Components of Early Language and Literacy
Development of early language and literacy in the formative years requires developing a wide range of skills, knowledge and attitudes. Skilled reading and writing require a child to distinguish
different sounds in spoken words, recognize letter-sound relationships, make words by combining sounds, develop vocabulary, comprehend what is written and develop reading fluency.
This requires teaching of literacy to include several processes that build comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, word recognition, letter knowledge and phonological awareness.
The components of early language and literacy include:
a. Emergent literacy skills: Developing awareness about print, pretend reading (reading pictures), logographic reading (reading words as pictures), drawing and scribbling to represent and express something. Concepts about print include:
i. Knowing printed words are symbols for words in a spoken language, which help to see the interconnectedness between oral and written language.
ii. Functions and forms of print e.g., in a storybook, in notices and advertisements, posters, for writing letters, and communicating thoughts to others.
iii. Knowing that writing mostly has a left to right orientation (with exceptions e.g., Urdu); that a word is preceded, and followed by a space; that there are letters, words, and sentences in a printed text; knowing punctuation marks and how words differ in length.
iv. Book awareness and ways of handling a book.
b. Oral language development: Improved listening comprehension, oral vocabulary development, and using talk and conversation for learning with peers and knowledgeable
others (e.g., older students, Teachers, parents)
c. Phonological awareness: Phonological awareness is the understanding of the sound structure of language, i.e., sentences which are made up of words, syllables, and smaller
units of sound. This knowledge is first developed orally. Phonological awareness and print concepts are the two most important foundational skills for learning decoding.
d. Decoding: Deciphering written words by sounding them out, based on understanding the relationship between symbols and their corresponding sounds. It is the ability to associate
sounds with individual letters and letter combinations (aksharas) and blending the sounds together to pronounce (or read) the whole word and identify the meaning (if the word is
known).
e. Reading with comprehension: Constructing meaning from a written text and critically thinking about it.
f. Fluent reading: Accurate, automatic recognition of words and reading with expression.
g. Writing: Ability to write words correctly, along with presentation of thoughts or information in a logical and organised manner.
h. Developing a desire or habit of reading: Engaging with a wide variety of books and other reading materials and developing an appreciation for literature
Excerpt from
National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage-2022
https://ncert.nic.in/pdf/NCF_for_Foundational_Stage_20_October_2022.pdf
[…] are four Reading Strategies for Developing Reading Skills in ECCE How to Teach Language and Literacy at Early Childhood and Education How Children Learn at Foundational Stage-NCFFS-2022 How to Teach Language and Literacy at […]