ECE 2015 The Emergent Literacy of Young Children

SubjectCat-NbrClassTermModeDescriptionUnitsCampus
ECE2015181763, 2002EXTThe Emergent Literacy of Young Children1.00TWMBA
Academic Group:FOEDU
Academic Org:FOE004
HECS Band:1
ASCED Code:070101

Contents


STAFFING:

Examiner: Deborah Geoghegan
Moderator: Noel Geoghegan



RATIONALE:

Contemporary construction of literacy incorporates listening, speaking, reading and writing, viewing and critical thinking all embedded in the social context. Because young children may spend a great deal of their early years in Early Childhood Centres, the nurturing and enhancement of early literacy become the responsibility of early educators. It is important to take account of those experiences children encounter through their mother tongue; their culture; their play; their early experiences in speech and stories, as well as in songs and books, from which they construct knowledge contributing to their ability to emerge as readers and writers.


SYNOPSIS:

This course revolves around five principles which research suggests enhance the emergent literacy of children. These are that: emerging literacy is embedded in a social context; play is an ideal setting which allows young children to practise, elaborate and extend emergent literacy; children require frequent experiences in listening and sharing stories to demonstrate the facilitating power of language; children require frequent story book readings both as active listeners and independent readers; the modification of play environments can have an important impact on the literacy behaviour of children. These principles will be carefully explored to illustrate the way in which effective strategies can be developed by early educators to enhance the emerging literacy of young children in their centres.


OBJECTIVES:


On successful completion of this course students will be able to:

  • Demonstrate their ability to design and implement emergent literacy programs

  • Show an understanding of importance of the cultural context of emerging literacy

  • Reflect on and analyse the way literacy develops through play

  • Select and reflect on the qualities of stories and their role in enhancing emerging literacy

  • Consolidate and create ideas for creating an environments that enhance emerging literacy

  • Demonstrate their competence at designing early literacy programs.



    • TOPICS:


    DescriptionWeighting (%)
    1. The Social context of Literacy: literacy as a way of thinking.
    		 20.00
    2. Research into Emerging Literacy: the social context of literacy; play and literacy; stories and literacy; books and literacy; environments and literacy
    		 40.00
    3. The adult's role in fostering emerging literacy: teachers; parents; scaffolding; zone of proximal development
    		 20.00
    4. Designing literacy programs in early childhood centres.
    		 20.00

    TEXT and MATERIALS required to be PURCHASED or accessed:

    Books can be ordered by fax or telephone. For costs and further details use the 'Book Search' facility at http://bookshop.usq.edu.au by entering the author or title of the text.

    Neuman, S. & Roskos, K 1993, Language and Literacy Learning in the Early Years: An Integrated Approach, Harcourt Brace Jovanich, Fort Worth.




    REFERENCE MATERIALS:

    Reference materials are materials that, if accessed by students, may improve their knowledge and understanding of the material in the course and enrich their learning experience.

    Fields, M., Spangler, K 2000, Let's Begin Reading Right: A Developmental Approach to Emergent Literacy, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

    Garton, A. & Pratt, C 1998, Learning to be Literate: The Development of Spoken and Written Language, 2nd edition, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, UK; New York, USA.

    Hiebert, E. & Raphael, T 1998, Early Literacy Instruction, Harcourt Brace.

    Jalongo, M.R 2000, Early Childhood Language Arts, 2nd edition, Allyn & Bacon, Boston.

    Machado, J.M 1999, Early Childhood Experiences in Language Arts: Emerging Literacy, 6th edition, Delmar Publications, New York.

    Martin, R 1992, Big Books as Models for Writing: Classroom Strategies, Martin International, Brooklyn Park, SA.

    Morrow, L.M 1999, Literacy Development in the Early Years: Helping Children Read and Write, 3rd edition, Allyn & Bacon, Boston.

    Raine, S. & Canady, R 1990, The Whole Language Kindergarten, Teachers College Press, NY.

    Strickland, D. & Morrow, L. (eds) 1989, Emerging Literacy: Young Children Learn to Read and Write, International Reading Association.

    Tite, H 1991, Play with Print, Creche and Kindergarten Association of Qld, Newmarket, QLD.

    Wilkinson, L 1990, Literacy for Young Learners, Martin International, Brooklyn Park, SA.




    STUDENT WORKLOAD REQUIREMENTS:

    ACTIVITYHOURS
    Assessment40
    Directed Study90
    Private Study35


    ASSESSMENT DETAILS:

    DescriptionMarks Out ofWtg(%)RequiredDue Date
    ESSAY40.0040.00Y20 Dec 2002
    LITERACY PROGRAM60.0060.00Y21 Feb 2003

    OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

    1. When there is more than one marker for a single item of assessment, the distribution patterns and means for the different markers will be compared and marks adjusted if necessary.
    2. Marking criteria are provided in course material as mark sheets/guides or as part of assignment specifications.
    3. Summative assessment items will be given a numerical score.
    4. Course Grades will be calculated by aggregating the weighted result or numerical score for each summative assessment item.
    5. All assessment items must be submitted. Assessment items must be passed overall.
    6. If assignments are submitted after the due date without an approved extension of time, University penalties will apply.