LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Emergent Literacy Experiences at Home –
A Sample Survey in Mysore City

Sarika Khurana, M.Sc., Ph.D. Candidate
Prema K. S. Rao, Ph.D.

Abstract

This report is one of the series of surveys conducted to evaluate the emergent literacy experiences of Kannada speaking children studying in preschools with English as their medium of instruction. A total of 140 parents of preschool children studying in 10 schools in Mysore city were surveyed. The survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire method. The results of the survey revealed that 69.1% of parents provided adequate emergent literacy experiences to their children through different kinds of books (95.7%), storybook reading (87%), storytelling (79.2%) print awareness (74%), letter knowledge (73.9%), and oral language activities (97.4%). Since the native language of most parents in the sample was Kannada, they used Kannada for oral activities like daily conversation and storytelling and used English for reading storybooks and other reading and writing activities. The results indicate that preschool children who participated in the study were exposed to good emergent literacy experiences at home.

Introduction

Emergent literacy describes the concepts, skills and knowledge that young children have about reading and writing prior to beginning their formal literacy instruction in elementary school (Whitehurst and Lonigan, 1998). Even though children do not start to read and write in the conventional sense until the first grade, they start showing signs of understanding the relationship between speech and print, which indicates the emergence of literacy. These early signs include an interest in looking at pictures, listening to stories, scribbling with crayons and playing with sounds through rhymes. Such emergent literacy experiences are largely dependent upon the interactions with parents and the home literacy environment.

Literacy is so interwoven into the experiences of a young child's daily life that we do not see it until we focus our attention on it. Young children's emergent and early literacy development is affected by the presence of supports for literacy in the home environment, and the degree to which literacy is part of family activities (Zucker & Grant, 2007).

Learning the Functions and Purpose of Print

In a literacy rich environment, children learn the functions and purpose of print. For example, when parents engage in activities like making a shopping list, writing a letter, reading newspapers, signs, logos, names of television channels and reading aloud storybooks, they facilitate print awareness. A print rich environment means that there are opportunities for the child to engage in the literary process. The mere presence of literacy materials (like books, charts, pencils, crayons etc.) is not sufficient for a literacy rich experience but it is essential that children interact with print and are given opportunities to use these materials. Therefore, care should be taken that literacy materials are arranged in such a manner that they are easily accessible and children get sufficient opportunities to use them.

Researchers (Morrow, 1990; Teale & Sulzby, 1987) indicate that shared storybook reading is an effective way of improving a child's oral language (vocabulary and narrative skills) and creating print awareness (alphabet knowledge and concepts about print). An awareness of print is developed in children when parents read-aloud storybooks. The concept of words and the idea that meaning is transferred through words is achieved when adults point to words while reading or encourage children to trace a finger under the words being read. Storybook reading is more effective if it is carried out in an interactive manner, where parents read with feelings and expressions, ask questions, and encourage children to retell stories or complete sentences for them (Whitehurst et al., 1988).

The Results of Emergent Literacy Activities

Such activities encourage children to develop oral language skills like vocabulary and narrative skills. Vocabulary skills are essential for the development of reading comprehension and research indicates that early vocabulary delays are one of the manifestations of risk for later reading disabilities (Scarborough, 1990).

Print knowledge describes children's early discoveries about the orthography of a language. Orthography of a language is a method of representing the sounds of a language by written or printed symbols. Knowledge of the alphabet and its related sounds is essential for the development of emergent literacy. Letter knowledge provides the basis for forming connections between the letters in spelling and the sounds in pronunciations. Research reveals that fluency in letter naming is a strong predictor of later reading skills (Badian, 1995; Ehri & Sweet, 1991).

This indicates that children who enter formal instruction with the knowledge of letters of the alphabet become better readers than those who enter formal instruction without these skills.

In other words, children who are not adequately prepared to enter school, who have had limited experiences with language and text and limited verbal interactions and reading with parents are more likely to develop reading problems when they enter school (Scarborough, 1998; Snow, Burns, and Griffin, 1998).

Need for the Survey

The survey was conducted in January 2007 in Mysore City, to evaluate the emergent literacy experiences of Kannada speaking children studying in preschools with English as their medium of instruction. A series of three surveys were conducted as part of doctoral research, which aimed to study the "Development of Emergent Literacy in Kannada Speaking English Language Learners". This research required information on the emergent literacy experiences of preschool children at home and in school, and the quality of books available to them. This report is based on the findings of one of the surveys, which assessed the emergent literacy experiences of preschool children in the home environment.

Literacy development is a complex process, which is dependent on the environment and the literacy experiences of children.

Literacy Experience at Home

In order to study the development of emergent literacy, it is essential to study the literacy experiences of preschool children. Literacy experiences at home facilitate skills like oral language, print awareness and phonological awareness, which in turn facilitate the development of word recognition and reading comprehension. Research shows that children who come from literacy rich environments develop better reading skills and children who are successful readers perform well in school.

Paucity of Such Studies in India

Most of the research in the field of emergent literacy has been done in the West on monolingual English speakers. The results of these studies may not be applicable to children from other language backgrounds. To the best of the knowledge of the investigators, there is no documented report on emergent literacy experiences of preschoolers in the Indian literature. Therefore, the present survey evaluates the emergent literacy experiences of Kannada speaking children studying in preschools with English as the medium of instruction in Mysore City, Karnataka.

Objectives of the survey

The objective of this survey was to study the emergent literacy experiences of Kannada speaking children studying in preschools of Mysore City with English as the medium of instruction.

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