ECE 2015 The Emergent Literacy of Young Children

SubjectCat-NbrClassTermModeDescriptionUnitsCampus
ECE2015281773, 2003EXTThe Emergent Literacy of Young Children1.00TWMBA
Academic Group:FOEDU
Academic Org:FOE004
HECS Band:1
ASCED Code:070101

Contents


STAFFING:

Examiner: Deborah Geoghegan
Moderator: Lenore Lindbeck



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, Fort Worth.

    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
    ESSAY40.0040.00Y19 Dec 2003
    LITERACY PROGRAM60.0060.00Y20 Jan 2004

    IMPORTANT ASSESSMENT INFORMATION

    1. Attendance requirements:
      (a) There are no attendance requirements for this course. However, it is the students' responsibility to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration.
    2. Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
      (a) To complete each of the assessment items satisfactorily, students must obtain at least 50% of the marks available (or at least a grade of C-) for each assessment item.
    3. Penalties for late submission of required work:
      (b) If students submit assignments after the due date without prior approval then a penalty of 15% of the total marks gained by the student for the assignment will apply for each working day late.
    4. Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
      (c) To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the available weighted marks for the summative assessment items.
    5. Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
      (a) The final grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the weighted aggregate of the marks (or grades) obtained for each of the summative assessment items in the course.
    6. Examination information:
      (e) There is no examination in this course.
    7. Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
      (d) There will be no Deferred or Supplementary examinations in this course.
    8. University Regulations:
      Students should read USQ Regulations 5.1 Definitions, 5.6. Assessment, and 5.10 Academic Misconduct for further information and to avoid actions which might contravene University Regulations. These regulations can be found at the URL http://www.usq.edu.au/SECARIAT/calendar/Part5/ or in the printed version of the current USQ Handbook.