Participation of Teachers and the Role of Play in Early Childhood Literacy - Essay Example

?Running Head: TEACHER PARTICIPATION IN EARLY LITERACY Teacher Participation and the Role of Play in Early Childhood Literacy Teacher Participation and the Role of Play in Early Childhood Literacy Introduction The play that is created by children is based upon the need to create order out of their perception of the world. As a process, play is based upon reinterpreting what they experience, learning about their observations, and committing those concepts to memory so that they can be used in order to further gain social understanding of the world. Through the use of language, interrelationships to concepts are formed which is a precursor to a more developed literacy. Encouraging children toward literacy can be achieved through the interactions of the teacher with the play environments and through an understanding of how those imaginative results of play are part of the learning process towards textual based interactions. The theories of Vygotsky and Piaget on symbolic play support the idea that in creating play scenarios and adapting to roles, young children are engaging language towards literacy. Teachers can create appropriate environments in which children are observed at times or played with by the teacher in order to encourage literacy. In an examination of the nature of play as it relates to the development of literacy, this paper will explore the ideas of Vygotsky and Piaget as they can be associated to teacher participation in play environments with the intention of supporting early literacy. Literacy and Language Machado (2012) discusses the term literacy and breaks it down into four concepts: listening, speaking, reading, and writing, all of which are connected by the thinking process. The processes of interpretation are closely related to visual literacy as what is seen is then interpreted through textual concepts. This means that as a teacher in an early childhood environment, it is important that the overlap of language arts be explored through a variety of interactions. Machodo (2012) goes on to discuss how when children are introduced to reading skills or learn reading skills on their own before kindergarten, the interest in reading should be directed towards understanding the interrelatedness of all of the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. While sight recognition may be the source of early reading, interrelationships between the four key concepts are crucial for competent early literacy. There are a great many approaches to interacting with children in order to encourage literacy at an early age. Christie (1991) did a study in which imaginative function was used for four year olds who were first told to draw pictures, and then to ‘write’ stories through their own imagined concept of writing. The children then ‘read’ their stories, creating a literary connection between their drawings and their concept of storytelling. Reciting Halliday’s model, Christie (1991) stated that “the lifelike context of discourse directly affected the texts produced by the children” (p. 198). Children related their experiences in having been read to with producing their own stories that followed similar themes even though the text was imagined by them as they had yet to have grasped the written language skills to actually write the story. Children respond to literacy in relationship to how they perceive textual tools around them. In placing children into a village type atmosphere, they related stories about their roles in relationship to textual contexts by producing letters in the post office, mommy writing checks and so on (Christie, 1991). In order to extend this adaptation of textual roles in relationship to their environment, the teacher should have literary materials, such as papers and marking instruments at each play center in order to encourage the interaction of play and literacy. Vygotsky and Piaget Concepts in play as they relate to early literacy were explored by Vygotsky and Piaget, linking symbolic play to “dimensions of language and literacy” (Christie, 1991, p. 47). Symbolic play is a way of connecting the world to interpretations through story and language skills. Literacy is gained through symbolic play that supports those interpretations, gaining cognitive learning about those aspects that are represented and transferring them into a literary context for memory and overlap as an older experience is combined into a newer experience so that the child continues to develop memory and the language skills to continue learning. Vygotsky determined that the play that children conduct is governed by two opposing concepts. The one end is catharsis-like where children exhibit play behaviors in order to imaginatively have what is not currently a part of their lives. As an example, children will pretend to be basketball stars when they are only just learning the game. In this state of play they are “obtaining the unobtainable” (Pelligrini & Galda, 2003, p. 66). In the second state of play they are participating in the rules set by society. In other words, they would be trying to get the ball into the basket as they played (Pelligrini & Galda, 2003). Vygotsky associated these two forms of play so that they became a part of symbolic play in which “children were able to achieve at higher levels of competence than in reality” (Pelligrini & Galda, 2003, p. 67). Children can manipulate and mediate the different symbols in their lives so that they relate socially (Pelligrini & Galda, 2003). Through playing and recreating their observations of the world in imagined duplications, the child forms a connection to their world and begins to relate their play and create ideas about how the world operates. Through connecting these imaginings to language, literary connections begin to emerge so that the imagined ‘story’ relates to the development of real world distinctions. Luongo-Orlando (2010) writes that “according to Piagetian theory, it is the symbolic nature of children’s play that closely parallels the symbolic nature of literacy” (p. 16). Through playing out the events and experiences of their life, they process what they observe around them and form memory. Roskos, Christie, and Richgels (March 2003) write that children recall experiences and memories in order to create new contexts and understandings, which creates a play/literacy interface through which the terms of language and memory begin to inform a child about the nature of society and their role within it. Piaget formulated his theory around the idea that “Play was a way in which children could subordinate the world to their conceptualizations with minimal change in cognitive structures” (Pellegrini & Galda, 2003, p. 67). Play was a process through which the world is given order. Symbolic play operates around a societal script in which social norms are recreated so that the child can both participate and create the literary context. As an example, when children play that they are superheroes, they do so according to social scripting on what it means to be a superhero (Pellegrini & Galda, 2003). In the process of using these social scripts, they are also creating and adding their own version so that they contribute to the origins. In contributing to the social script of origin, they are interacting with symbols of literature, language skills are being increased and used, and the child is learning through this type of play about the interconnectivity between language and literacy. As investigated by Bergen and Mauer (2000), children who exhibit early signs of symbolic play often have high levels of phonological awareness which influences later writing and reading skills as language is interacted with on a higher level of textual concepts. The advancement of literary skills through the use of symbolic play is shown to have significant difference when a child is indicated at low levels of phonological awareness in kindergarten than if this assessment is made pre-kindergarten age. A child who reaches high levels of phonological awareness that is exhibited in symbolic play by the age of kindergarten is less likely to have difficulties in first grade when reading skills are introduced. Therefore the importance of symbolic play that engages the concept of language skills towards literacy is an important part of educating young children at the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten age. The teacher has the opportunity to enrich early childhood literacy through both independent play opportunities and participation in play experiences with the intention of enriching them through a variety of techniques Teacher Participation and Early Childhood Literacy One of the first basic concepts for symbolic play is in setting up play stations that are themed and that can be engaged by children in order to create their own interpretations of their world. As the teacher, engaging in both observation and participation at a variety of moments during the experiences allows the child to create their own imaginative play, as well as derive ideas from interactions with the teacher. Through a variety of techniques, literacy can be addressed from both the imaginative function and the participation from teachers. One of the first ways in which to engage children in literacy based learning is through rich teacher talk. This consists of a number of different techniques which includes everything from simply engaging them into conversation, to the use of rare words that they may not be exposed to on a regular basis. Through taking the comments made by children and extending them into more sophisticated ideas, the child can begin to have a broader understanding of various subjects. As well, providing challenging content to discussions that broaden the understanding of the world will also broaden symbolic play, thus encouraging literacy through language skills and interactions between language and play (Roskos, Christie, & Richgels, 2003). One of the time honored ways of engaging children in literacy is through storybook reading, but a teacher can also engage them in phonetic games which will provide for increased capacities before entering kindergarten. Those activities can include rhyme, alliteration, and sound matching in order to use listening as it connects to speaking through cognitive learning (Roskos, Christie, & Richgels, 2003). Imaginative writing, where the act of writing is played rather than accomplished, and shared writing where the student dictates and the teacher writes what the child says are two other early literacy teaching techniques (Roskos, Christie, & Richgels, 2003). An example of this was accomplished by a teacher who asked her children to tell her the recipe for their favorite food cooked by their family. The result was a shared literary experience between the children and teacher that was then shared with the parents in which the observations of the children provided a cookbook that was given as a Christmas present. This type of interactive, one on one experience supports future literacy efforts as the familiarity with text supports the adaptation and learning of literacy skills in future grade levels. Conclusion The use of Vygotsky and Piaget’s theories when combined with techniques that can increase literacy in early childhood will support better learning capacities when reading and writing skills are introduced. Play at the pre-kindergarten level can be engaged by teachers so that they both allow children space to create their own stories, as well as participating with them to enrich their understanding so that they can further their own play towards more sophisticated story telling. A teacher is helping their play time through giving them new ideas and concepts through which to create their imagined worlds. Symbolic play, as discussed by Vygotsky and Piaget, allows for an understanding that the child is reinterpreting their world through play, the social scripts presenting them with ideas through which they can express their observations. The teacher expands this process through providing the pre-kindergarten age children with increased tools with which to understand language and use in play towards higher literacy. Resources Bergen, D & Mauer, D. (2000). Symbolic play, phonological awareness, and literacy skills at three age levels. In K. A. Roskos & J. F. Christie (Ed), (2000). Play and literacy in early childhood: Research from multiple perspectives., (pp. 45-62). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. Christie, J. F. (1991). Play and early literacy development. Albany, N.Y: State University of New York Press. Griffith, P. L. (2008). Literacy for young children: A guide for early childhood educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Luongo-Orlando, K. (2010). The cornerstones to early literacy: Childhood experiences that promote learning in reading, writing, and oral language. Markham, Ont: Pembroke Publishers. Machado, J. M. (2012). Early childhood experiences in language arts: Early literacy. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Pelligrini, A. & Galda, L. (2003). The development of school based literacy: A social ecological perspective. New York: Routledge. Roskos, K. A., Christie, J. & Richgels, D. J. (March 2003). The essentials of early literacy instruction. Young Children. p. 52-60. Retrieved from http://tyc.naeyc.org/pdf/Roskos.pdf (Accessed on 19 October 2012). . Read More