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##  Early Literacy Instruction: Research Applications in the Classrooms.            ERIC Digest.                                                                 

Research overwhelmingly reveals that the early childhood years are              the single most important period of time during which literacy                  development occurs in a person's life (National Association for the             Education of Young Children, 1998; Slegers, 1996). However,                     philosophical and methodological differences exist regarding how                best to instruct and encourage young children to read and write.                Teaching reading and writing to young children in American has                  always been an area of controversy and debate (Teale & Yokota,                  2000), and it remains so today. The purpose of this Digest is to                review various studies and to identify essential elements of                    effective early literacy classroom instruction. PHONICS AND                   PHONEMIC AWARENESSAccording to the National Institute for                   Literacy (2001), phonemic awareness is the ability to think about               and work with individual sounds in spoken languages. Before children            learn to read, they need to be aware of how sounds work. Teachers               should integrate phonemic awareness instruction in the curriculum to            help children learn to read and spell. The instruction can start                with having children categorize the first phonemes-the smallest                 functional unit of speech-in words and then progress to more                    complicated combinations. According to the National Reading                     Panel (2000) "Phonics skills must be integrated with the development            of phonemic awareness, fluency, and text reading comprehension                  skills." Developing skill in blending and manipulating phonemes has             been found to permit many children to develop strong reading                    abilities who were otherwise struggling. 
Phonemic awareness can               also be integrated into beginning writing instruction. While a child            writes, the teacher can name the letters or comment about the                   strokes used to form the letters. When teachers take dictated                   messages from children, such as when writing a thank-you letter to a            parent or guest, they can provide explicit demonstrations of phoneme            segmentation. Note, however, there is no need to postpone children's            functional writing until they all know the alphabet letters since               many children develop strong writing skills simply through exposure             to a print-rich environment (Schickedanz, 1998). Teachers should                provide flexible writing experiences that allow young children to               use scribble, random letters, or invented spelling in the beginning             and over time move to more conventional forms (NAEYC, 1998; Teale &             Yokota, 2000). When children write their own texts, they are also               developing their vocabulary and phonemic awareness (Slegers,                    1996). POSITIVE ADULT-CHILD RELATIONSHIPSYoung children's                 literacy learning benefits greatly from adults who are responsive to            their interests and sensitive to their current level of language                development (Slegers, 1996). During the infant and toddler years,               children need many one-on-one interactions with caring adults to                support their oral literacy development. Parents can talk to very               young children and respond to their attempts to engage with simple              language and frequent eye-contacts. Young children also need                    teachers to play with, talk with, sing to, and with whom to do                  finger plays and other learning games. In preschool, children need              positive and nurturing relationships with teachers who can model                reading and writing behaviors, engage in responsive conversations,              and foster their interests in learning to read and write (NAEYC,                1998; Teale & Yokota, 2000). A PRINT-RICH ENVIRONMENTChildren             need materials to support their literacy development. When children             have ready access to writing tools with which to express themselves             in symbolic ways, they are motivated to learn and use literacy.                 Books, papers, writing tools, and functional signs should be visible            everywhere in the classroom so that children can see and use                    literacy for multiple purposes. Children also engage in more reading            and writing activities in print-rich environments (Slegers, 1996).              For toddlers, teachers can provide simple art materials such as                 crayons, markers or papers for them to explore and manipulate. For              preschoolers, teachers can draw children's attention to specific                letters and words in the environment whenever it is appropriate.                Besides accessible writing tools, children also need time to explore            literacy. In the free-choice time period, children can engage in                literacy-related play by sharing and sending messages to friends in             a writing center. Creating menus for a restaurant, writing grocery              lists, or making invitations to classroom events are examples of                activities that can help children understand what readers and                   writers do before they actually acquire the skills necessary to read            and write (NAEYC, 1998; Neuman, 1998; Teale & Yokota, 2000). When               literacy is an integral part of their daily activities, children                actively construct their own literacy knowledge and strategies and              learn to read and write naturally and playfully (Teale & Yokota,                2000). INTEGRATED LANGUAGE EXPLORATIONS IN THE CURRICULUMThe              early childhood curriculum should be intellectually engaging and                challenging in a way that expands children's knowledge of the world             and vocabulary. Investigating real topics or events that are                    meaningful to children should be a primary feature of the                       curriculum. When children investigate, they have opportunities to               ask questions and use their literacy skills to explore their worlds.            Teachers can establish time each day for students to present their              thoughts in symbolic ways. Children can also work in small groups               with peers having different skills so they can learn from each                  other. Most young children are eager to learn literacy when they                discover that it is useful for exploring the environment and for                communicating with others (NAEYC, 1998; Neuman, 1998). READING AND            WRITING ACTIVITIESListening to stories and discussing them are              very important activities in early childhood classrooms (Slegers,               1996). For very young children, who normally have very short                    attention spans, story times work best when they are short (about               5-10 minutes) and conversational. Teachers can share cardboard                  books, nursery rhymes, books with photographs or drawings of                    animals, people, and brightly colored objects. Through these                    activities, children learn to focus their attention on words and                pictures (Neuman & Bredekamp, 2000).  In preschool, children need               daily exposure to high quality books. Teachers can read books daily             to individual children or to small groups of children; these                    readings should be from books that positively reflect children's                identity, home language, and culture. In kindergarten and the                   primary grades, children also need to experience and engage in                  stories and informational texts daily.  These activities foster                 children's vocabulary learning and comprehension skills (NAEYC,                 1998; Neuman & Bredekamp, 2000; Teale & Yokota, 2000). 
When                   reading to students of all ages, teachers should speak with                     inflection in order to convey meanings. Teachers may either stop and            ask questions when they read the books or they can read an entire               passage at once, thereby permitting students to enjoy the language              and the rhythm of the book (Neuman, 1998). After readings, there                should be opportunities for children to talk about what was read and            to focus on the sounds and parts of language as well as the meaning             of the book (NAEYC, 1998). Student response cards and group                     discussions followed by the retelling of a story using pictures or              actual objects are effective devices for engaging students and                  enhancing their understanding of the stories they have read (Neuman,            1998). Background and contextual information regarding the                      literature being read is also useful for students' comprehension,               vocabulary building and decoding. This can be provided through field            trips, experiments, videos, or guest speakers (NAEYC, 1998;                     Schickedanz, 1998). 
Students not only need to listen to books,                they also need to have chances to read independently. Library                   corners need to be in the central part of the classroom with                    comfortable furniture that encourages children to read by                       themselves. Varying levels and varieties of reading materials, such             as novels, biographies, informational books, magazines, and                     newspaper articles should be provided to broaden children's reading             experiences. Good lighting and lively displays of readily accessible            arrangements of books encourage children to stay in the                         library (Neuman & Bredekamp, 2000). Many teachers like to encourage             children to do book talks about the materials they are reading,                 finding that this method significantly promotes conversations and               reading interests among the children. Opportunities for children to             read to audiences, including peers, parents, or even stuffed animals            should be provided since this has been found to increase reading                accuracy and fluency. Reading can also be a regular part of                     children's out-of-school time so that parents can be involved in                supporting children's reading habits at home. When children have                opportunities to experience various types of literature such as                 stories, informational texts, and poems, to respond to them through             art, music, or dramatic activities, and to learn from lessons about             comprehension strategies such as predicting and drawing inferences,             they become more capable in processing written language and more                familiar with language patterns and vocabulary (Neuman, 1998;                   Teale & Yokota, 2000). VARY TEACHING STRATEGIES ACCORDING TO                  CHILDREN'S NEEDSIn literacy-rich classrooms, some children are              able to learn the skills and strategies necessary for reading and               writing through engagement in meaningful activities. Finger plays,              songs, poems, games, chants, and book listening and discussion all              help children to pick up new vocabularies, understand the                       similarities and differences in language, and develop phonemic                  awareness (NAEYC, 1998; Neuman, 1998). However, it is important for             teachers to adjust teaching strategies according to children's                  needs. Some children need explicit, direct instruction in order to              master the task, and teachers must try to achieve balance between               meaningful activities and skill practices (NAEYC, 1998; Neuman,                 1998; Schickedanz, 1998; Teale & Yokota, 2000). Children may need to            see or hear the alphabetic letters isolated from the context in                 order to better capture their shape and form (Neuman, 1998). 
If a             child fails to make expected progress in literacy learning or if                their literacy skills are advanced, teachers also need to prepare               more individualized instructional strategies to meet the child's                needs (NAEYC, 1998) CONCLUSIONLearning to read and write is a             critical achievement in life. Research reveals conclusively the link            between early literacy and later academic and career success. To                ensure that every child becomes a competent reader and writer is a              responsibility shared by teachers, families and communities. The                role of educators in early literacy instruction is to teach basic               skills and to provide rich, meaningful, engaging learning                       environments supported by appropriate teaching practices. Each child            comes to the classroom with different literacy experiences and                  abilities, and teachers need to consider each child's needs and to              provide balanced programs with explicit instruction and meaningful              reading and writing tasks (Slegers, 1996). When children are                    encouraged to learn independently, and when teachers, parents and               communities work together to build optimal environments for that                learning, children's success in reading and writing can be                      expected (NAEYC, 1998; Neuman, 1998; Schickedanz,                               1998). REFERENCESNational Association for the Education of                Young Children. (1998).A joint position statement by NAEYC &                    International Reading Assoc.: Learning to read and write:                       Developmentally appropriate practices for young children. Young                 Children, 53(4), 30-46. 
National Institute for Literacy. (2001).              Put reading first: The research building blocks for teaching                    children to read: Kindergarten through grade 3. Washington, DC:                 Author. 
National Institute of Child Health and Human                          Development (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching              Children to Read: An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific                Research Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading                 Instruction [Online]. Available:                                                http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/nrp/smallbook.htm 
Neuman, S.            B. (1998). How can we enable all children to achieve? In S. B.                  Neuman & K. A. Roskos (Eds.), Children achieving: Best practices in             early literacy (pp. 18-32). Newark, DE: International Reading                   Association. 
Neuman, S. B., & Bredekamp, S. (2000). Becoming a                reader: A developmentally appropriate approach. In D. S.                        Strickland & L. M. Morrow (Eds.), Beginning reading and writing.                Language and literacy series (pp. 22-44). Newark, DE: International             Reading Association. 
Schickedanz, J. A. (1998). What is                       developmentally appropriate practice in early literacy? Consider the            alphabet. In S. B. Neuman & K. A. Roskos (Eds.), Children achieving:            Best practices in early literacy (pp. 20-37). Newark, DE:                       International Reading Association. 
Slegers, B. (1996). A review of            the research and literature on emergent literacy. Urbana-Champaign,             IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood                        Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 397                       959) 
Teale, W., & Yokota, J. (2000). Beginning reading and                    writing: Perspectives on instruction. In D. S. Strickland & L. M.               Morrow (Eds.), Beginning reading and writing. Language and literacy             series (pp. 3-21). Newark, DE: International Reading                            Association. 
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Digest #166 is EDO-CS-01-07 and was published            in December 2001 by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English &                Communication, 2805 E 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47408-2698,                     Telephone (812) 855-5847 or (800) 759-4723. ERIC Digests are in the             public domain and may be freely reproduced. Additional copies may be            ordered by contacting the ERIC Document Reproduction Service                    at (800) 443-3742. 
This project is funded at least in part with               Federal funds from the U S Department of Education under contract               number ED-99-CO-0028. The content of this publication does not                  necessarily reflect the views or policies of the US Department of               Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or              organizations imply endorsement by the US Government.                        **Title:** Early Literacy Instruction: Research Applications in the Classrooms.            ERIC Digest.                                                                 **Note:** ERIC/REC Digest number D166.                                                 **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication, Indiana              University, 2805 E. 10th Street, Suite 140, Bloomington, IN                     47408-2698. Tel: 800-759-4723 (Toll Free); Web site:                            http://eric.indiana.edu.                                                     **Descriptors:**  Beginning Reading, Class Activities,  Classroom Environment, Early             Childhood Education,  Emergent Literacy, Instructional                          Effectiveness, Teacher Role, Theory Practice Relationship                    **Identifiers:** Adult Child Relationship, ERIC Digests,  Phonemic Awareness                  
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