The present study explored the relationship between indirect and direct assessment of preschoolers' emergent literacy skills. Subjects were 207 preschool-aged children, ranging in age from three to five years old who attended either the Mailman Segal Institute (MSI) Family Center, a private preschool comprised of children from primarily upper middle-class homes, or Jack and Jill Children's Center, a publicly subsidized preschool. Indirect assessment of the children's emergent literacy skills was gathered through the completion of the Teacher Rating of Oral Language and Literacy (TROLL) and a modified version of the Pupil Rating Scale (PRS). Direct measurement of the children's emergent literacy skills was obtained through multiple assessments including the Get Ready to Read! (GRTR!),the standardization version of the Preschool Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (Pre-CTOPP), and the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ IIII COG) and Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ III ACH). Overall, results revealed a moderate positive correlation between indirect assessments and direct assessment of emergent literacy with higher teacher ratings on the TROLL and modified PRS correlated with higher scores on the direct assessment measures. When comparing the two preschools, results revealed inconsistent relationships between direct and indirect assessment of emergent literacy skills depending on which assessment measure was utilized.

Limited studies have focused on using popular culture environmental print in the literacy curriculum to teach early literacy skills to prekindergarten students. This study examined whether using popular culture environmental print to explicitly teach alphabet knowledge and print concepts increased the achievement of these skills. After a nine week intervention was implemented, data were collected from 56 urban prekindergarten children in a control and experimental group. The use of popular culture environmental print appeared to increase the achievement of print concepts and alphabet knowledge in prekindergarten children from one urban high-poverty school district. Data revealed an increase in the mean rank of the experimental group on the post-test of alphabet knowledge. Additionally, English as a second language learners expanded their knowledge of alphabet letters after the popular culture environmental print intervention. Also, a statistically significant difference appeared to exist between the control and experimental groups’ means on the knowledge of print concepts. Descriptive statistics revealed increases in print concept means of the control and experimental groups from the time of the pre-test to the posttest as tested by the Preschool Word and Print Awareness Assessment (PWPA). A statistical significant difference between the groups the children were in and the early literacy skills of alphabet knowledge and print concepts were determined at the end of the popular culture environmental print intervention. The increase in print concepts and alphabet knowledge appeared to be due to utilizing popular culture characters children observed at home. The popular culture characters garnered the attention of the children and became a source of motivation for increasing emergent literacy skills. Also, through explicit teaching of print concepts and alphabet knowledge with the popular culture environmental print, the children expanded their knowledge of these emergent literacy skills.

Preschool children with Specific Language Impairment are at an increased risk for later reading difficulties (Watson, Layton, & Pierce, 1994; Catts et al., 1999; Johnston et al., 1999; Boudreau & Hedberg, 1999). Current emergent literacy intervention approaches have been discussed regarding typically developing children and children from lower incomes, but they lack efficacy data for preschoolers with SLI. The purpose of this article is to describe the current literature regarding emergent literacy intervention in preschoolers with SLI and reach an evidence-base decision as to the most effective intervention techniques to utilize in order to prevent later reading difficulties. / text

Purpose: The primary aim of this thesis was to examine two aspects of early child development, namely emergent literacy skills and social-behavioural development. An examination of these two aspects of development occurs at the within child-level factor and the within-family level factor. Specifically, we seek to examine the effects of the family literacy environment in predicting 4-year-old children’s emergent literacy skills at entry to Junior Kindergarten. Additionally we seek to examine the interrelationships between children’s social behaviours and phonological awareness skills across the academic year. The final aim was to examine the relationship between teacher report and direct observations of children’s social behaviours. Method: One hundred and two children (52 boys, 50 girls) were recruited from 11 schools serving low-income neighbourhoods in a large metropolitan city and were assessed at the beginning and end of the Junior Kindergarten year. Family literacy questionnaires were collected at the beginning of the year. All children completed standardized assessments of their expressive vocabulary, non-verbal IQ, and phonological awareness skills. In addition, teachers completed behavioral ratings for all children. Results: The results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that direct teaching of letters/sounds in the home contributed 8% of the variance in children’s alphabet knowledge. The results also revealed that being excluded by peers at entry to Junior Kindergarten contributed up to 3% of the variance in negatively predicting phonological awareness outcomes at the end of the year. Further, the results revealed that poorer phonological awareness skills at the beginning of the year contributed up to 5% of the variance in predicting children’s preference for solitary behaviours at the end of the year. Finally, significant relationships were found between teacher report and direct observations for certain classroom behaviours. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the family literacy environment can play a positive role in children’s acquisition of emergent literacy skills prior to entry into formal schooling. The results also suggest that exclusion by peers may play a negative role in children’s ease of academic skill attainment. Conversely, the results suggest that the academic skill level that children enter into formal schooling with may play a role in their social behavioural competency in a classroom setting.

Purpose: The primary aim of this thesis was to examine two aspects of early child development, namely emergent literacy skills and social-behavioural development. An examination of these two aspects of development occurs at the within child-level factor and the within-family level factor. Specifically, we seek to examine the effects of the family literacy environment in predicting 4-year-old children’s emergent literacy skills at entry to Junior Kindergarten. Additionally we seek to examine the interrelationships between children’s social behaviours and phonological awareness skills across the academic year. The final aim was to examine the relationship between teacher report and direct observations of children’s social behaviours. Method: One hundred and two children (52 boys, 50 girls) were recruited from 11 schools serving low-income neighbourhoods in a large metropolitan city and were assessed at the beginning and end of the Junior Kindergarten year. Family literacy questionnaires were collected at the beginning of the year. All children completed standardized assessments of their expressive vocabulary, non-verbal IQ, and phonological awareness skills. In addition, teachers completed behavioral ratings for all children. Results: The results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that direct teaching of letters/sounds in the home contributed 8% of the variance in children’s alphabet knowledge. The results also revealed that being excluded by peers at entry to Junior Kindergarten contributed up to 3% of the variance in negatively predicting phonological awareness outcomes at the end of the year. Further, the results revealed that poorer phonological awareness skills at the beginning of the year contributed up to 5% of the variance in predicting children’s preference for solitary behaviours at the end of the year. Finally, significant relationships were found between teacher report and direct observations for certain classroom behaviours. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the family literacy environment can play a positive role in children’s acquisition of emergent literacy skills prior to entry into formal schooling. The results also suggest that exclusion by peers may play a negative role in children’s ease of academic skill attainment. Conversely, the results suggest that the academic skill level that children enter into formal schooling with may play a role in their social behavioural competency in a classroom setting.

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The research is clear; given the opportunity to do so, children begin transacting with print at very young ages (Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1982). Deaf children with full access to language from birth frequently experience higher success rates in literacy acquisition (Kuntze, 1998). However, there remains a paucity of studies on how young Deaf children whose success with literacy development can be reasonably predicted, begin their journeys toward literacy. With the understanding that early literacy experiences significantly impact all children's literacy development (Bus, Van Ijzendoorn, & Pelligrini, 1995), it is important to have a clearer understanding of how Deaf children develop emergent literacy skills.This dissertation presents a year-long case study on four young Deaf children from native-ASL families who were immersed in literacy-rich environments and how they developed literacy skills in school and at home. In order to provide the fullest possible picture, parents, teachers and children were interviewed and observed. As literacy development does not happen in isolation; this dissertation provides information about the children's sociocultural context that included the literacy experiences and beliefs of the adult participants and the children's own experiences at home and in school. Artifacts including writing samples and data from an early literacy checklist were also collected to provide information about each child's individual written language development.The data were organized and analyzed based on salient themes and framed by socio-psycholinguistic studies on hearing children by researchers such as Dyson (1993), Ferreiro & Teberosky (1982), and Goodman (1996). Results show that with full access to language and opportunities to develop reading and writing abilities, Deaf children's emergent literacy development is highly similar to that of monolingual and bilingual hearing children with some characteristics unique to Deaf ASL-English bilinguals. The results of this dissertation study adds to the general body of knowledge of how children develop literacy abilities even when they do not have face-to-face communication in their literate language. The results also inform current practices in Deaf education and provide researchers, educators, and parents with a framework for understanding the critical role that language and communication play on Deaf children's literacy development.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur barn uppfattar läsning och skrivning i förskolan. Avsikten är att skapa kunskap och förståelse för vilka förutsättningar som ges till lärnande av skriftspråk genom att närma sig barns perspektiv. Genom ett intresse för hur barn uppfattar skriftspråket i omgivningen på förskolan blev den sociala aspekten av lärnadet av betydelse vilket innebär att ett sociokulturellt perspektiv har använts som metod. Ett nedslag i två förskolor har genomförts för att undersöka några barns uppfattningar om deras skriftspråkliga omgivning. Resultatet visar att barnens svar går att koppla till möjligheter med att skriva som skriftspråkets funktionsaspekt. De svarar till exempel att de skriver sina namn och meddelande till varandra, aktiviteter där det tycks finnas en mening med att skriva. Barnen beskriver även att det finns olika funktioner med att läsa som att läsa böcker, läsa på väggen och läsa kartor. Redskapen de använder sig av vid dessa aktiviteter är främst papper och penna samt böcker. Dator som redskap tyks inte vara något som barnen nämner i någon större utsträckning. Vidare visade resultatet att barn har olika strategier vid skriftspråkliga aktiviteter som kännetecknas av både solitära och kollektiva handlingar. Leken tycks i många fall inte vara ett sammanhang som barnen kopplar ihop med skriftspråkliga handlingar. Skriftspråkliga aktiviteter kopplas istället till särskilda platser på förskolan.

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No description available.