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Early Child Development and Care Volume 187, 2017 - Issue 3-4: Research in Young Children’s Literacy and Language Development Submit an article Journal homepage

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Literacy and language: new developments in research, theory, and practice Olivia N. Saracho Pages 299-304 | Published online: 02 Mar 2017 

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https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2017.1282235

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In this article   

Theoretical frameworks transformations Conclusion References

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The importance of the early years in the young children’s lives and the rigid literacy achievement inequality among all children (e.g. different economic levels, ages, abilities, disabilities, cultures) that presently exist provide both a stimulating and amazing time for Early Child Development and Care to publish a special issue on research in young children’s language and literacy and development. The present period of accountability in the early childhood classrooms with the No Child Left Behind Act (2001No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110, Title I, Part B, Subpart 1, 115 Stat. 1425 (2002) [Google Scholar]) places a perplexing amount of demands on early childhood education teachers and a transformation in disseminating information, using computers, and social media technologies that have gained access to all segments of society makes this issue essential. Many perceive that the early childhood classroom is a weak substitute for the world of games, chat rooms, virtual worlds, and other electronic media. Social and sociological energies persist to rise from contemporary types of media, diverse cultures and languages, concerns about security, instabilities in the global ecology, unreliable economies, and conflicts. Research motivates early childhood education and other disciplines (e.g. child development, psychology, educational psychology, other related fields) to continue changing. These disciplines need to sustain their scientific reliability in the constant challenges of the modern time. It is essential that these disciplines examine, improve, and refine theories related to research in young children’s language and literacy development. Early childhood education settings are complex, which require them to have an easy stability between the methodological rigour in the research designs and studying children in natural, acceptable, and valid learning settings. Some interdisciplinary teams conduct early childhood education studies that deviate in methodological procedures among disciplines. Nevertheless, each scientific undertaking has both a resilient empirical groundwork and a persuasive analytical rationalization for research and practical applications. Throughout the evolution of the special issue of Early Child Development and Care, all of these principles were kept in mind. The manuscripts reported new data and empirical analyses that advanced theory of language and literacy. Researchers used different methodologies in conducting their study, but they had both a sound empirical underpinning and a captivating analytical rationalization of the results. Researchers used several methodological methods (e.g. quantitative, qualitative) that fully described format (1) ‘the complete concept of the study, (2) the achievement of the study, and (3) the description of the study’ (Jalongo & Saracho, 2016Jalongo, M. R., & Saracho, O. N. (2016). Writing for publication: Transitions and tools that support scholars’ success. New York, NY: Springer.[Crossref], , [Google Scholar], p. 134) in an appropriate manner based on the study’s methodology. The manuscripts included a range of topics such as dual language learners, second language learners, Latino immigrant children, children who have hearing disabilities, parents’ and teachers’ beliefs about language development, early literacy skills of toddlers, shared book reading, language and literacy interventions, multimodalities in early literacies, writing and early literacy development, Reggio Emilia, family literacy, and many others. Studies were conducted in various early childhood settings such as child care, nursery school, Head Start, kindergarten, and primary grades. The subjects in the studies represented the pluralism of the globe – it is a pluralism of language, backgrounds, ethnicity, abilities, and disabilities.

Gathered in this volume are results of studies and researchers’ ideas that describe how (1) the children acquire language and literacy and (2) their knowledge in language and literacy progress from infancy through the preschool years and to the early years of school. Based on the results of the studies, all authors offer research and practical applications in early childhood education. Researchers can use the studies in the special issue to conduct future studies that contribute to theory, while practitioners can use the studies’ results to promote and support the children’s language and literacy in their classrooms. This special issue of Early Child Development and Care was a joint effort of an editorial team working together to develop a high quality special volume on research in language and literacy. The team consisted of the journal’s (Early Child Development and Care) editor, Roy Evans; Guest Editor, Olivia N. Saracho; and reviewers. Both the editor and guest editor supervised the manuscript review and revision process to ensure that the studies were based on a sound theoretical framework.

Theoretical frameworks transformations This special issue is grounded on the profound transformations that have occurred in the fields of early childhood education, child development, psychology, language arts, emergent literacy, and literacy education. Initially, the conservative understanding of the field was that children under six years of age should not be provided with formal reading instruction. Currently, as suggested in this special issue, research and theory propose that from the beginning, young children need to actively be involved in language development experiences that will ultimately guide these children to become proficient readers. Instead of delaying instruction until young children mature, they can be provided with developmentally appropriate instruction that corresponds to the children’s developmental level that helps them acquire new proficiency in both oral and written language. Reforms in the sources of early childhood practice have modified the field of early childhood education. They involve transformations in (1) developmental theories associated with language, literacy, and cognition, (2) children in early childhood settings, and (3) the nature of language and literacy instruction. Each of these is briefly described in the following sections to provide a perspective for the contents in this special issue.

Developmental theory Initially, early childhood education teachers were frequently forbidden to offer any print material in the classroom, because it was assumed that this material would only pressure children to start

reading prematurely or frustrate the children who were not yet ‘ready’ to read. The traditional knowledge of that period was that children would only be prepared to learn how to read when they reached the mental age of six- and one half years. This was based on a classic study of the 1930s by Morpell and Washburne (1931Morpell, M. V., & Washburne, C. (1931). When should children begin to read?Elementary School Journal, 31, 496–503. doi: 10.1086/456609[Crossref], , [Google Scholar]) and Arnold Gesell’s (1940Gesell, A. (1940). The first five years of life. New York, NY: Harper & Bros. [Google Scholar]) theories on a maturationist view of development. Throughout his professional life, Gesell (1940Gesell, A. (1940). The first five years of life. New York, NY: Harper & Bros. [Google Scholar]) searched for the children’s progressive norms that would explain the progression of their development. His theory indicated that development depends on maturation. Effective instruction should follow this developmental sequence. Any type of instruction that is introduced prematurely would cause the children to be disillusioned and frustrated. The children’s readiness for learning needs to be identified prior to presenting instruction. Based on the results of these studies, before beginning formal reading instruction, the children’s readiness was assessed through several reading readiness tests and direct observations. Prior to the 1960’s, limited studies had examined pre-first grade literacy. Then in the 1960s studies started to surface addressing the reading readiness paradigm and the outdated belief that literacy development occurred through formal reading instruction in school. Later, Durkin’s (1966Durkin, D. (1966). Children who read early: Two longitudinal studies. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. [Google Scholar]) study showed that children were reading earlier than first grade and that the reading readiness paradigm was theoretically and rationally inappropriate. Other researchers supported Durkin’s results. Clay (1975Clay, M. M. (1975). What did I write? Aukland: Heinemann. [Google Scholar]) was one of the researchers who supported these results and proposed that the term ‘emergent literacy’ be used rather than ‘reading readiness’ (Clay, 1966Clay, M. M. (1966). Emergent reading behaviour(Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Auckland, New Zealand. [Google Scholar]). She stated that no result ‘suggests that contact with printed language forms should be withheld from a five-yearold child on the ground that he is immature’ (Clay, 1975Clay, M. M. (1975). What did I write? Aukland: Heinemann. [Google Scholar], p. 24). The 1970s and early 1980s groundbreaking studies were conducted to examine the children’s early language and literacy development as well as the reassessment of the concept of reading readiness. Language and literacy researchers proposed a reconceptualization of the process that children experience from birth to the time when they are able to read and write, which addresses Clay’s (1966Clay, M. M. (1966). Emergent reading behaviour(Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Auckland, New Zealand. [Google Scholar]) proposed term ‘emergent literacy.’ The emergent literacy concept extended throughout the 1980s and 1990s as part of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children. [Google Scholar]) that focused on providing young children with developmentally appropriate experiences for their literacy learning [International Reading Association (now called the International Literacy Association (ILA) & The National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998International Reading Association [IRA] & National Association of the Education of Young Children [NAEYC]. (1998). Learning to read

and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for young children. The Reading Teacher, 52, 193–216. Also in Young Children, July 1998, 53(4), 30–46[Web of Science ®], , [Google Scholar]]. Later developmental theories had a drastic change when researchers began to use Jean Piaget’s (1947Piaget, J. (1947). The psychology of intelligence. Totowa, NJ: Littlefield.[Crossref], , [Google Scholar], 1951Piaget, J. (1951). Play, dreams, and imitation in childhood. New York, NY: Norton. [Google Scholar]) research for their theoretical framework. He found that children used their experiences to construct their knowledge based on several developmental levels, which were greatly influenced by maturational factors. Instead of offering experiences that would help children progress to advanced levels of development, it was better to match the children’s experiences to their existing levels of development. The children’s educational experiences need to be ‘developmentally appropriate’ (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children. [Google Scholar]); they should not be ‘hurried’ (Elkind, 1981Elkind, D. (1981). The hurried child. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. [Google Scholar]). Even when the proposed instructional approaches for young children might vary, Piagetian theory continued to recommend that instruction should correspond to the children’s levels of development. Intriguingly, Piagetian theory drastically influenced early childhood methods in mathematics and science, but it moderately affected language and literacy instruction. Hence, the ‘reading readiness’ method of the earlier period continued, but it was later modified with new theories. During the 1960s and 1970s developmental theories continue to change based on L. S. Vygotsky’s (1962Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.[Crossref], , [Google Scholar], 1978Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [Google Scholar]) social development theory. The main concept of the theory is that how individuals interact with others and their culture affects their mental abilities. Vygotsky’s work was mainly unknown to the West until it was published in 1962. He distinguishes between ‘natural’ and ‘cultural’ development. Cultural development permits individuals to learn systems of cultural behaviour, including means of reasoning. Language and literacy development is a structure of cultural development, which is part of a socio-historic framework. The forms of knowledge that are generated within the culture contribute to the children’s learning. They are also transmitted from those who are more refined to those who are less refined in a culture, such as adults transmit knowledge to older children who then transmit it to younger children. The ‘zone of proximal development (ZPD)’ is a fundamental concept in Vygotsky’s theory. It is the region outside of the children’s achievement abilities where children need assistance. This type of assistance is considered to be providing ‘scaffolding’ or helping children to progress forward. Since this type of learning is beyond the children’s developmental levels, it expands their development. Therefore, Vygotsky’s theory improves the children’s development instead of following it. His work contributed to early childhood education, especially in the area of language and literacy. This understanding of development has profoundly guided contemporary interpretations of language and literacy education, as observed in the articles in this special issue.

The children’s language and literacy emerge early in their lives and continue to develop for an extended period of time. Their early literacy experiences before formal reading instruction can affect their later reading achievement. This literacy concept is an evolving practice that is promoted through language and literacy experiences such as literacy-related play, shared story reading, and other related literacy experiences. Reading, writing, speaking, and listening need to be effectively merged into the children’s language and literacy programme.

Populations in school settings The children in the schools experience an ethnic turmoil as growing quantities of cultural and linguistic diverse children are in the schools. Such children are considered to be ‘at-risk.’ The atrisk term refers to the children’s problems in practical language competency rather than their lack of ability to learn linguistic practices. Unfortunately, outdated methods in teaching language and literacy continue to keep these children at risk of later school failure. Several of these young children who first attend school may discover that their language and culture at home vary from the one that is used by the teachers, schools, and books. This dissimilarity may cause young children to respond to the instructional situation based on their cultural level 

Level 1. (Lowest level): Students become confused when they experience a drastic difference between the two languages and cultures.

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Level 2. Students deny their language and culture, pretending that their language and culture is the same as the school’s.

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Level 3. Students adapt to those new or different customs in the culture in which they perceive to have more advance patterns. Therefore, children will assess each language and culture to adapt only the best patterns or customs to make them their own.

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Level 4. (Highest level): Students are able to make the transition back and forth from one language and culture to another language and culture (Saracho, 1986Saracho, O. N. (1986). Teaching second language literacy with computers. In D.Hainline (Ed.), New developments in language CAI (pp. 53– 68). Kent: Croom Helm. [Google Scholar], pp. 53–54).

Young children whose culture and language differ from the ones in the school encounter functional language difficulties, such as differences in using language to communicate for various purposes. Language and literacy methods of instruction need to reflect the children’s language proficiency to assist them in becoming bilingual and biliterate. Therefore, language and literacy approaches need to be modified to make them appropriate for these young children when necessary.

Literacy instruction Practically from the beginning of formal schooling in America, disagreement has existed on ways to teach reading. Different reading methods have been used for each time period. Several practitioners preferred whole word methodology, where children memorized the words and then looked at the words and identified them. Others preferred the phonics methods where children learned to sound out each letter in a word to identify the word. Each method had its advocates and its proportion of successes and failures. When some children continued to fail in learning to read, practitioners and criticizers persisted in asking, ‘Why Johnny can’t read’ (Flesch, 1955Flesch, R. (1955). Why Johnny can’t read. New York, NY: Harpers. [Google Scholar], 1988Flesch, R. (1988). Why Johnny still can’t read. New York, NY: Harpers & Row. [Google Scholar]). The concern for improving the success of school children in learning to read has led increasingly in the last decade to suggestions that formal reading instruction should begin earlier, moving that instruction from the primary grades down into the kindergarten and preprimary grades, which is not considered to be developmentally appropriate. The uneasiness for developing the success of school children in learning how to read has been directed more and more to watering down initial formal reading instruction to kindergarten and the preprimary grades. This major curriculum position attracted the attention of various professional organizations such as the International Reading Association (now International Literacy Association, LRA) and National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). These organizations believe that learning to read and write is essential to the children’s success in school and future years. The greatest indicator of their ability to achieve in school is the degree to which the children develop in language, reading, and writing. While reading and writing capabilities develop throughout the young children’s life span, the period from birth through eight years of age is the furthermost significant period for their literacy development. This is the reason that IRA and NAEYC joined forces to develop a position statement in relation to the young children’s acquisition of literacy using ‘developmentally appropriate practices’ when teaching young children to read and write. In 1998, IRA and NAEYC (1998International Reading Association [IRA] & National Association of the Education of Young Children [NAEYC]. (1998). Learning to read and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for young children. The Reading Teacher, 52, 193–216. Also in Young Children, July 1998, 53(4), 30–46[Web of Science ®], , [Google Scholar]) approved a position statement on young children’s literacy development that supported that literacy be taught according to a progression of the children’s literacy development irrespective of age. Developmentally appropriate practice utilizes child development theory to encourage teaching that emphasizes the young children’s individual progress and learning based on their developmental areas in a way that speaks to ‘the social and cultural contexts’ in which they live (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children. [Google Scholar], p. 10).

The development of current theories on acquisition of language and literacy guides the present transformation of reading instruction. Emergent literacy has been replaced for the concept of reading readiness. The recognition that all language abilities must be balanced has helped merge children’s literacy-related play, literature, and shared storybook reading within literacy instruction. Cultivating competent, literate children during their early childhood years is essential before introducing them to formal reading instruction. This component has guided the family literacy movement. Families and early childhood education teachers need to be sensitive to the way they teach language and literacy. They need to know developmentally appropriate literacy strategies and activities that integrate literacy-related play, writing, story reading, creative dramatics, art, and any content area. Teachers need to know the children’s cultural and linguistic knowledge, their child rearing styles, and how to set up effective physical and social classroom environments. They need to be active in their professional development to keep up to date with current professional knowledge. Teachers are encouraged to offer young children instruction that corresponds to their developmental level, cultural level, and ability level in both oral and written language. Table 1 presents the levels in the children’s development.

Table 1. Levels in children’s development of reading and writing: from infancy through third grade. CSVDisplay Table

Such interpretations contributed to the transformations in developmental theories related to literacy, language, and cognition. The teachers’ ability to understand diverse populaces that are found in their classrooms can help them provide developmentally appropriate literacy instruction to all children. NAEYC promised to provide resources to early childhood education teachers that they can use to assist young children to become literate and motivate them to read and write for enjoyment, information, and communication. Teaching practices must be appropriate, effective, and focus on the young children’s developmental attributes, culture, language, and specific learning needs. They need to learn through different, research-based teaching techniques that will support the young children’s language and literacy development. NAEYC and IRA (2009National Association of the Education of Young Children [NAEYC] & International Reading Association [IRA]. (2009). Where we STAND on learning to read and write. Retrieved fromhttps://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/WWSSLearningToReadAndWriteEn glish.pdf [Google Scholar]) report the following research outcomes that need to be considered: 

Children take their first critical steps toward learning to read and write very early in life.

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Children do not become literate automatically; careful planning and instruction are essential.

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Ongoing assessment of children’s knowledge and skills helps teachers plan effective instruction.

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No one teaching method or approach is likely to be effective for all children, at all times.

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As children move from preschool into kindergarten and the primary grades, instruction focused on phonemic awareness, letter recognition, segmenting words into sounds, and decoding printed text will support later reading competence.

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Children who are learning English as a second language will become literate more easily if they have a strong foundation in their home language (NAEYC & IRA, 2009National Association of the Education of Young Children [NAEYC] & International Reading Association [IRA]. (2009). Where we STAND on learning to read and write. Retrieved fromhttps://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/WWSSLearningToRead AndWriteEnglish.pdf [Google Scholar]).

Conclusion Over the years, early childhood education has endured recurring curriculum transformation. Major modifications have occurred in the area of language and literacy. Early childhood researchers and practitioners need to be cognizant of these changes. They must improve the knowledge and skills required to sustain an early childhood education programme that focuses and addresses the young children’s needs in present society. The development of theories in language learning modified how children were taught literacy. The reading readiness paradigm was substituted with the concept of emergent literacy. The early childhood years before introducing children to formal literacy instruction is viewed as critical in developing competent and literate children. All early childhood education teachers, at all levels, are considered to be literacy teachers, even before children participate in formal reading instruction. Instead of forcing formal reading instruction on children who are not developmentally ready for this instruction in the preprimary grades, teachers need to use contemporary methods that focus on the young children’s language abilities to provide experiences that will lead them to become more competent readers in their later years. This special issue has studies related to the critical skills, environments, and adult interactions that contribute to young children’s language and literacy development. The studies take into account the contemporary theoretical reforms that have emerged in the language and literacy education of young children.

References 1. Clay, M. M. (1966). Emergent reading behaviour (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Auckland, New Zealand.

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