Teaching and Learning Communication, Language and Literacy

Ann Browne

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781446237502
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Early Childhood Education

Teaching and Learning Communication, Language and Literacy is a comprehensive guide to the teaching and learning of communication, language and literacy in the foundation stage (3-5 years). It draws on research findings and good practice to provide practical guidance about working with young children in nursery and reception classes.

The book examines how young children develop as learners and users of language and literacy and the contribution that home and school make to their learning. It locates learning in a play based curriculum and provides a rationale for making play both a context and a resource for learning. It also takes account of recent policy initiatives such as the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage, the organization for literacy in reception classes and the foundation stage assessment profile. Throughout the book a distinction is made between the organization and activities that are appropriate to nursery and reception children.

The book contains practical suggestions about activities and resources including ways of working with environmental print and found texts, ICT, TV and video as well as books. The role of adults in supporting and extending learning is considered in detail.

Chapter 1

Setting the scene for communication, language and literacy

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Introduction

Each phase of schooling, the Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 has its own distinctive characteristics and concerns. Some of the defining characteristics of the Foundation Stage are explored in this chapter and they provide the background to the teaching and learning of communication, language and literacy.

The curriculum, learning, teaching and classroom organization are important concerns in every phase but they are realized in ways that are particular to the age and needs of the pupils. The curriculum for the Foundation Stage, although separated into areas of learning, reflects the way in which young children’s learning rarely fits neatly into one area of the curriculum. In the Foundation Stage the boundaries between different subjects are blurred and even in a single activity learning can take place in a number of curriculum areas. The concern with learning is perhaps more important to early years practitioners than to any other educational practitioners. Adults who work in the Foundation Stage are concerned with creating a bridge between the way children have learned at home and the way they will learn in the more formal and densely populated nursery and reception classes. They want to continue, as far as possible, the beneficial practices of the child’s first educators, which have resulted in successful and rapid learning and confident learners. Play as a means of learning is most apparent in the Foundation Stage although it is also seen in Key Stage 1 and sometimes Key Stage 2 classes. The integrated curriculum, the awareness of children as learners and the centrality of play mean that nursery and reception classes are organized in ways that are distinct and different to the other key stages.

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The curriculum explained

Each of the four curriculum bodies in the UK – the Qualifications and Assessment Authority (QAA) in England, The Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales, the Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum and the Northern Ireland Council for Curriculum Examinations and Assessment – have produced guidance about the curriculum for children aged between 3 and 5. There are minor differences between the practices and outcomes that are emphasized but for the most part the sort of curriculum that is advocated in each country is very similar. Although most of the references in this book will be to the English guidelines, readers across the UK and in other countries too should be able to relate the ideas to their particular situation.

Integrating learning

In May 2000 the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (QCA, 2000b) was published. This sets out what children aged 3 to 5 are expected to learn in nursery settings and reception classes in England. The guidance covers six areas of learning: personal, social and emotional development; communication, language and literacy; mathematical development; knowledge and understanding of the world; physical development; and creative development. This book is concerned with the second area, that of learning, communication, language and literacy. However one of the characteristics of learning is that it often ranges across and goes beyond individual subject areas. For example, learning about numbers will involve being able to use number names and may take place through joining in with number stories, rhymes and songs as well as discrete mathematical activities. So, although children’s increasing understanding of number is an aspect of mathematical development, their learning will be supported by experiences in language, literacy and music as well as other areas of the curriculum. These cross-curricular links are an important facet of the curriculum in the Foundation Stage. Although the subject of this book is communication, language and literacy, in keeping with early years practice, links with other areas of learning will be explored.

The statutory curriculum

The curriculum guidance for communication, language and literacy covers the education of children from 3 to 5. It is intended to cover a two-year period, the year that 3- and 4-year-olds spend in nursery settings and the year that 4- and 5-year-olds spend in reception classes. The guidance is arranged as a series of learning objectives ordered by difficulty. There are four levels of difficulty, three of which are known as stepping stones. The final level contains the Early Learning Goals. The four levels are not age specific, but the first two sets of objectives are likely to be covered in the nursery and the final set of stepping stones and the Early Learning Goals will shape the curriculum in the reception class. Not all children spend time in a nursery or other pre-school setting and so, for some children, their first encounter with a planned curriculum will be in the reception class where their learning objectives will be taken from level 3 of the stepping stones, although objectives from the earlier levels may also be applicable. The final level of objectives, the Early Learning Goals for communication language and literacy, lead into the National Curriculum programme of study for English at Key Stage 1 (DfEE/QCA, 1999).

Communication, language and literacy

The curriculum for communication, language and literacy broadly covers learning in and about speaking and listening, reading and writing. However the words communication and language encompass far more than oral communication or speaking and listening. They serve as a reminder that reading and writing are also communicative and social activities. They suggest that language is a key element of thinking and learning, and that language development should be considered when planning for learning across the curriculum. Therefore, to develop within this area of learning, children will need to learn about speaking and listening, reading and writing as well as learning to read and write and to extend their oral abilities.

Children as learners

Learning at home

By the time children enter the nursery or reception class they have already learned a tremendous amount. They have learned to operate socially within their own immediate and extended families. They have learned about their home and community environment. They know how to communicate with others, ask questions, act on instructions and understand explanations. Most children have experience of stories through encounters with books or via television and videos. They can manipulate physical objects as they play and meet some of their own needs. This list could continue for some time. Suffice to say, young children have made rapid gains in learning in all the areas of learning that constitute the curriculum for the Foundation Stage, even though they have not followed a planned curriculum.

How children learn

How have they learned so much in such a short space of time? They have learned from the adults around them, their environment and their experiences. Adults have provided them with models of behaviour that can be imitated, explanations of events and experiences and answers to questions. Family members and friends have treated the child as a cognitive being who can, will and wants to learn about the world and how to operate within it, and through their actions and interactions they have shared their own knowledge in ways that are appropriate to a young child’s developing understanding. Many of the adults’ interactions will have arisen from the child’s curiosity about the world and their desire to learn about it. However, young children do not learn only from others. They will have learned by listening, looking, touching and engaging in playful activities with toys and objects. Their learning will have come from a number of sources. They will have developed knowledge, skills and understanding through a variety of learning strategies.

Much of a young child’s learning will have taken place in an immediate context. Questions will have arisen from what is seen or touched. Explanations will have been given in relation to what the child is doing or using. As Piaget, Vygotsky and Bruner all agree, young children learn in practical, concrete ways and their learning is located in directly purposeful and relevant situations (Wood, 1988). Abstract learning that is not directly related to the child’s own purposes or the immediate and tangible environment, generally occurs after the age of 3 and children need to be led gradually into this next stage of learning. This is when the skills and understanding of those who work in the Foundation Stage are crucial as they begin to lead children away from the familiar and help them to explore the unknown.

Young children are active learners. They interact physically with the world that they live in and play their part in initiating teaching sequences as they try to do something or ask questions. They construct their understanding by taking in information and relating it to what they already know. Learning, particularly young children’s learning, is usually mediated through social encounters and interactions. It is a social activity. In addition, what and how children learn is situated in a particular social or cultural context. Different communities and families within that community will emphasize different things. For example, in some homes politeness and good manners may be very important. If this is the case, it is likely that children will learn to be courteous.

The combination of these ideas, that children actively construct understandings and that learning takes place in social settings, has led to a view of learning that is known as social constuctivism (Hiebert and Raphael, 1998). The features of social constructivism are helpful when thinking about the organization of an early years setting and when planning the curriculum. Children will need access to, and opportunities to develop or construct, their learning by engaging in new experiences and then relating this new awareness to what they already know. To do this they will need opportunities to predict outcomes based on their existing knowledge, to evaluate new experiences and to compare new and old information. They will need to be able to ask questions and to follow avenues of enquiry that interest them. They will need opportunities to engage in meaningful exchanges with adults and other children as well as opportunities to see others demonstrate or use skills. They will also need opportunities to appreciate what their teachers value and to understand why those behaviours or practices are important.

Dispositions and attitudes

Thinking about learning is not just about understanding how learning takes place but is also concerned with what should be learned. Children learn skills and knowledge but they also develop feelings and attitudes to what they learn. Katz has called these attitudes ‘dispositions’ (Katz and Chard, 1989). It is important that children are disposed to be curious, to explore and to enjoy their learning. These dispositions are present in young children when they first enter Foundation Stage settings but they may be damaged if the learning experiences that are provided for them are too easy, too difficult, dull or repetitive. Inappropriate activities may teach children that they are unsuccessful as learners or that learning at school is boring. Positive dispositions grow from experiences that children enjoy and are interested in. They also allow children to be in control and to experience success. In a review of the research about successful learners, Desforges and Abouchaar (2003) found that children who believe in their own ability to learn and whose parents have high aspirations for them are the children most likely to succeed at school. If practitioners can help children to feel confident and have high expectations for the children they work with this will have a significant effect on children’s achievement.

Using our understanding of learning to inform teaching

When adults understand how children learn before they embark on planned learning in the more formal setting of a nursery or reception class, they can appreciate the learning strategies that children already have. They can then incorporate these strategies into the learning opportunities they provide and the teaching methods they employ. The following lists suggest some principles which practitioners use to inform their planning for communication, language and literacy.

Young children:

• learn actively through looking, listening and doing;
• are motivated to learn;
• are curious and willing to explore the unfamiliar;
• learn through taking risks;
• learn through practice;
• can attend with intensity for considerable periods when they are interested;
• learn in collaboration with others;
• learn through asking questions;
• can take the initiative in learning;
• learn things that are relevant and enjoyable to them;
• remember things that are important to them;
• learn about the things that are prioritized by those around them;
• learn when they feel secure and confident;
• learn in different ways; and
• learn at different rates.

The adults who enable children to learn in informal situations at home:

• give children time;
• provide experiences and materials that stimulate children;
• provide children with models of how to do things;
• provide opportunities for children to practise and apply their skills;
• respect and attend to children’s questions;
• provide answers to questions;
• provide explanations about social practices and activities;
• expect children to learn and acknowledge their learning;
• provide an environment in which it is safe to take risks; and
• respond and provide for children in ways that are appropriate to the child’s understanding and interests.

Play

Play as a context for learning

Play can provide children with valuable learning experiences. Although children can and do learn in other ways, play is an established and accepted part of the early years curriculum. It has become such a key part of provision in the Foundation Stage because it is pleasurable and practical, and so is attractive to young children. It gives children the opportunity to take control as they engage with activities and materials, and to decide how the resources will be used. They can express and explore their own ideas without pressure or censure. In play, adults are usually participants rather than being in charge of the activity or the outcome. Play is voluntary and in play situations children are able to take risks. During play there are no judgements about right or wrong answers or ways of doing things. Play provides a context within which children can construct meanings and understandings and develop positive attitudes to school and learning.

Play and work

Not all play situations give rise to play. If children do not know what to do with the materials, if they find the materials or the activity dull or unappealing, or if the adult controls the situation leaving no scope for personal interpretation or creativity, play will not take place, or at least it will not be regarded as play by the participant. Play is as much an attitude of mind as it is an activity. Reading books can be an enjoyable activity that is undertaken voluntarily. Readers are personally involved, they interpret what they read in ways that link to their own experience and understanding. Yet reading is often thought of as work in school. Think of the delight that young children have in their nightly bedtime story and how some children choose to pour over a picture ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• About the author
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Setting the scene for communication, language and literacy
• 2 Speaking and listening
• 3 Reading
• 4 Writing
• 5 Inclusion
• 6 Working with parents and other adults
• 7 Assessment
• 8 Planning for communication, language and literacy
• References
• Index