Storybooks Promote Literacy |
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Storybooks Promote Literacy |
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Date: February 24, 2003 Vol. 19 •Issue 4 • Page 49 A holistic approach works best in reading readiness By Kerri Waldowski Dr. Laura Justice, PhD, CCC-SLP, assistant professor at the Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, has dedicated her past seven years of research to understanding literacy. Most recently she has focused on emergent literacy among pre-schoolers who are at risk. Her work, along with other research in the field, supports the use of storybook reading as a means to promote emergent literacy in this population. "Storybooks have very rich contexts," she told ADVANCE. They provide opportunities for social interaction with the oral and written structure of language that are in highly contextualized, meaningful exposures. In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in literacy development, particularly for children who are vulnerable to difficulties in this area due to language impairments or lack of resources. The National Research Council published a report on preventing reading difficulties in young children in 1998. The use of storybooks in intervention contexts reflects this heightened awareness of the emergent literacy perspective, an increased emphasis on naturalistic approaches to intervention, increased support for social interactionist theories of language acquisition, and growing endorsement for the idea that early language intervention should target skills related to later school success. There is an interconnectedness between emergent literacy and oral language development. Speech-language pathologists are able to detect which children are at risk for emergent and conventional literacy difficulties so that appropriate interventions can be implemented before it is too late. "When we think about emergent literacy, the key is to recognize that it encompasses a significant number of different skills," Dr. Justice said. Recent research in developmental psychology has shown that these involve both inside-out and outside-in processes. Conventional speech therapy often focus on inside-out skills, or bottom-up skills as opposed to more of the outside-in processes that come into play. Inside-out processes involve a solid emphasis on the printed word: the components of alphabet knowledge, print concepts and phonological awareness. Outside-in processes refer to narrative structure and story grammar, motivation and orientation, vocabulary knowledge and overall oral language skills. With the inside-out approach, "[SLPs] need to be careful not to compartmentalize things," Dr. Justice said. "Instead, we need to focus on ensuring widespread change through interventions that stimulate the children holistically to affect the range of inside and outside processes." Storybook reading is an effective intervention technique to address this range of processes, she noted. "Both clinicians and parents can use storybook strategies with young children as a means to facilitate language and literacy, both inside and out." It's also helpful to provide print-rich environments for children. "As clinicians, we need to make as many efforts as possible to ensure that children have frequent, naturalistic and meaningful interactions with print throughout their daily lives," Dr. Justice pointed out. "They really need to be interacting with print all day long." Helpful literacy props in play centers include menus, signs, books, paper and pens. When using storybooks as an intervention tool, SLPS first determine the level of a child's literacy skills. "If we go below the child's level, we are not challenging him, and no growth will take place," Dr. Justice explained. "If we go too high, we are going to be working with a frustrated child." The Interactive to Independent Model of Literacy Development, developed by Joan Kaderavek and Paula Rabidoux, can be used to guide the progress of emergent literacy development. The clinician should focus on moving a child from lower levels of emergent literacy to higher levels of more conventional skill. According to this model, a child at level 1 may exhibit relatively low literacy orientation, so clinicians should focus on attention and responsiveness during storybook reading time. Books that offer low language demands, such as through repetition and manipulation, work best. "Children tend to ask more questions and produce utterances of greater complexity when reading manipulative books," Dr. Justice said. "These books motivate children tremendously and can be very facilitative of emergent literacy and oral language participation." Recommended selections include pop-up books, homemade books, and books with cardboard cut-outs or flaps. These books are appropriate for higher-level children as well. The clinician or parent should give the child a sense of control when reading storybooks. The child should pace the process and have some physical and verbal control of the book, with the adult offering encouragement and praise and accepting all forms of participation from the child without posing too many questions or demands. At the second level of the literacy model, the SLP becomes more directive with the child, encouraging even more communicative involvement. This level involves more balance and turn-taking. Repetitive and print-salient books work well. Repetition can be particularly beneficial in various forms, Dr. Justice said. "Many parents think that since they already have read a book, it is time to move on. However, using books repeatedly has proved to be a good strategy for children in the earliest and even later stages of emergent literacy and oral language development." Using books the child has read promotes attention to task and reduces the amount of linguistic demands. This is more enjoyable for the child, she noted, and a great strategy. Children at level 3 are quite responsive and motivated. They are active, equal and thoroughly engaged literacy partners. Inside-out targetsalphabet knowledge, print concepts and phonological awarenesscan be addressed directly at this level. Print salience also is effective; and adults can utilize print-referencing strategies such as asking questions about print, tracking, and pointing to print. "Research shows that children look at print more frequently and for longer durations when looking at print-salient books vs. books without such features," Dr. Justice said. Clinicians should select books with big, bold print; few words per page; and print embedded in illustrations. Guidance from an adult is a critical part of the process. Research shows that children are very responsive to a parent's references to print. "On their own children are unlikely to talk about print in the context of reading the storybooks," Dr. Justice said, "but are likely to respond about 90 percent of the time when an adult talks about the print." Children at level 4 exhibit conventional literacy skills in the context of socially embedded interactions, and they exhibit these skills independently by level 5. "Our goal is to move children from lower levels of emergent literacy skill to more conventional achievements," Dr. Justice said. "Storybooks provide exceptional opportunities for this transition. Additionally, they are inexpensive, easily accessible and familiar to young children. They are wonderful tools to use." References available at http://www.advanceforot.com/ or on request. For more information, contact Laura Justice, PhD, (434) 982-5954, (434) 924-4621 (fax), email: lmj2t@virginia.edu Copyright ©2006 Merion Publications |
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