GDECE 103 Language and Literacy in the Early Years: Assessment 2

Task description:

Develop a set of 4 recommendations for early years educators, parents, and caregivers to support literacy development in children up to age 5. Your recommendations should include example activities and rationales based on relevant theory and research found in the academic literature and key policy documents. Your recommendations should also include consideration of diverse learners. 

No introduction or conclusion required. An example recommendation has been included below, DO NOT use this same recommendation in your assignment.

Criteria:

• Clearly state 4 recommendations for practices that support early literacy development.
• For each recommendation, provide a rationale, drawing on theory and research.
• For each recommendation, provide examples of practice.
• Include recommendations for diverse learners where appropriate.

Word count: 2000 (approx. 500 words per recommendation)

NOTE: SCEI-HE requires its students to observe the highest ethical standards in every aspect of their academic work. SCEI-HE actively demonstrates its commitment to academic integrity by recognising scholarly work and penalising all forms of academic dishonesty. Please refer to the Institute’s HEPP01 Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure for further information or speak to your lecturer, Academic Support Coordinator or Librarian.

Formatting: 12-point serif font (eg. Times New Roman). 1.5 or double line spacing.

Referencing: APA7 (please refer to this guide for referencing guidelines)

Due Date: MONDAY 18th APRIL 2024

Grading Scale:

Example recommendation:

 Regularly share chants and nursey rhymes with children to develop phonological awareness.

Phonological awareness is the understanding of the sound system of a language, including phonemes, intonation, and syllable stress (Fellows & Oakley, 2023). It is developed in the early years as children learn to speak and is an important component of reading and spelling success later in school (Daffern, 2017; Fellows & Oakley, 2023). I recommend parents, caregivers and early childhood educators learn a range of rhymes and chants that contain a broad range of sounds to be used throughout the day. This allows for exposure and practice in hearing a broad range of phonological features of English, as well as practice in using their mouths to create the sounds. It also allows adults to hear children produce a range of sounds overtime and potentially identify and speech development issues, facilitating early intervention if required. Chants and rhymes can be spoken or sung to various rhythms and can integrated into many other activities. They are also an excellent tool for signalling transition. Using chants for pleasure and for other purposes, such as identifying a new activity, is an appropriate way to engage children in language development, without relying on explicit teaching practices, which are not appropriate in the early years. Rhymes and chants can be learnt to engage children in activities such as self-care, for example singing “This is the way we wash our hands, wash our hands, wash our hands…”; can be part of expressing a range of meaning by incorporating actions: “One, two, tie my shoe, three, four, knock on the door…”; and can encourage children to play with sounds and experiment with making their own rhymes, such as asking children to complete the lines in ‘the ants go marching one by one, hurrah, the little one stopped to ???”.

The importance of phonological awareness is noted in the Australian Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) (AGDE, 2022) outcome 5.2, and in this policy document, singing and chanting rhymes and songs is recommended. Nursery rhymes and chants are excellent tools for developing phonological awareness for several reasons: they support sound discrimination, attune children to rhythm and stress in language, are enjoyable for children, and are age appropriate (Fellows & Oakley, 2023). There are also many ways to make chants and rhymes more of less challenging to suit learners of different ages and linguistic abilities. In this way, they are supportive of English language learners, and if children learning to speak English struggle with particular sounds, educators can encourage them to sing and chant together to develop their skills in producing the sounds of English. Phonological awareness is noted as significant in two key literacy models. Snow’s (2021) model of oral language competence places phonological awareness at the foundation, an important skill for further literacy development, thus requiring attention in the early years. In addition, the highly influential Scarborough’s Reading Rope (Neuman & Dickinson, 2001) features phonological awareness as a key element for word recognition in reading, a necessary skill for success in school and life. As such, engaging in fun and meaningful activities with rhymes and chant can support young children’s literacy development and should be planned into early learning programs and encouraged in home contexts.