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Literacy

Literacy involves reading and writing skills. It depends on components like phonological awareness, vocabulary, decoding, fluency, and comprehension. Literacy develops from childhood through adolescence and is predicted by verbal ability, cognitive factors, emotional well-being, social experiences, gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity. Teachers can promote literacy development by emphasizing these components and providing instruction tailored to students' needs.

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May Khin Nyein
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80 views16 pages

Literacy

Literacy involves reading and writing skills. It depends on components like phonological awareness, vocabulary, decoding, fluency, and comprehension. Literacy develops from childhood through adolescence and is predicted by verbal ability, cognitive factors, emotional well-being, social experiences, gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity. Teachers can promote literacy development by emphasizing these components and providing instruction tailored to students' needs.

Uploaded by

May Khin Nyein
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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LITERACY

Literacy • It is the ability to communicate in printed


language through reading and writing,
particularly in school settings.
• Children can have multiple literacies in
contexts other than school.
• :) - smile
• :( - sad
• BBL - be back later
• L8R - later.
Literacy
5 Components of Reading
(1) Phonological awareness
(2) Vocabulary
(3) Decoding
(4) Fluency
(5) Comprehension

Phonological awareness is the ability to distinguish phonemes or the sounds in language. Vocabulary is
the number of words you know.
Literacy
• Decoding is figuring out how
to read or spell unknown
words by applying phonetic
rules.
• Phonetic rules are regarding
how written letters are linked
to sounds and how a string of
letters is correctly
pronounced.
Age Trends in Literacy
• Literacy development begins in infancy and continues across the lifespan. The
most dramatic growth occurs during the early years, but growth continues as
adolescents become able to read and write complex expository prose.
• Emergent literacy abilities that are precursors to reading and writing, such as good
verbal ability, knowing letter names, phonological awareness, and print concepts.
• Print concepts is basic concepts of how print symbolizes language, such as English
books are read from left to right and spaces separate words. A key part of emergent
literacy.
• Conventional literacy refers to such skills as decoding, and oral reading fluency.
• Write expository text, like reports.
• Children become better spellers across elementary school.
Age Trends in Literacy
• Reading fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and
writing improve during adolescence.
• Some people have been concerned that texting may Marta: wat u doin?
undermine youth’s literacy because texters use Liz: nadda u?
abbreviations, acronyms, and unusual punctuation.
Marta: i saw ur bf 2day
• However, youth who are fluent in texting on cell Liz: hes NOT my bf!!!!
phones may have higher literacy test scores.
Marta: hahahaha lol
Individual Diversity in Literacy
• Good readers tend to remain strong and poor readers tend to remain weak in their
reading skills. However, struggling readers can improve if they have better
phonological awareness, emergent literacy skills, and classroom behavior.
• Reading allows children to take information from text. Writing improves thinking,
helping children transform fuzzy thoughts into clear concepts.
• Literacy allows children to complete worksheets, take tests, and understand
assignments. It also predicts achievement in math—as early as 2nd grade, before
children are doing math word problems.
• Literacy predicts both emotional and social competence. Children who struggle to
read feel angry, ashamed, anxious, and sad by 5th grade.
• Specific Reading Disability a learning disability in which a child with normal
intelligence and exposure to print has difficulty learning to read. It is characterized
by difficulty decoding and recognizing words accurately and/or fluently. It is also
called dyslexia.
Individual Diversity in Literacy

• What Predicts Individual Differences in Literacy?


Predictors of Individual Differences in Literacy

• Verbal ability. Children with good verbal ability learn to read


more easily than their peers. Good verbal ability includes a large
vocabulary, ability to retell a story coherently, letter-sound
knowledge, and phonological and morphological awareness. These
abilities help children become better readers and spellers.
• Children with poor vocabulary and poor phonological and
morphological knowledge tend to have reading problems.
• Physical factors. Differences in brain structure are linked to
literacy. Genes may influence literacy through their effect on
general cognitive abilities like processing speed, working memory,
and attention control. Or, genes may influence literacy through
how much children are read to, which is partly heritable and partly
shared environment
Predictors of Individual Differences in Literacy

• Cognitive factors. Reading and writing require general cognitive abilities, like working memory,
knowledge, reasoning, and processing speed.
• Students with good cognitive abilities become fluent readers earlier and with more ease. However, literacy also
requires language specific cognitive abilities, like phonological awareness, print knowledge, vocabulary, and
decoding ability.
• Emotional factors. Children with secure attachments tend to develop better literacy skills and attitudes
toward reading than do insecure children.
• Secure children have pleasant encounters with print because their parents are sensitive, which makes them better
literacy coaches.
• Pleasant interaction during parent–child storybook reading predicts reading fluency and positive attitudes as
children begin to read independently.
• In contrast, negative emotions, like anger or anxiety, interfere with the information processing needed for reading
and writing. This may occur when parents aggressively command “Sound it out!” as their children learn to read.
Predictors of Individual Differences in Literacy

• Social factors. Literacy is social; it is acquired through


social interaction and is used to connect with others.
Preschoolers who are socially skilled and cooperative tend
to have stronger language and literacy development than
children who are not.
• Play is another important social factor that predicts literacy.
Preschoolers who use literacy in their play—like reading to
dolls, writing a shopping list, and putting letters in a mailbox
—develop greater literacy.
• Authentic literacy activities refer to reading for information
one wants or writing to inform a reader.
Group Diversity in Literacy
• Gender.
• Girls tend to have higher literacy achievement than boys.
• Research consistently shows that girls like reading more than boys.
• Socioeconomic Status.
• Low-SES learners tend to have lower literacy than other learners. Parents’ education, a key
component of SES, is particularly important. Parents with more years of education have children with
better reading ability. Even among low-income children, those whose mothers have more education
tend to have better literacy skills.
• However, low SES students will become literate if they like to read and have good instruction.
Group Diversity in Literacy
• Ethnicity
• White and Asian American students have consistently higher reading
scores than Black or Latino students in 4th, 8th, and 12th grades.
• Ethnic differences may also be due to language mismatch.
• SE says, “Their hands are cold.”
• AAE says, “Deir han’ a’ co’.”
Classroom Implications of Literacy Development

• Promote Phonological Awareness and Decoding Skills


• Promote Print Concepts
• Promote Fluency
• Promote Vocabulary and Comprehension
• Promote Writing Skills
• Bridge Cultural Borders
• Support Bilingual and Biliterate Students
Summary
• Both reading and writing abilities depend on vocabulary, phonological awareness, and decoding skills.
• Reading also depends on fluency and comprehension.
• Early struggling readers tend to remain struggling readers, but some children improve.
• Poor reading is linked to emotional distress, misbehavior, and low academic achievement.
• Dyslexia is a learning disability for reading. Interventions focus on phonological awareness and fluency.
• Dyslexia often co-occurs with other information-processing difficulties.
• Literacy is predicted by verbal ability, brain structure (which could be due to genes or experience),
information-processing abilities, emotional well-being, and social experiences with print such as play
and joint book reading.
• Girls tend to be more literate than boys, high-SES learners more than low-SES, and White and Asian
American learners more than Black or Latino children.
• Reasons for these group differences include the opportunity to learn inside and outside of school and
culture mismatch
Summary
• Teachers can help young children become literate by promoting verbal ability,
teaching letters, using nursery rhymes and phoneme-based games, drawing attention to
print concepts, and reading to children.
• Teachers can help older youth by providing frequent practice with authentic literacy
activities, giving feedback, and teaching reading and writing strategies.
• Children can learn multiple literacies, even if they are not yet literate in their heritage
language.
• Biliterate students who have basic English abilities may struggle with advanced
literacy

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