LANGUAGE & LITERACY

Language and literacy are important for communication, comprehension, and creative endeavors in early childhood development. When children listen to stories being read to them or find themselves engaged in storytelling or discussing ideas or symbolic play, they begin to understand how to communicate and express what they think, feel, and need. This communication serves as a foundation for reading and writing, but simultaneously fosters creativity and problem-solving. Opportunities to experience songs and rhymes, and print-rich environments allow children to get creative with language. In addition, literacy experiences foster an awareness of self as children share what they've gone through via personal anecdotes, or see themselves represented in various publications (Isbell & Yoshizawa, 2016). Literacy from the beginning fosters a successful navigation of school and lifelong learning.

Theories & Perspectives

Vygotsky's theory of social constructivism relies on language based experiences and his Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) encourages a scaffolding of approach to language rich experiences that encourages subsequent thoughtful and expanded ideas and communicative abilities. In addition, Wallas' four-stage theory of creativity (preparation/incubation/illumination/verification) relates to the creative process of literacy as problem solving to understand meaning coming from writing a book follows similar steps. Children who are engaged with language learn to expand upon word play (Howard & Mayesky, 2022), question what they know, and co-construct knowledge with the educator. All of these aspects are indicative of much creative potential.

Resources and Technologies

Language-rich classrooms boast of picture books, props and puppets for retelling, word walls and phonetic blocks for phonetic recognition, and story stones for enhanced literacy play; technology includes Book Creator or ChatterPix for online and digital read-alouds; audio recorders can capture stories from children or their extensive oral-language learning attempts stemming from props used during dramatic play scenarios. There's multilingual access online and inclusive culturally appropriate materials that relate to children help child connect their past experiences in relation to literacy. Such resources render all learners capable of meaning construction both within literary bounds and self-esteem construction (Isbell & Yoshizawa, 2016). A language-rich classroom is filled with exploration, inquiry, and a desire to retell.

Learning Experiences

0–2 Years:

  • Interactive Storytime- Reading aloud with gestures and faces connecting to books with textures and sounds keeps infants engaged.
  • Name Songs and Rhymes Using children's names in songs like "Hello [Name]" fosters familiar word recognition and components of oral language.

    • 2-3 years:

  • Story Baskets- Provision of themed props ( farm animals) allow children to retell or create stories. Expands vocabulary usage and subsequent skills.
  • Sound Play– Use of rhymes, alliteration and simple phonics encourages word games or phonetic digital games like Starfall ABCs.

    • 3-5 years:

  • Create-a-Story- Children draw pictures and stories are dictated. Educators record the story and read it aloud for an expanded experience.
  • Puppet Theatre – Using puppets to retell or create stories fosters character development and expressive language abilities.

    • 6-8 years:

  • Digital Bookmaking-Using the Book Creator app, children can create a personal narrative with pictures and recorded voiceovers for their written work.
  • Story Maps– Create a story map for a familiar book (beginning, middle, end), working on sequencing and comprehension of existing works.

    • Critical Reflection

    In enacting "Create-a-Story" and "Digital Bookmaking," I learned that storytelling empowers children and simultaneously enhances their self-expression. For "Create-a-Story", students beamed when I read back their words, reinforcing their self-agenda and understanding of literacy conveyed through print. Additionally, "Digital Bookmaking" revealed students' digital and artistic creation capabilities when combining drawings, voice and print yielded a cohesive product. A major success of enactment was inclusion; all students no matter ability could engage and participate meaningfully. One area of improvement is to include more scaffolding efforts. During the digital creation, some faltered with the technology and got lost without guidance; I want to strive for clearer modeling efforts next time; pairing younger or more timid players would greatly benefit by having a peer help them out as support. I'd also include varied prompts for stories to cater to those from different cultural backgrounds who would thrive with picture books from worlds they know well, better than me. Howard & Mayesky (2022) note that creativity comes from spaces that celebrate voice, means, tools, and opportunity to do engage. Thus, these language and literacy experiences promote exploration through word and central narrative concepts; as an educator, this means I must provide the time, space, and support, for empowered children need to find their voices for effective narrative connections.