Literacy and the Classroom

Paper Summary:

This paper describes the steps that lead to reading and how a skilled teacher should help in the process of literacy acquisition. The paper highlights various early steps in literacy and how they can be further developed in the classroom. The author also describes making the classroom itself physically rich in language. Also examined is the importance of pre-literacy skills that are part of pre-school programs. The author concludes by stating that the process that leads to reading should be fun for young learners.

From the Paper:

"Thus repetition and recognition are two key elements of acquiring literacy. This is one of the reasons why small children take such delight in having the same books read again and again ("How children learn to read," 2007, BBC). The first foundation of literacy, however, comes even earlier--through listening to others speak and speaking themselves. "Young children continue to develop listening and speaking skills as they communicate their needs and desires through sounds and gestures, babble to themselves and others, say their first words, and rapidly add new words to their spoken vocabularies...By age one, most children begin linking words to meaning," although they may sometimes confuse words for certain kinds of objects with all similar objects, like calling all four-legged animals "doggie" (Koralek & Collins, 1997). By age two, children can usually make simple sentences like "all gone" (Koralek & Collins, 1997)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Burns, Susan, Peg Griffin, & Catherine Snow. (1998). "The Foundations for Reading." Reading Rockets. Retrieved 4 May 2007 at http://www.readingrockets.org/article/354
• "How children learn to read." (2007). Help with school work: Primary Literacy. BBC. Retrieved 4 May 2007 at http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents/work/primary/literacy/reading_learn.shtml
• Koralek, Derry & Ray Collins. (1997). "How Most Children Learn to Read." Reading Rockets. Retrieved 4 May 2007 at http://www.readingrockets.org/article/386

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