The aim of this master thesis is to investigate how parents’ in multilingual families perceive language learning and reading for young children, and how their practice of this can be understood in relation to their language situation and cultural background.This study focuses on the interaction between parents’ and young children in the light of the literacy practice. Important concepts such as early childhood literacy and family literacy have been used to study language, culture and literacy practice as phenomena that interact. The theoretical framework is a sociocultural perspective. Through qualitative interviews with seven parents’, it was found that multilingual families have a strong ambition for their children to learn all the languages spoken in the family. They also have a high ambition to read to their children. The ability to do so is not proportional the circumstances to give children a good start at an early age by consciously practicing language and reading to the child in the mother tongue. Lack of access to books in the mother tongue is one of the reasons. Some also prefer reading Swedish books in order to practice Swedish. Another reason is an ambivalent attitude to which order the languages in the family should be prioritized. Considering cultural aspects, the parents’ childhood memories of literacy practices from their background is linked to factors such as parents’ who are illiterate, lack of reading, but also rich oral storytelling traditions. / Program: Masterprogram: Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap, Digitala bibliotek och informationstjänster

Thesis (Ed. S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Educational Psychology, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 30-35).

Abstract This research investigated the influence of the childhood literacy learning experiences of 6 beginning elementary teachers on their literacy teaching practice. This qualitative case study employed 5 interviews and classroom observations of each participant over the first 3 years of his or her teaching. Three main findings emerged from the research. First, participants’ early literacy experiences shaped their identity as students. The participants’ images of themselves as students, in turn, influenced their images of themselves as teachers. Second, the participants’ early literacy learning experiences influenced the types of literacy environments and literacy activities that they provided for their students. Participants employed teaching approaches that had worked for them, or that they believed would have worked for them as students. Third, participants’ early literacy experiences influenced how they understood their students’ learning. The participants who had struggled as students were more focused on detecting and addressing the needs of their students who struggled. Implications for school literacy teaching include understanding and valuing the literacy knowledge and skills that young children bring to school and systematically addressing the needs of students who struggle with school literacy. Implications for preservice teacher education in literacy include an increased focus on supporting student teachers to reflect on how their early literacy learning affects their attitudes and assumptions about learning and teaching, more instruction on how to address the needs of struggling literacy learners, and the provision of a coherent teacher education program that combines theory and practice more effectively. Implications for in-service teacher education in literacy include providing induction programs that are tailored to meet the needs of individual beginning teachers, an expanded range of professional development options, and ongoing opportunities to engage in effective reflective practice. Implications for further research include investigations of the influence of early literacy learning on student achievement and on literacy teacher educators’ practice.

Abstract This research investigated the influence of the childhood literacy learning experiences of 6 beginning elementary teachers on their literacy teaching practice. This qualitative case study employed 5 interviews and classroom observations of each participant over the first 3 years of his or her teaching. Three main findings emerged from the research. First, participants’ early literacy experiences shaped their identity as students. The participants’ images of themselves as students, in turn, influenced their images of themselves as teachers. Second, the participants’ early literacy learning experiences influenced the types of literacy environments and literacy activities that they provided for their students. Participants employed teaching approaches that had worked for them, or that they believed would have worked for them as students. Third, participants’ early literacy experiences influenced how they understood their students’ learning. The participants who had struggled as students were more focused on detecting and addressing the needs of their students who struggled. Implications for school literacy teaching include understanding and valuing the literacy knowledge and skills that young children bring to school and systematically addressing the needs of students who struggle with school literacy. Implications for preservice teacher education in literacy include an increased focus on supporting student teachers to reflect on how their early literacy learning affects their attitudes and assumptions about learning and teaching, more instruction on how to address the needs of struggling literacy learners, and the provision of a coherent teacher education program that combines theory and practice more effectively. Implications for in-service teacher education in literacy include providing induction programs that are tailored to meet the needs of individual beginning teachers, an expanded range of professional development options, and ongoing opportunities to engage in effective reflective practice. Implications for further research include investigations of the influence of early literacy learning on student achievement and on literacy teacher educators’ practice.

This study examined the relationship among parents' literacy beliefs, home literacy experiences, and children's literacy skills. Forty-three children, who attended a university preschool, and their parents participated in the study. Parents' literacy beliefs and the home literacy experience, namely shared book reading, were examined through a self-report questionnaire. One important section of this questionnaire provided information about parents' beliefs concerning literacy acquisition; specifically, whether they believed in a top-down or bottom-up approach. The children were tested individually for emergent literacy skills, including concepts of print, alphabetic knowledge, rhyming skills, oral language skills, word recognition, and invented spelling. The results were analyzed using multiple linear regressions and hierarchical linear regressions to determine whether there is evidence of a relationship among literacy beliefs, home literacy experiences, and children's emergent literacy skills. The present study found support for a connection between parental beliefs, measured through their behaviors, and child outcomes. Children whose parents had a top-down literacy perspective (meaning-based orientation), measured by knowledge of children's book titles, had higher receptive vocabulary skills than children whose parents had a bottom-up (skill-based) literacy belief. The implications for parents, early childhood educators, and teachers are that literacy educational programs may need to focus both on teaching parents new literacy behavior as well as on developing beliefs about literacy acquisition.

Den här uppsatsens syfte är att skapa kunskap kring förskollärares förståelse för förskolans fysiska miljö i relation till barns literacypraktiker. Detta görs genom att undersöka hur några förskollärare reflekterar kring utformningen av förskolans fysiska miljö med fokus på barns literacy. Uppsatsen utgår från en postkvalittativ metod där det empiriska materialet genereras genom två fokusgruppssamtal med förskollärare från två förskolor. Begreppet literacy får här en vidare betydelse då även den materiella kontexten anses påverka barns literacyskapande. Resultatet visar att utformandet av den fysiska miljön till stor del handlar om platser, artefakter och placering av dessa. Förskollärarna beskriver skriv och läshörnor, utformade för ett specifikt ändamål där materialet får en betydande roll. I skrivhörnan skrivs det med penna och papper och i läshörnan läses det böcker. Aktiviteten skriva tillsammans med bokstäver får i samtalen en upplyft position och anses vara viktigt för barns literacy och minskar där med barns möjlighet att utforska literacy genom olika uttrycksformer. Resultatet visar också att leken, viket är en viktig del av förskolans pedagogik, inte förknippas med literacy

Thesis (Ed. S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Educational Psychology, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 22-25).