An introduction to supporting early literacy

Literacy is the way that we communicate with each other using symbol systems. Traditionally the term ‘literacy’ has been used to refer to skills in reading, writing and maths, but many in the field of early childhood education now consider ‘literacies’ as encompassing a wider range of ways that young children communicate meaning with others including oral language, play, movement, mark-making and technologies. Literacies vary across cultures, and children learn to communicate in ways that reflect their home learning environments. The development of literacy begins from birth, well before children formally learn to read, write or talk. This is sometimes referred to as emergent literacy. Teachers, family members and peers all play a significant role in helping young children to develop literacy in early childhood education settings. 

How can early childhood education teachers support early literacy development?

The development of children’s language and literacy skills are essential for their cognitive development, literacy achievement and academic skills, as well as for their social skills and mental wellbeing. Research shows that teacher-child interactions are a critical aspect of supporting children’s language and literacy learning in educational settings. Teachers can foster and extend the development of early literacy development in many ways. 

Oral language and social interaction  

Teachers and peers are communicative partners who play an important role in supporting children’s early literacy development in ECE settings. Communication encompasses oral language and social interaction, including the understanding and use of spoken words (receptive and expressive language) as well as non-verbal aspects of communication such as body movements, gestures and facial expression. Communication also involves the sounds used in language (phonological awareness).

Engaging in reciprocal interactions provides opportunities for children’s oral language and social skills to develop. This supports literacy development, because children learn that communicating face-to-face with others involves using symbols that represent and express their thoughts and feelings, just as in other forms of literacy. Spoken or signed words are examples of symbolic systems that represent concepts such as people, places, actions and things. Gestures like pointing or waving are also symbolic actions that allow us to communicate our intended meanings. A child’s vocabulary, encompassing both the words that they can understand and those they can use, is one important foundation underpinning early literacy development. 

Interactive play provides an important context for young children to build their literacy skills, especially if teachers intentionally provide play opportunities that extend language and communication through social relationships. Through play, children can interact with their peers and adults using a range of symbolic forms of communication involving listening, taking turns and expressing themselves using their body movements, gestures, speech sounds, words, and printed pictures or words. Pretend and sociodramatic role play also provides children with the opportunity to take on roles and make up stories, linking characters to actions or events as their stories unfold. 

Listening and making sounds

Listening and speech-sound awareness (phonological awareness) are also an important foundation for literacy, particularly in terms of supporting language comprehension and the understanding of the sound system needed for later spelling and reading skills. Locating and identifying environmental sounds in the presence of other background noise is a playful way of introducing the notion of listening to speech sounds in words and sentences. Stop what you are doing every so often and pause for at least five seconds, asking children to listen: ‘what can you hear?’ You can do this while you are inside or outside. You might hear traffic noises, people talking, the wind, rain on the roof, music playing, or the phone ringing.

Point out the noises, sounds and rhyming words you can hear as you are singing, playing, talking and reading with children (for example, ‘The cat sat on the mat… hey, cat and hat rhyme!’). Play around with making different sounds and noises too (for example, in Old MacDonald, ‘The cow says “moo” – can you make that noise too?’). Encourage children to think about the sounds they can hear in words, and see if they can think of more (‘What else starts with M? Does anyone have a name that starts with M’?). Think up silly sentences that use alliteration or start with the same sound (‘My mum makes muddy muffins!’). It is important to keep this fun, rather than the repetitive drilling of sounds and letters! 

Engaging with a range of texts

Texts can be oral, visual and aural. They are forms of communication that can be spoken, sung, read, written and listened to in different languages and modes. Children learn about literacy by exploring their senses of looking, hearing, touch and through movement. Waiata (songs), rhymes, poems and pūrākau (oral stories) all include important forms of literacy that children enjoy and that connect them to their family and cultural backgrounds. In all cultures there are songs and stories that primarily involve speaking and listening without using written texts, so it is important to talk to families about what kinds of literacy are important to them and experienced by children at home in order for them to be incorporated in ECE settings. 

Songs and rhymes support early literacy by providing children with opportunities to listen and express themselves using rhythm, rhyme, gestures, sounds and words. Young children particularly enjoy action songs and rhymes with repeated gestures, noises, words such as ‘Willoughby wallaby woo’, ‘Tohora nui’, ‘Slippery Fish’, ‘An old lady who swallowed a fly’, and ‘Old MacDonald’. 

Telling stories and reading books allows for emotional closeness and connection while also supporting the development of children’s listening, imagination, vocabulary, comprehension, expression, print awareness and understanding of narrative forms of literacy. Teachers can support children to remember and retell stories of everyday things they have experienced using objects, photos or videos (for example, ‘Do you remember when we visited the beach? Look at all the shells you found’). Tell stories that include children as the main characters, using either real or fantasy versions. Reading books with children also allows them to develop concepts about print and reading. Find books that support children’s interests or that they enjoy the most – this might include picture books, lift-the-flap books, Dr Seuss-style rhyming books, books about favourite characters, or photo albums and learning stories that have personal significance for children.

Exploring modes of self-expression

Children develop literacies through exploring a variety of modes of self-expression in their home and ECE environments. Creative arts such as drama, art and music are forms of communication that allow children to create meaning and express their thoughts, ideas and feelings in a range of symbolic ways. Mark-making, drawing, writing and gross-motor body movements are all forms of expression related to literacy development.

Sociodramatic play allows children opportunities to express themselves using representational objects, words and gestures as they take on roles and create scenarios and sequences of story events in collaboration with others. Music and dance also allow young children to listen and express themselves through singing or moving their bodies in meaningful, symbolic ways. Music, movement and dance enable children to explore and develop literacy through the use of rhythm, patterns and sequencing, phonological awareness, vocabulary and storytelling as they communicate with others in embodied ways. Find out from families if there are cultural or traditional styles of dance, movement or music that children experience at home (such as songs, haka, or sasa). Ask if there are symbolic gestures or words that carry cultural meaning and think about ways this might be incorporated into ECE centre activities to support literacy.

Access to print materials and forms of technology in play areas allows children to explore aspects of using literacy for different social purposes (such as making a shopping list, writing a birthday card, reading a book, sending an email, or searching for information on the internet). Children start to experiment with mark-making, creating patterns and using symbols (such as shapes and letters) through opportunities to draw, paint, write and talk. Providing open-ended, holistic experiences for children to paint, draw, sculpt or engage with visual images encourages them to represent and communicate meaning through exploring and manipulating a variety of materials. 

Principles for culturally responsive teaching in early childhood education

There can be no recipe or script for culturally responsive teaching because every group of families and children has differing backgrounds and unique needs, capabilities, and interests. Early childhood teachers need to know about this diversity in order to adapt their practice to suit the cultural practices, beliefs, and values of the child and their family, and to support all children to participate fully while maintaining their cultural identities. This guide offers some general, research-based principles and suggestions to empower teachers, in concert with families, to discover different ways of dealing with issues of diversity.

Reflecting on oneself and one’s own culture

It is not possible to be sensitive to someone else’s ways of being and doing without first being sensitive to the impact of one’s own cultural values, beliefs, and practices. Teachers should continually explore their own cultural and ethnic identities by reflecting upon their upbringing and family values, their cultural beliefs and biases, and the assumptions around learning and childhood to which they lead. These assumptions and beliefs will influence teachers’ perceptions (for example, of children’s competency or agency) and practices (such as soliciting children’s opinions). Be aware that the practices and principles that are currently valid according to the dominant culture are not universally true, but also the product of a cultural context. 

Reflecting on other cultures

While ethnicity and culture must be recognised as important in the identity of children and families, stereotypes must be avoided. Gaining some knowledge about the cultures of the children and families that attend the setting is a starting point for understanding children and families, but it is important to be aware that there are many differences between and within cultural groups, and that cultural identities are complex, fluid and multiple.

Developing positive attitudes towards diversity

Attitudes related to being comfortable and supportive of diversity are more important to developing cross-cultural competencies than becoming an expert on every possible kind of cultural practice and belief. Positive attitudes involve commitment to culturally responsive practices and to social justice, genuine interest and curiosity to learn about families’ cultures and lifestyles, flexibility and openness to change, humility, empathy and sensitivity.

Working with families as a valuable resource

Genuine, heartfelt, and long-term relationships are a key priority for learning about home practices and beliefs, and for bridging cultural distance and disconnect, where it may exist. Research shows that teachers find it difficult to build appropriate knowledge of children from minority backgrounds without parental input. Use strategies such as appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication, attentiveness, respect, sincerity, home visits, and invitations for genuine collaboration, and allow lengthy periods for getting to know each other. Be careful that surface appearances do not influence behaviours, interactions, or perspectives, and try to suspend judgement and accept what families tell you as valuable information.

Observing and analysing

Analytical approaches which incorporate both observation of children and dialogue with families can be useful to help guide the construction of a culturally responsive curriculum. Theoretical frameworks such as ‘funds of knowledge’ (which focus on practices that are passed on through families over generations and adapted to new situations) can support teachers to recognise, value, and explore children’s interests, skills, knowledge, and learning embedded in their everyday practices, routines and activities at home.

Responding

Cultural responsiveness involves interpreting and delivering the curriculum in a way that is effective for each child and appropriate to their social and cultural context. This involves deep and critical thinking, and adapting and modifying your approach to teaching and learning as your understanding of the unique and diverse needs of children grows. Recognising that all children are different does not mean they need the provision of different experiences but rather that you understand the diverse ways they respond to shared experiences. However, basing curriculum on children’s lives and building on the social and cultural capital of children, families, and teachers will allow for greater multicultural significance in the programme.

Resourcing

Resources can be found in staff, management committees, children, and families. Teachers and families may have skills that they have not shared, and children too have a high capacity to direct their own learning and play, and to support each other. Research shows that, while children’s learning experiences depends on the use of the cultural tools of the family, these cultural tools are only employed if the early childhood setting environment is receptive to them. When children can find their family culture in the setting and apply their cultural tools, they are able to mix, transfer and borrow skills, values, and knowledges in order to have their needs met and experience success.

Physical resources should be responsive and sensitive to families’ cultures and heritages, and embedded into the daily programme, rather than relegated to a wall display that is rarely referred to, or an occasional celebration of a cultural festival. Books, images, and posters show children what and whom is valued, so these should reflect and validate children’s cultural identities to help children feel emotionally secure, as well as offer them a range of positive identities and possible futures. Be aware that children who are unfamiliar with any of the practices or activities of the setting may be marginalised as they do not know what they are supposed to do. Activities such as hand painting and sand play, or questioning and verbalising opinions, may be unfamiliar to children of particular cultural backgrounds, or children might have difficulty adapting to a self-directed play environment. Providing dress up costumes or food props related to different cultures will do little to mitigate this.