Preschool Home Literacy Practices and Childrens Literacy Development - Literature review Example

Journal Paper Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Abstract The main aim of this of this paper is to evaluate the value of a parents’ role to encourage their children to read in and learn a language other than their native tongue during the ages of 2-4 years old. The importance of this will be examined in a case study of a child born to Arabic speaking parents in an English speaking country. It will examine also how the child’s grasp of the English language will further his development once he return to his country of origin, the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Further, the paper linguistics, as well as the social-cultural challenges that young learner from UEA encounter in an attempt to improve English proficiency in foreign countries. The ability to learn and read is an acquired skill that needs guidance and support from both the parents and school (Bialystok, 2001). Reading habit and practice of native language at home and school encourages young children to attain an in-depth understanding of both the home language and their native language and foreign language. However, the learning process of foreign language may prove difficult due to linguistic factors that hinder the development of English literacy for young children from UEA living in Australia. The paper examines some of the linguistic, as well as the cultural factors that affect Emirati young learners in a bilingual setting where they are required to acquire literacy in both English and Arabic language. KEYWORDS: Bilingual, Parent’s role, children, reading, Emirati society, home literacy, infant bilingualism, preschool. Introduction This research is based on the background information, as well as the literature that will examine the significance of the obligation of the parents in encouraging their children to become bilingual. This paper will discuss Hool and his colleague’s theory; parents are encouraged to read to their children in early age to prepare them for literacy acquisition after school entry. Their reading is the most important activity for their children to equip them with necessary knowledge and skills that are needed for the achieving the success in reading (Hool et al.,2008, p.252).On the other hand, Proctor (2005) and his colleagues explain their research as “theoretically, if a reader has the appropriate alphabetic data and can process words with the speed to model spoken language, he or she has some of the requisite skills for comprehending text”(Proctor et al.,2005,p.249). When young children learn two or more languages in their preschool years, they gain experience and in-depth understanding, as well as proficiency in a foreign language. Additionally, through practice in learning, children are able to develop literacy in English and Arabic. Similarly, they gain more knowledge on how to the two languages compare and contrast thus learning on how to use them efficiently. Numerous researches conducted for the last three decades support what the Germany philosopher by the name Goethe, who once said that a person who is only familiar with just one language does not know that language. Previous research indicates that the environment in which the children are born and brought up predicts the level of development of their second language (Arnberg, 1981). When the children’s parents and other caregivers such as grandparents spend most of their time with young children giving those stories in their home language, develop a better understanding of its vocabulary and ideas. However, when they get school, they are taught using a different language where they develop skills and ideas of the two languages. Moreover, transfer between the two languages is a two-way process implying that when the native language is being supported in school through bilingual education programs, the literacy skills, ideas and concepts that the children acquire from learning different languages can be reflected in the home language (Essa, 2009). Background Severally, most of the Emirati parents scrutinized bilingualism as a creditable family aspiration. The reason behind such trend involves an urge to maintain close ties to the culture and heritage language of the parents, to endow children with cognitive and academic advantages, and to uphold cross-cultural communication and understanding (Michelle Hood, 2007). However, studies show that the accomplishment in bringing up children to become bilingual remains an exception scenario in the English speaking countries, as most of the Emirati children eventually becomes dominant in speaking English or even complete. This is because Emirati children in English speaking countries are exposed to a higher eminence of English most of the time, than they do in Arabic. In addition, studies also portray that parent’s attitudes, interactions and beliefs with their Emirati children are indispensable to their children in becoming bilingual. However, most of the Emirati parents are worried that mastery of the two language would create language delay. Research portrays s that bilingual and monolingual children, Emirati and Australian respectively, meet major language milestones at comparable times. Although most of the Emirati parents are worried that the bilingualism would lead to confusion, the study has stipulated that conversing in the two languages is an indication of mastery of bilingualism. Most of the Emirati parents teach their children English language (Arnberg, 1981). This is teaching development is considered as a secondary support for learning. Human communication is the best tool for nurturing language learning nonetheless. Literature review According to Bialystok (2001), if the parents and teachers would join hands in supporting the acquisition of dual language, the outcome would be irrefutably positive. He further argues that when the children are born and brought up in an encouraging environment with the support from the school and the parents, they will be able to learn the two languages with much ease. Therefore, preschool children need to be supported, nurtured and encouraged in an effort to help them learn and practice dual language. Similarly, according to Arnberg (1981), if a bilingual child is enrolled to a school that does not promote his home language, then the native language may have a tendency of deteriorating. Further, he argues that the child’s sense of identity, the connection to the society, and the community members be negatively affected. Hall, Larson, and Marsh (2003) supports bilingual education programs offered in Australia and the United Arab Emirates meant to develop bilingual children. Additionally, they outlines the benefits of teaching more than two languages in schools that help children relate well with the society, as well as with their schoolmates from different backgrounds. Similarly, they argue that the children would become more tolerant to other cultures, enhance social and emotional development, increased cognitive skills and flexibility in learning another lingo. Therefore, he concludes that with a growing number of preschool children learning two languages concurrently, there is a high possibility of the United Arab Emirates education system putting more emphasis on similar programs. Further, they argue the influence of teachers is important in helping children become bilingual as they are charged with the responsibility of teaching values to young children as future citizens (Michelle Hood, 2007). According to Proctor, C.P., Carlo, August, and Snow (2005), the environment for the early childhood promotes multicultural values, support diversity and discourage discriminated based on race and ethnicity. Therefore, developing bilingual child thereby respecting families from other cultural backgrounds and reducing linguistic differences. Additionally, they argue that educators should eliminate any element of bias although they may assert that the give equal treatment to all students. Similarly, a French historian who was also a political thinker by the name Alexis de Tocqueville argued that the language may be the strongest, as well as the most durable tie that can bring the humankind together. In many cases, language serves as a thread that makes family relationships stronger. For children to understand their culture fully and their family history, they must be able to speak to the members of the community together with their families in their home language (Michelle Hood, 2007). Apart from the benefits that results from occupational and cognitive skills, having understanding and knowledge of home language is important in shaping the identity of the young children. Regrettably, the home language is usually lost in a foreign country due the notion that they need to assimilate into English speaking culture and learn it so as to succeed in life. Probably, this is the main reason as to why the Emirati society does not maintain their home language once they relocate to Australia (Essa, 2009). Method Participants The original sample size involved 143 kindergarten children (out of which 64 females and 79 males; SD = 0.29; age = 5.36), who had attained the selection standard of no solemn intellectual and developmental impairment ( kindergarten teacher and parent report) and Arabic as their major language back at home. The language requisite resulted in a Caucasian sample, with a very few Emirati children. The three kindergarten schools where the children were sampled, were chiefly from lower to middle class people or families. Kindergarten school is not a compulsory or requirement to join primary schools. Kindergarten children attended school for 12 1⁄2 hours distributed over 21⁄2 days each week. There is no official way in writing or reading, but children are urged to write and present their names on art assignments, engage in games, and read regularly to foster their phonological alertness. This phonological alertness includes clapping and rhyming out syllables. Teachers also assist those children with an urge to write words. For example, teachers write a particular word for the children to copy. Official instruction involved in writing and reading starts in Grade 1. In Grade 1, 5 to 7 months later, 123 children (55 females, 68 males; SD = 0.30, average age = 5.95 years) were re-tested. In 12 months, of Grade 2, 105 children (45 females, 60 males; SD = 0.29, Average age = 7.02 years) were tested in third phase. Therefore, the degradation rate from kindergarten school to Grade 2 level was calculated to be 26.6%. Therefore, there was no significant difference between those Emirati children who completed the study and those who are native English-speaking Australian children, even for those who are yet to finish early preschool stage. Procedure Written conversant parental and school consent were acquired. Individual testing was done in an isolated, quiet room at the pupil’s school in 6 to 7 periods in which 5 to 12 minutes were taken for each period. Fatigue was not a big deal because these periods were taken on various days. The procedures were followed in a more standardized way for most of the commercially accessible tests. The other remaining tests were carried out on the basis of administration procedures as contained in the Material section. At the beginning of the 4th term of kindergarten school, Emirati parents had finished filling the home literacy questionnaires, which contained TRT (Title Recognition Tests). The Emirati completed the identification of Letter-Word, Memory and Phonological processing as controlled by the original author. The Emirati measured iteratively, in Grade 1 and Grade 2 stages, and also completed the Spelling and Reading Rate measures. These rate measures were carried out in different sessions because they contained similar word lists. In grade1 stage, Receptive Vocabulary and Non-Verbal Ability were also tested Materials TRT (Title Recognition Test). The Emirati parent-completed children’s Title Recognition Test contained 10 foils and 20 well-liked age-correct titles of the children’s books. The score was found to be a set ratio of the actual titles checked, less the ratio of the foils checked and negative scores were entered as zero. Therefore, Cronbach’s alpha was 0.64, 0.74, 0.76, for the foils, real titles, and the total scale respectively. The parent responded well in relation to the frequency of the children reading; the literacy skills parental teaching frequency; the quantity of children’s books; the library visits frequency; and other activities of non-literacy such as packing items. The home literacy questionnaire required to fill their children’s interest in reading. This information is included since lack of interest could affect the degree to which the Emirati parent involves in teaching basic literacy. The children’s interest considerably associated with parent’s reading frequently. Case study In early years, educational experiences create a difference to the social and life-long learning and emotional progress of individuals. It also gives young children a strong foundation for their future and ensures them to have ample opportunities to develop their creativity. There are some conditions underpinning young children’s literacy development and these include: employing literacy in their everyday lives and receiving positive feedback about their attempts. My case study will explore the importance of encouraging my son Mohammed to become bilingual to help in gaining greater educational opportunities and increasing his global employment prospects (Hood, Conlon, Andrews, 2008). The UAE government reiterates the need for it is citizens to learn English to enhance their knowledge and understanding of society beyond the UAE and contribute to its cultural and economic prosperity. The need to understand will help them to integrate into a world that commands an understanding of English and enable them to take advantage of the further educational opportunities and the global job market. Students who enrol in UAE public schools starts with learning English language basics that include phonics, colours, as well as numbers in their first grade. Public preschools teach English for only 45 minutes a day. English language is only practiced while students are learning English lessons in class, the rest of the subjects are offered using Arabic instructions. In most cases, the United Arab Emirates’ children are not exposed to English language prior to enrolling for preschool. They only learn the English language once they start schooling, but they do not practice it outside the school environment. However, there has been a progress as the national universities in the country are currently receiving instructions in English. However, students who complete their public school course in the UAE are not ready to practice English once they are out of school. Therefore, English instructors, as well as other stakeholders such as the ministry of education and policy makers should take into consideration the anxiety experienced by the students in their attempt to learn their second language (Hood, Conlon, Andrews, 2008). Hence the study seeks to explore the role of parents in encouraging and supporting their children to read and learn other language apart from their home language during the ages of 2-4 years old. Further, the study aims at investigating the quality of training professionals in UAE who lack basic understanding of English language. Findings Current study has indicated that bilingual children with high proficiency enjoy particular cognitive benefits as compared to monolingual children. This paper found that children who were bilingual had more advanced literacy vocabulary skills in both languages. This paper also examines the advantages for preschool children who acquire two languages simultaneously and the importance of the parent role in improving their child’s reading and literacy skills in both languages (New & Cochran, 2007). Our findings show a crystal clear difference in a relationship between Parental Teaching, Reading, Language, and literacy measures. Therefore, parent-child reading was varied linearly as receptive vocabulary. It was also found that parent-child reading was independent of non-vocabulary, age, emergent literacy talents, and memory (Hall, Larson, & Marsh, 2003). Contrary, parent teaching was found to be invariably related to vocabulary, but was proportional to playschool letter identification. Therefore, the letter identification and parents teaching relationship reconciled the parent teaching relationship with all incoming measures. There is no significance difference between children’s later reading and parent-child reading. Consequently, the early receptive language fully reconciled all the relationships that are involved in our findings. Discussion The playschool home literary reading and teaching practices have accounted to a greater degree for significant variances in letter identification and phonological awareness skills at playschools and in literacy and language skills in Grade 1 stage and Grade 2 stage. Basing on previous study results, it is possible to scrutinize the reconciled and direct relationships between the outcome measures and home literacy factors, if the variance shared with gender, age, memory, and non-verbal ability was controlled. The results portray that parent literacy and parent-child reading practices were poorly related early home factors and they indicated different relationships between literacy incomes and language. The home determining factors of the children before enrolling to the school contained several literacy activities. The findings were found to be consistence with previous backgrounds. Children who are about to join schools, parents are likely to incline the frequency of letter teaching exercises. In the analysis, a correlation was found between vocabulary and the composite measure was stronger (p=0.01, r=0.30) than the correlation with the TRT measure (p=0.044, r=0.18). Therefore, this relationship was the only independent relationship that was found. From the findings, we get clear relationships between parental teaching and reading and the language measures and the literacy. Thus, parental-child reading it was found to be proportional to the receptive vocabulary, independent of age, emergent literature skills, non-verbal ability, and memory. In our findings with older children, ART/TRT measures were apparently related to spelling, reading, vocabulary, and phonological processing, as well as to orthographic processing. Explanation to these varying results between samples of preschool beginner and grade 2(more experienced beginner) arise due to different cognitive tests measures used between preschool children and more experienced Grade 2 readers. Parents complete the ART/TRT with the help of the preschool child. A total ART/TRT is a measure of the Emirati parent’s exposure to their children’s exposure. Thus, it enables parents to measure their child reading abilities. Conclusion Competence in two languages has taken on increased value in recent years, in UAE and the reasons for this are local and global. In Emirati society, competence in English serves as an immediate personal and practical need. For many families, reading to their children is significant and reflects the literacy interest of family members. It also enhances the perception that reading is not limited to the traditional literacy’s such as storybook reading and telling story, it also includes a variety of materials such as shop and toy catalogs, fast food menus, television programs and using technology. Children benefit from parents reading to them in two languages. It can help with children from a young age in understanding their cultural linguistics as well as English comprehension at school References Arnberg, L. (1981). The effects of bilingualism on development during early childhood: a survey of the literature. Linköping, Sweden: Dept. of Education, Linköping University. Bialystok, E. (2001). Bilingualism in development: language, literacy, and cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. Essa, E. (2009). Introduction to Early Childhood Education Annotated Student's Edition. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning. Hall, N., Larson, J., & Marsh, J. (2003). Handbook of early childhood literacy. London [u.a.] : SAGE. Hood, M., Conlon, E. , & Andrews, G. (2008). Preschool Home Literacy Practices and Children’s Literacy Development: A Longitudinal Analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100(2), 252-271. Michelle Hood, E. C. (2007). Home Practices and Literacy Development. Queensland, Australia: School of Psychology, Griffith University. New, R. S., & Cochran, M. (2007). Early childhood education : an international encyclopaedia. Westport, Conn: Praeger Publishers. Proctor, C.P., Carlo, M., August, D., & Snow, C. (2005). Native Spanish-Speaking Children Reading in English: Toward a Model of Comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97(2), 246-256. (Hall, Larson, & Marsh, 2003) (Essa, 2009) Read More