helping parents develop literacy at home

3
This article was downloaded by: [Northeastern University] On: 13 November 2014, At: 08:33 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vpsf20 Helping Parents Develop Literacy at Home Patricia Douville a a University of North Carolina at Charlotte Published online: 01 Apr 2010. To cite this article: Patricia Douville (2000) Helping Parents Develop Literacy at Home, Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 44:4, 179-180, DOI: 10.1080/10459880009599804 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10459880009599804 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Upload: patricia

Post on 18-Mar-2017

213 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Helping Parents Develop Literacy at Home

This article was downloaded by: [Northeastern University]On: 13 November 2014, At: 08:33Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education forChildren and YouthPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vpsf20

Helping Parents Develop Literacy at HomePatricia Douville aa University of North Carolina at CharlottePublished online: 01 Apr 2010.

To cite this article: Patricia Douville (2000) Helping Parents Develop Literacy at Home, Preventing School Failure: AlternativeEducation for Children and Youth, 44:4, 179-180, DOI: 10.1080/10459880009599804

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10459880009599804

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) containedin the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of theContent. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon andshould be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable forany losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use ofthe Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Helping Parents Develop Literacy at Home

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

IPS FOR TEACHING

Helping Parents Develop Literacy at Home

If children are to be successful in school, then teachers and parents must work toward common goals (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Too often, how- ever, adults who attempt at-home instruc- tion are familiar with only traditional approaches to teaching reading and writ- ing. In their efforts to enhance a child’s learning experiences, they often empha- size practices such as teaching phonics instruction to the exclusion of other approaches, making “word-perfect’’ oral reading the primary goal, drilling skills in isolation with workbook sheets, and focusing only on the correct answer. Unfortunately, these approaches are among the ones that have been identified as those that make learning to read and write more difficult for children, and the process of helping is undermined by inef- fective practices, frustration, and wasted time (Flippo, 1997; Snow, Bums, & Grif- fin, 1998). The Language Experience Approach and Scaffolded Writing repre- sent promising practices for parents inter- ested in preventing school failure by engaging in effective at-home literacy instruction for their young children.

Language Experience Approach

Language Experience Approach (LEA) activities use children’s spoken ideas about real or vicarious experiences as sources of text for reading and language skills instruction (Stauffer, 1970). The LEA fosters the idea that what is thought can be spoken, what is spoken can be writ- ten, and what is written can be read. In this manner, a direct and meaningful transfer

from spoken language to written language is provided for beginning readers.

How Can Parents Use the LEA at Home?

The LEA begins with a discussion of an actual or a pretend experience such as a trip to the grocery store, a special pet, or a response to a shared storybook. As the child’s ideas emerge, the parent writes them down on paper or word processes them on a computer. For example, after having the opportunity to help her moth- er prepare dinner, a 6-year-old girl might dictate the following sentences:

I helped Mommy make dinner: I washed the potatoes. We smashed them when they were done.

Language Experience Approach stories by young children are usually limited to three-to-five sentences, although older students may dictate slightly longer pas- sages. The emphasis should be placed not only on the dictation of the sentences but also on the reading of the sentences once they have been dictated and transcribed. Multiple readings of the story should take place either with the parent and child read- ing the story together chorally-first, the parent reads the sentence; then, the child reads it in an echo fashion-or with the child reading the sentences independently. Individual students’ reading abilities and motivation should provide guidelines for the way in which stories are read and reread over the course of several days.

Parents can also use dictated stories to encourage reading comprehension or understanding by asking questions such

as “Can you read the sentence that tells what we did when the potatoes were cooked?’ Word identification skills can be enhanced with the questions “Can you point to the word that names something to eat? Can you read that word?’ To enhance letter-naming or phonics skills for younger children, parents can ask a ques- tion such as “Can you point to the letter p?’ or “Can you point to the letter that makes the duh sound?’

How Should Parents Begin the Language Experience Appmach?

If parents are uncertain about how to proceed with the type of activity just described, then wordless picture books represent an easy place to begin using the Language Experience Approach. Parents should first select a wordless picture book with colorful and inviting illustrations that suggest a specific story. Just as when basing the LEA on an actual event, par- ents should encourage discussions with their children about the pictures repre- sented in the wordless book. The child’s ideas should be used as the source of dic- tation. Rather than concentrating on cre- ating sentences for every picture, parents should use the three-to-five-sentence guideline and write ideas for selected pic- tures. If the story is one that a young child really enjoys, then a parent might elect to create sentences for all the pictures over a period of time. The dictated sentences can be written on slips of paper or index cards and attached to the appropriate pages with paper clips. The story that is created with this approach represents a meaningful

Vol. 44, No. 4 PREVENTING SCHOOL FAILURE 179

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Nor

thea

ster

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08:

33 1

3 N

ovem

ber

2014

Page 3: Helping Parents Develop Literacy at Home

source of reading material that young children are motivated to read again and again.

What Should Purents Do When Dictated Sentences Reflect Grammatical Errors?

Educators often debate the “to correct or not to correct” question. Because the dictated sentences will be used as a source of text that will become a language model, some educators prefer that syn- tactical errors not be included in the final product. Many teachers have been suc- cessful in addressing grammatical errors by rephrasing children’s incorrect sen- tences as questions. For example, if a child dictated the sentence, “I liked them potatoes,” parents would simply rephrase the sentence as the question, “You liked those potatoes?’ If the child repeated the sentence, “I liked them potatoes,” then parents would once again rephrase the idea as a question and ask permission to write the sentence in a way that reflected standard grammar: “You liked those pota- toes? May I write, ‘I liked those pota- toes?’” Many teachers have found this to be an effective strategy for modeling stan- dard syntax and grammar for young learners involved in the LEA.

Scaffolded Writing

For parents who want to encourage their children to assume more responsi- bility in literacy activities, Scaffolded Writing represents an effective approach. Soderman, Gregory, and O’Neill (1999) advocate this activity for young children who have difficulty hold- ing a complete idea in memory long enough to write it down. Many young learners’ attention is so focused on the process involved in writing a particular word that the next word, or the rest of the sentence, is forgotten. Scaffolded Writ- ing provides support for young learners as they gradually begin to assume responsibility for reading and writing ideas on their own.

How Can Parents Use Scaffolded Writing at Home?

Scaffolded Writing mirrors the LEA approach with one difference. Instead of writing their children’s words as they are dictated, parents use a highlighter to draw horizontal lines to represent dictated words. Longer lines are used to represent longer words, and shorter lines represent shorter words. For example, the dictated sentence, “I hope it snows” would be rep- resented with four highlighted lines. ‘’- __-- .” As shown in this exam- pie, appropriate punctuation should be included. After the highlighted lines are drawn, the parent and child go back and “say” the lines as they point to each one. This step should be repeated several times to ensure that children remember repre- sented words.

The first time parents use Scaffolding Writing at home with young learners, an extensive modeling phase should be included. In the above example a parent might say, “I remember the first word is 1. and I know that is spelled with just one let- ter. The next word is hope. Huh, huh, hope. That word starts with the letter h.” In this fashion, parents explicitly model how effective readers and writers communicate ideas in print. As time goes on, responsi- bility for writing the words gradually shifts to the child, who can eventually take on even the responsibility for drawing the lines and providing correct punctuation. Over time, most children naturally reduce their use of the line strategy and write com- plete ideas on their own.

Benefits of Parent Involvement Parents can profoundly influence the

quality and quantity of a child’s literacy experiences. A wide variety of factors has been associated with positive parent involvement including parents’ attitudes and beliefs about reading and literacy, ability levels, and actual behaviors. How parents interact with their children during home activities is among the most power-

ful predictors of literacy success (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998).

Enjoyment and engagement are impor- tant ways through which parents transfer literacy skills to children. For example, Lancy and Bergin (1992) reported that children who were better readers experi- enced parent-child interactions in which reading was viewed as fun , where stories were kept going with a semantic rather than perfect decoding orientation, and where questions and humor were used while reading. Furthermore, considerable evidence indicates that when children learn that literacy is a source of enjoy- ment, they are more motivated to persist in their efforts to learn to read and to over- come the difficulties often associated with the early literacy experience (Snow, Bums, & Griffin, 1998). These findings underscore the need for education profes- sionals to convey information to parents about how to help beginning readers rather than just telling parents and chil- dren to read at home more. The Language Experience Approach and Scaffolded Writing represent two approaches that merge reading and writing in a purpose- ful manner for parents interested in pro- viding effective at-home literacy instruc- tion for their young children.

REFERENCES Flippo, R. F. ( 1997). Sensationalism. politics, and

literacy: What’s going on’? Phi Delru Kuppun. 41. 301-304.

Lancy, D. F.. & Bergin, C. ( 1992. April 20). ?‘he mle rfpurent.r in supporring beginning reuding. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. San Francis- co, CA.

Soderman. A. K . . Gregory. K. M.. & O’Neill. L. T. ( 1999). Scaffolding emergent literucy: A child- certrered upprouch for preschool thmugh grude 5. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Snow, C. E.. Burns, M. S.. & Griffin, P. (1998). Pre- \,enring reading d~ficrrlties in y o u r ~ g children. Washington. DC: National Reading Council, National Academy Press.

Stauffer, R. G. ( 1970). The lurtguugr-rxperience upprnuch to I / I ~ leaching of reading. New York: Harper & Row.

Patricia Douville CJnitter,sirv of North Carolina at Charlotte

180 PREVENTING SCHOOL FAILURE Summer 2000

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Nor

thea

ster

n U

nive

rsity

] at

08:

33 1

3 N

ovem

ber

2014