jean Piaget.

When you walk down Main Street in Fort Morgan, Colorado, a small farming town, you will see signs that say there are no bikes allowed on the sidewalk. A part of me believes they were put up in my honor. My parents had a local shop on Main Street and, when I was not stuck inside working with my parents, I was riding my bike while trying to avoid the police officer who walked down the street giving tickets to cars who overstayed their welcome.

Literacy is defined as being literate, that is, being able to read and write in a language. My personal experience with literacy began at an early age, at the age of 4 when I began to sit and read words and letters in the back of my mother’s car. Soon enough, she would bring me a magazine called “Majed” which, in the 90’s, was a popular magazine. With this, I began even more interested in reading and writing and reviewed every word in the magazine associated with each of the short pictured stories. It was the first memory I deeply recall of literacy and it was what laid the foundation for my personal love of reading and writing. The methodology used for this is an interview. There are three interviews which are analyzed and brought together in the form of a narrative. This narrative serves to better explain the emotions and thoughts that the interviewees had about the idea of literacy.

Constructive early language and literacy development can be an ally to opening a child’s (ren) imagination; this will enhance and empower their potential to become successful readers. As the children grow (birth to 3 yrs. old) their brain goes through an extradinary developmental process and they begin to think, learn, communicate and rationalize things. When this early developmental stage is not being nourished the child will feel the affects of it in the long run. Children that come from low-income families that are enrolled in schools are affected the most. Educators and parents can assist these children by giving them the support (early-on) that they need to sustain a healthy learning environment. As educators it is our duty to create an environment that will help in this process.

Literacy consists of a range of ways to understand and decode symbols for communication in a community (Barratt-Pugh & Rohl, 2000, p. 25). Emergent literacy is a term used to describe how young children interact with books, reading and writing (What is Emergent Literacy, 2006, p.1). Emerging literacy is an ongoing process and to ensure this process is successful children need to be stimulated through active engagement with books and writing opportunities.

Emergent literacy is used to describe how a young child interacts with books and when reading and writing, even though they could not read or write in the usual sense of way. Emergent literacy is a process that takes place over the timeframe from birth until a child can read and write in what we think to be a standard sense. The key to term literacy is the consistency of all parts of language: speaking, listening, reading, writing, and viewing. Some people believe that, up until a child starts school he/she will first learn to read and then learn to write. The process to learning to read and write has to start early in a child's life. Right away they have contact with different types of communication from the start.

By the mid-1980s emergent reading/literacy became accepted among researchers, early educators, and reading teachers. Emergent literacy appeared as an ERIC descriptor and was recognized as a justifiable area of work in the conventions of the National Association for the Education of the Young Children, the National Reading Conference, the International Reading Association, and other professional organizations (Teale, 1995). According to Teale, the emergent literacy model for preschool reading instruction had far-reaching implications. Daily interactions between parents or other caregivers and children in the home environment were emphasized. The shift to an emergent literacy perspective in the preschool and pre-kindergarten environments meant that reading needed to be taught in those settings (Teale, 1995; Roberts, Jurgens, Burchinal, 2005). In other words, adults in those environments must be considered as the child

Teaching a child literacy is not easy, it takes time and patience because kids are not always cooperating with one another but nothing is impossible.