This dissertation explores the benefits of nurturing early literacy which are increasingly
being recognized. Many language practitioners (Snow, Barnes, Chandler, Goodman and
Hemphill, 1991; Gestwicki, 1997; Krashen, 2004; White, 2005; Morrow, 2007)
emphasise that withholding instruction in reading and literate behaviour until schoolgoing
age results in children being unprepared for the rigours of school. Intervention
should therefore commence as early as possible (Auerbach and Roche, 1971; Brierley,
1987; Essa, 2007; de Witt, 2009) to ensure school readiness and to pave the way for a
successful transition into Grade R. At present, it is compulsory for South African learners
to begin school in Grade R. This is a government endeavour to ensure that all learners
have at least one compulsory year of kindergarten tuition. However, the years preceding
Grade R are the most important in terms of acquiring emergent literacy skills (Hechinger,
1966; National Research Council, 1998; Barbarin and Richter 2001; Arnold and
Doctoroff, 2003), and urgent attention should therefore also be paid to nurturing literacy
during these crucial years. Clearly, children from less advantaged backgrounds who
receive little or no stimulation involving printed matter start Grade R at a severe
disadvantage as opposed to children who regularly attend pre-school and have literate
parents who spend ample time reading to their children. This study highlights ways in
which parents and caregivers can significantly alleviate this disadvantage simply by
reading to children and by exposing them to a literate environment. Reading to children
provides an immensely powerful tool for teaching crucial skills such as page-turning,
reading from left to right with return sweeps, following words and understanding basic
narrative structures (Bloch, 1996; Ntuli and Pretorius, 2005; Joubert et al, 2008).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-11102011-160038 |
| Date | 10 November 2011 |
| Creators | Drennan, Lisa Michelle |
| Contributors | Dr M Brooks |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-11102011-160038/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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