David K. Dickinson

The Comprehensive Language Approach to Early Literacy: The Interrelationships Among Vocabulary, Phonological Sensitivity, and Print Knowledge Among Preschool-Aged Children

This article describes 2 points of view about the relationship between oral-language and literacy skills: The phonological sensitivity approach posits that vocabulary provides the basis for phonological sensitivity, which then is the key language ability supporting reading, and the comprehensive language approach (CLA) posits that varied language skills interact with literacy knowledge and continue to play a vital role in subsequent reading achievement. The study included 533 Head Start preschool-aged children (M 4 years 9 months) in 2 locations and examined receptive vocabulary, phonological awareness, and print knowledge. Partial correlational and regression analyses found results consistent with the CLA approach and evidence of a core deficit in phonological sensitivity, interpreted in a manner consistent with the CLA perspective.

Interrelationships among Prereading and Oral Language Skills in Kindergartners from Two Social Classes.

Abstract Thirty-three kindergartners from two social classes were tested on an array of prereading and oral language skills. Prereading test results were clustered into composite scores reflecting skill interpreting environmental print, understanding how print functions, producing and decoding print, isolating phonemes, and comprehending stories. Several decontextualized language skills were assessed with a picture description task and a word definition task. Prereading skills were found to be highly intercorrelated and to relate to the ability to provide decontextualized definitions for words. Oral language measures of decontextualized skill correlated within task, but not across tasks. Social class differences were found for the prereading measures and for those oral language measures that correlated with the prereading measures. Social class differences were not found on measures of ability to provide communicatively adequate definitions or for receptive vocabulary.

Bringing It All Together: The Multiple Origins, Skills, and Environmental Supports of Early Literacy

In the final three decades of the 20th century one of the exciting developments in the field of educational research was the emergence of theoretically grounded empirical research into the origins of literacy in the preschool years. This work has led to a growing relationship between two fields that previously had existed in relative isolation from each other: reading research and early childhood education. The result of this research has been the investigation of the emergence of literacy, and environmental factors that support its emergence, and a new awareness of the relevance of literacy for early childhood educators. A manifestation of the potential of these converging efforts was the release of a joint position statement on early literacy by the National Association of Educators of Young Children and the International Reading Association in 1998. The investigation of early literacy has resulted in findings of considerable importance for social policy because it made evident that, even before children commence formal instruction in reading and writing, they display differences that mirror some of the divisions in our society, with children from less economically advantaged and non-English speaking homes being at a disadvantage (Zill, Collins, West, & Hausken, 1995). These early differences are remarkably stable as they have consistently been found in cross-sectional examinations of children aged 9, 13, and 17 on national assessments of literacy (Campbell, Hombo, & Mazzeo, 2000, p. 33). Longitudinal studies also provide evidence of considerable consistency within individual children from first grade to the later elemen-

Cross-language transfer of phonological awareness in low-income Spanish and English bilingual preschool children

This study investigated the phonological awareness of low-income Spanish‐English bilingual children, because phonological awareness has been found to be an important prerequisite for literacy acquisition and because such children have been identified as at risk for successful literacy acquisition. Our sample included 123 Spanish‐English bilingual preschool children (M = 49.1 months) attending Head Start programs. Children’s receptive vocabulary was assessed using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test— 3rd Edition and the Test de Vocabulario en Imagines Peabody. We assessed phonological awareness using English and Spanish versions of the Early Phonological Awareness Profile, which includes deletion detection and rhyming tasks. Emergent literacy was assessed in the child’s stronger language using the Emergent Literacy Profile, which includes tests of environmental print knowledge, printed word awareness, alphabet knowledge, and early writing. Spring levels of phonological awareness in each language were most strongly related to development of phonological awareness in the other language. Final models accounted for 68% of the variance in spring English and Spanish phonological awareness. Educational implications are discussed.

Early Literacy: Linkages between Home, School and Literacy Achievement at Age Five.

Abstract This article reports the findings relating the predictor variables identified through the analyses discussed in the previous articles to the outcome measures of early literacy from the test battery administered to the children in the Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development at age five. The test battery, called the SHELL-K (School Home Early Language and Literacy), uses a variety of assessment procedures to develop a componential view of each childs language and literacy development. The results demonstrate that both home and school measures contribute to childrens literacy achievement at age five. Finally, profiles of the three selected children are presented demonstrating the variability in the experiences and outcomes for these children.

Speaking Out for Language Why Language Is Central to Reading Development

Although the National Early Literacy Panel report provides an important distillation of research, the manner in which the data are reported underrepresents the importance of language. Unlike other predictors with moderate associations with later reading, language exerts pervasive and indirect influences that are not described by the effect sizes used in the meta-analysis. Also, unlike code-related skills that develop rapidly during the years studied, language develops over an extended time span. Because it is relatively difficult to devise interventions that dramatically alter children’s language abilities, the authors of this response are concerned that schools will target the more malleable code-based skills. They warn against such a move.

Book reading with preschoolers: Coconstruction of text at home and at school

Abstract This article presents results of a study of low-income childrens book-reading experiences with their mothers and during group reading times in preschool when they were 3 and 4 years old. Models describing possible patterns of book-reading experiences in home and preschool are proposed and examined by analyzing the quantity and nature of talk about books in both settings. Talk about texts was coded as immediate (e.g., labeling pictures), nonimmediate (e.g., recall, analysis), organizational , or extending (e.g., requesting clarification, feedback). The types of books read also were considered. When they were 3 years old the primary focus of book readings in both settings was on immediate information. Compared with teachers, mothers were likely to use more extending and fewer organizational comments. When children were 4 years old, talk in the home was again dominated by immediate talk, but compared with when they were 3, there was less extending talk by mothers, and more extending comments by children. In school there was more extending talk by teachers and nonimmediate utterances by children than was found the previous year. Home-school comparisons revealed more nonimmediate talk by teachers and children and more extending, organizational, and total talk by teachers. The patterns of talk about books in both settings and the changes from year-to-year support a Partnership model of home-school relationship: Mothers provide an introduction to book reading that teachers expand by engaging children in discussions of a cognitively challenging nature.

Teachers’ Language Practices and Academic Outcomes of Preschool Children

Early childhood programs have long been known to be beneficial to children from low-income backgrounds, but recent studies have cast doubt on their ability to substantially increase the rate of children’s academic achievement. This Review examines research on the role of language in later reading, describes home and classroom factors that foster early language growth, and reviews research on preschool interventions. It argues that one reason interventions are not having as great an impact as desired is because they fail to substantially change the capacity of teachers to support children’s language and associated conceptual knowledge.

Shifting Images of Developmentally Appropriate Practice as Seen Through Different Lenses

Three position statements are reviewed with respect to their changing treatment of literacy: two versions of Developmentally Appropriate Practice (Bredekamp, 1987;Bredekamp & Copple, 1997) and Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children (IRA & NAEYC, 1998). Such position statements are then compared to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Accreditation Criteria and Procedures (1984, 1991a), the NAEYC Guide to Accreditation (1985, 1991b, 1998), and the two major research tools used to assess the quality of early childhood classrooms: Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (Harms & Clifford, 1980; Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 1998), and Classroom Profile (Abbott-Shim & Sibley, 1987). While NAEYC has dramatically changed its recommendations regarding the importance of direct literacy instruction, accreditation procedures and research tools pay very little attention to such instruction. Programs can be accredited and even rated superior despite failing to provide the kind of rich language and literacy environment researchers have demonstrated to be necessary in order that all children learn to read and write. Alternative approaches to evaluating language and literacy instruction are described.

Variation in preschool teachers' styles of reading books

Three day‐care teachers were audiotaped as they read books to their group of 3‐ and 4‐year‐olds. The books included some read spontaneously and six that we provided. Book‐reading sessions were transcribed and analyzed to discover patterns of teacher‐child exchange and to describe the content of book discussions. While the familiarity and complexity of books affected how books were read, the teachers assumed two distinct styles. Two teachers used an interactive style, engaging children in discussion of text as they read. A third teacher used a performance style, presenting stories in a skillful storytelling fashion with few breaks in the text. Analysis of childrens participation and teacher style suggests that different reading styles resulted in the construction of different speech events.