This study has been designed to describe how aspects of the behavior setting influence literacy events in kindergartens. A systematic investigation of literacy events in and across all areas of four kindergarten classrooms was undertaken to describe the conditions under which children had opportunities to become engaged in reading and writing activities through transactions with the environment. The framework for the study was the human ecological approach to early childhood education (Day, 1983). Quantitative data were collected using two instruments. A modification of The Behavior Checklist of Child-Environment Interaction (Day et al., 1982) was used in four neighboring inner-city kindergartens in the Western Massachusetts to simultaneously record literacy events, activity/areas, teachers' roles, teacher- or child-choice of activities, group size, materials use, and other behaviors. Precautions were taken to provide a sample which was internally consistent in terms of sites, subjects, and teachers. Children's naturally occurring behavior was recorded by two observers over a four-week period using a time-sampling-by-child methodology. High interobserver reliability was achieved on five days of simultaneous observations. A second instrument, The Survey of Displayed Literacy Stimuli (Loughlin and Cole, 1986), was used to measure the amount of literacy-related materials in each classroom. Qualitative data were collected in fieldnotes when literacy events were observed. Relationships were described between children's reading and writing activities and these three factors: design of physical space, amount and presentation of materials, and teacher-child interactions. Variation was found in the types and frequencies of literacy events in and across classrooms that were related to these environmental factors. The interaction of these factors explained the conditions in kindergartens under which children had opportunities to engage in reading and writing activities through transactions with the environment.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-8001 |
| Date | 01 January 1991 |
| Creators | Allen, Mary Clancy |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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