Utah State Office of Education

Reading Teacher Endorsement Course Framework

 EARLY LITERACY INSTRUCTION

       Syllabus Framework

 

Department

Institution

Semester/Year                                            

Credit hours

Instructor:                                                     

Office:

Office Phone                                                

e-mail:

 

Possible Text:

Morrow, L. M. (2001).  Literacy development in the early years: Helping children read and write.  Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

 

Purpose:

Research is becoming clearer about the developmental stages of human growth and how language learning and print acquisition proceed.  Recent research provides instructional insights into how young children as individuals with individual levels of preparation and support from widely varying home and cultural backgrounds require early oral language and literacy support.  The purpose of this course is to become a student of research on emergent and early literacy development.  When teachers understand research they may construct well-designed, appropriate literacy learning environments, experiences, and instructional interventions for young language learners.

 

Course Description:

This course is a graduate level course designed to help you understand the history, major perspectives and theories about how young children understand literacy.  It will focus on developmentally appropriate instruction and the value of play relating to oral and print literacy in kindergarten and the primary grades.  Further, this course does not limit its scope to the examination of reading behaviors alone; but the course also examines literacy development within the larger framework of the communicative arts, i.e., oracy, written expression, reading, spelling, handwriting, listening,  the visual and performing arts, and the social community, i.e., family, socio-economic conditions, culture, ethnicity, language, etc.

 

Course Objectives:

After completing this course you will be able to:

Course Objectives

Standards

1.   Identify and discuss the theories regarding emergent and   early literacy    instruction.

1

2.    Understand and discuss the process of  literacy instruction in the early  grades.

1.3; 1.4; 1.5; 2

3.    Organize an emergent and an early literacy classroom, which meets the developmental, academic, social, and cultural needs of students.  This will include instructional materials, activities, assessments, and the  classroom environment

2; 3; 4

4.    Effectively involve parents in their children’s literacy learning at home and in the classroom

3.4

5.    Use appropriate assessment and observation strategies to monitor students, literacy learning and develop appropriate instruction based on the results of the assessments and observations.

3

6.    Read, understand, and discuss the findings of recent research syntheses on early literacy such as the Report of the National Reading Panel, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, Eager to  Learn, and Beginning Literacy With Language

1; 5

 

 

Course Topics:

‚              Historical Perspectives

 

•                Reading readiness

•                Emergent literacy

 

‚              Literacy development of young children

 

•                Structural models of development

•                Theoretical perspectives of oral language acquisition

•                Reading stage development

•                Writing and spelling stage development

•                Trends in literacy instruction

 

‚              Instruction

 

•                Explicit and implicit instructional activities

•                Alphabetic principle

•                Phonics instruction

•                Building background knowledge

•                Vocabulary

•                Phonological awareness

•                Phonemic awareness

•                Print concepts

•                Word identification strategies

•                Comprehension strategies

•                Fluency

•                Automaticity

•                Building students’ reading attitude and interests

 

 

‚              Designing literacy learning environments

 

•                Designing classroom environments

•                Instructional routines

•                Managing flexible grouping

•                Play centers

 

 

‚              Instructional texts and materials

 

•                Leveled books, predictable books, decodable texts, textbooks

•                Technology

•                Children’s literature

•                Narrative and expository texts

 

‚              Socio-cultural perspectives

 

•                Supporting literacy development in diverse learners

•                Parent involvement

 

‚               Assessing young children’s literacy learning

 

•                Instruments for assessing literacy development

•                Connecting assessment to instruction

•                Summative and formative Assessment

•                Communicating assessment information

 

Possible Assignments:

 

•                Complete assigned readings and be prepared for class discussion.

 

•                Select one of the early literacy research articles listed in the bibliography.  Carefully read the article and prepare a five-page paper discussing the issues involved, the research method, the research findings, and the implications for practice.

 

•                Meet with an early childhood teaching team.  Share your knowledge about instructional principles of appropriate early literacy instruction.  Determine the teams’ commitment to research based, developmentally appropriate practice, its current level of understanding and implementation, and needed instructional changes.  Describe your findings in writing.

 

•                Administer early literacy assessments to young children.  Based on the data from these assessments, describe instructional decisions you would make for these students.

 

•                Arrange for a practicum experience working with early literacy learners.

 

Grading Procedures:

 

Course Schedule:

 

Bibliography

Primary Sources:

Adams, M. J. (1990a). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 

 

         Adams, M. J. (2001).  Alphabetic anxiety and explicit systematic phonics instruction: A cognitive science perspective pp. 66-80.    In S.B. Neuman & D.K. Dickinson (Eds.).  Handbook of early literacy research.  New York: Guilford Press.

 

Ashton-Warner, S. (1963).  Teacher.  New York:  Simon & Schuster.

                 

Bredekamp, S. & Copple, C. (1997). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs.  Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children. 

                       

Burns, M.S., Griffin, P. & Snow, C.E. (1999). Starting out right: A guide to promoting children’s reading success. Washington, DC: National Research Council. 

                                   

         Clay, M.M. (1993). An observation survey of early literacy achievement. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann. 

 

Clay, M.M. (2000)  Concepts about print:  What have children learned about the way we print language.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

 

Clay, M.M. (2000).  Running records.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

 

Cochrane, O., Cochrane, D., Scalena, D., & Buchanan, E. (1984).  Reading, writing and caring.  New York:  Richard C. Owen.

 

   Collins-Block, C., Oakar, M., & Hurt, N.  (2002).The Expertise of Literacy Teachers: A continuum   from preschool to grade 5.  Reading Research Quarterly, 37(2), 178-206.

 

Duke, N. K. (2000) 3.6 minutes per day: The scarcity of informational texts in first grade.  Reading Research Quarterly; 35 (2), 202-24.

 

Ehri, Linnea C. (1994).  Development of the Ability to read words. In Barr, Rebecca, Kamil, Michael L., Mosenthal, Peter, & Pearson P. David (eds) Handbook of reading research II.  Mahwah, NJ:  Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.

 

Excellent Reading Teachers: Position statement of the International reading Association.  Newark, DE: International Reading Association.                                                                                           

 

Flood, J., Jensen, J., Lapp, D., & Squire, J.  (1991). Handbook of research on the teaching of the English language arts.  New York: Macmillan.

 

Gee, J.P. (2001).  A sociocultural perspective on early literacy development, p. 30-42.   In S.B. Neuman & D.K. Dickinson (Eds.).  Handbook of early literacy research.  New York: Guilford Press.

 

Giffith, P.L., & Olson, M.W. (1992).   Phonemic awareness helps beginning readers break the code.  The Reading Teacher, 45, 516-523.

 

Juel, Connie (1996).  Beginning reading. In Barr, Rebecca, Kamil, Michael L., Mosenthal, Peter, & Pearson P. David (eds) Handbook of reading research II.  Mahwah, NJ:  Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.

 

Hanson, R.A. & Farrell, D. (1995). The long-term effects on high school seniors of learning to read in kindergarten.  Reading Research Quarterly, 30, 4, 908-933.

 

Heibert, Elfrieda H. & Martin, Leigh A.  The texts of beginning reading instruction.  In S.B. Neuman & D.K.  Dickinson (Eds.).                 Handbook of early literacy research.  New York:  Guilford Press.

 

Holdaway, D.  (1981).  The foundations of literacy.  New York:  Ashton Scholastic.

 

      Holdaway, D.  (1981).  Shared book experience:  Teaching reading using favorite books.  Theory Into         Practice, 21, 293-300.

           

Holdaway, D.  (1984).  Stability and change in literacy learning. Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

 

Kamil, M. Mosenthal, P.B., Pearson, P.D., & Barr, R.  (2000).  Handbook of reading research, Vol. II.  Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.

 

Kamil, M. Intrator, Sam M. And Kim, Helen S. (2000).  The effects of other technologies on literacy and literacy learning pp. 771-788.  In Michael L. Kamil, Peter B Mosenthal,  P. David Pearson, Rebecca Barr (eds.) Handbook of reading research Vol III.  Newark, DE: International Reading Association. 

 

Labbo, L. D. (1996).  A semiotic analysis of young children's symbol making in a classroom computer center.  Reading Research Quarterly,  31(4), 356-385.

 

Learning to read and write: Developmentally appropriate practices for young children. (1998)

International Reading Association & National Association for the education of Young Children.

 

Leu, Donald J. Jr. (2000).  Literacy and technology: Deictic consequences for literacy education in an information age pp. 743-770.  In Michael L. Kamil, Peter B Mosenthal,  P. David Pearson, Rebecca Barr (eds.) Handbook of reading research Vol III.  Newark, DE: International Reading Association. 

 

Leu, Donald J. Jr., and Kinzer, Charles K.. (2000).  The convergence of literacy instruction with networked technologies for information and communication.  Reading Research Quarterly 35(1), 108-127.

 

Lomas, R. G. and McGee, L. M. (1987).  Young children’s concepts about print and reading:  Toward a model of word reading acquisition.  Reading Research Quarterly, 22(2), 237-256.

 

Morrow, Leslie M. & Gambrell (2001). Literature-based instruction in the early years.  In S.B. Neuman & D.K. Dickinson (Eds.).  Handbook of early literacy research.  New York: Guilford Press.

 

National Reading Panel Report (2000).

 

Neuman, S.B. (1999) Books make a difference: A study of access to literacy.  Reading Research Quarterly, 34(3), 2-31.

 

Neuman, S. B.  (2001).  The role of knowledge in early literacy.  Reading Research Quarterly, 36(4),                   468-475.

 

Neuman, S.B. & Celano, D. (2001).  Access to print in low-income and middle-income communities: An ecological study of four neighborhoods.  Reading Research Quarterly, 36(1), 8-26.

 

Neuman, S.B. & Dickinson, D. K.  (2001) Access to print of children of poverty: Differential effects of adult mediation and literacy-enriched play settings on environment and functional print tasks.  American Educational Research Journal, 30, 95-122.

 

Neuman, S.B. & Dickinson, D. K.  (2001).  Handbook of early literacy research.  New York: Guilford Press.

 

Neuman, S. B., & Roskos, K.  (1992).  Literacy objects as cultural tools: Effects on children’s literacy behaviors in play.  Reading          Research Quarterly, 27(3), 203-225.

 

Neuman, S.B. & Roskos, K.A. (eds). (1999). Children achieving: Best practices in early literacy. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. 

 

Pellegrini, A.D. (2001).  Some theoretical and methodological considerations in studying literacy in

         social context, p. 54-65. .  In S.B. Neuman & D.K. Dickinson (Eds).  Handbook of early literacy research.  New York: Guilford Press.

 

Pressley, M., Allington, R. L., Wharton-McDonald, R., Collins-Block,  C., & Morrow, L. M.  (2001).            Learning to read: Lessons from exemplary first-grade classrooms.  New York: Guildford                       Press.

 

Purcell-Gates, V. (1996) Stories, Coupons, and the TV Guide:  Relationships between home literacy experience and emergent literacy knowledge.  Reading Research Quarterly, 31(4), 406-428.

 

Rayner, K., Foorman, B.R., Perfetti, C.A., Pesetsky, D., and Seidenbert, M. S. (2001).  How psychological science informs the teaching of reading.  Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2 (2), 31—74.

 

Rayner, K., Foorman, B.R., Perfetti, C.A., Pesetsky, D., and Seidenbert, M. S. (2002).  How should reading be taught?  Scientific American, March, 85-91.

 

Reutzel, D.R. (1995).  Fingerpoint-reading and beyond:  Learning about print strategies (LAPS).  Reading Horizons 35(4) 310-328.

 

Richgels, D.J. (2001).  Invented spelling, phonemic awareness, and reading and writing instruction, p. 142-158.  In S.B. Neuman & D.K. Dickinson (Eds.).  Handbook of early literacy research.  New York: Guilford Press.

 

Roehler, Laura R. And Duffy, Gerald G. (1996).  Teachers’ instructional actions.  In Barr, Rebecca, Kamil, Michael L., Mosenthal,          Peter, & Pearson P. David (eds) Handbook of reading research II.  Mahwah, NJ:  Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.

 

Slaughter, H.B. (1988).  Indirect and direct teaching in a whole language program  The Reading Teacher, 42, 30-35.

 

Spodek, B. (1993).  Handbook of research on the education of young children.  New York:  Mcmillan.

 

Snow, C.E., Burns, M.S. & Griffin, P. (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children.  Washington, DC: National Research Council. 
 

Stauffer, R.G. (1996).  Directing reading maturity as a cognitive process.  New York:  HarperCollins.

 

Sulzby, Elizabeth  (1985).  Children’s emergent reading of favorite storybooks:  A developmental study.  Reading Research Quarterly, 20(4), 458-481.

 

Sulzby, Elizabeth, and Teale, William (1996).  Emergent literacy.  In Barr, Rebecca, Kamil, Michael L., Mosenthal, Peter, & Pearson P. David (eds) Handbook of reading research II.  Mahwah, NJ:  Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.

 

Taylor, Barbara M., Peterson, Debra S., Pearson. P. David, and Rodriquez, Michael C. ( 2002).  Looking inside classrooms: Reflecting on the “how” as well as the “what” in effective reading instruction.  Reading Teacher 56,  270-279.

 

Watson, R. (2001).  Literacy and Oral Language: Implications for Early Literacy Acquisition,

       p. 43-53.  In S.B. Neuman & D.K. Dickinson (Eds.).  Handbook of early literacy research.  New York: Guilford Press.

 

Whitehurst, G.J. & Lonigan, C.J. 92001).  Emergent literacy:  Development from preschoolers to readers, p. 11-29.  In S.B. Neuman & D.K. Dickinson (Eds).  Handbook of early literacy research.  New York: Guilford Press.

 

Yopp, H.K. (1998).  The validity and reliability of phonemic awareness tests.  Reading Research Quarterly, 23, 159-177.

 

Yopp, H.K. (1992).  Developing phonemic awareness in young children.  The Reading Teacher,  45,

         696-703.

 

Secondary Sources:

Adams, M. J.  Foorman, B. R., Lundberg, I., & Beeler, T.  (1998).  Phonemic awareness in young children: A classroom curriculum.  Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks.

 

Hammond, W.D., & Raphael, T.E. (1999). Early literacy for the new millennium. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. 

 

Pressley, M.  (2001).  Learning read: Lessons from exemplary first-grade classrooms.  New York: Guilford Press.

 

Reutzel, D.R., & Cooter, R.B., Jr. (2003).  Strategies for reading assessment and instruction:  Helping every child succeed.  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill/Prentice-Hall.

 

Teacher Resources

Avery, C. (1993). And with a light touch: Learning about reading, writing, and teaching first graders.  Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann. 

 

Bear, D.R., Templeton, S., Invernizzi, M., and Johnston, F. (2000).  Words their way:  Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction, 2nd Edition.  Columbus, OH:  Prentice-Hall/Merrill.

 

Blevins, W.  (1998).  Phonics from A to Z: A practical guide.  New York: Scholastic, Inc.

 

Butler, D. Babies need books: Sharing the joy of books with children from birth to six. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann. 

 

Campbell, R. (2001).  Read alouds with young children.  Newark, DE:  International Reading Association.

 

Ericson, L. & Juliebo, M.F. (1998). The phonological awareness handbook for kindergarten and primary teachers. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. 

 

Fisher, B. (1998). Joyful learning in kindergarten. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann. 

 

Fountas, I.C., & Pinnell, G.S. (1996).  Guided reading:  Good first teaching for all children.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann Education Books.

                                                                                               

Hancock, J. (Ed.) (1999).  Teaching literacy using information technology: A collection of articles from the Australian Literacy                  Educators’ Association.  Newark, DE:  International Reading Association.

 

McCarrier, A., Pinnell, G.S., & Fountas, I.C. (1996).  Interactive writing:  How language & literacy come together, K-2.  Portsmouth, NH:  Heinemann.

 

Moats, L. C., (2000) Speech to print: Language essentials for teachers.  Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks.