Laurie Makin

Young children as active participants in the investigation of teaching and learning

SUMMARY Gathering data about childrens development and learning has long been the domain of adults. However, there is increasing interest in including childrens voices in their education and, a more challenging task, in research that impacts on educational practice and policy making. Techniques such as Instant Video Revisiting (IVR) offer a way for childrens voices to be heard. In this paper, we discuss the use of IVR in investigations of young children and their symbol systems. Four year old children are offered opportunities to comment directly upon their experience in shared book reading and spontaneous singing. We discuss the opportunities offered by IVR and comment on the challenges faced by children, teachers and researchers when there is no shared meta-language for discussion.

High-Quality Literacy Programs in Early Childhood Classrooms: An Australian Case Study

Laurie Makin, Jacqueline Hayden, and Criss Jones Diaz Laurie Makin is Associate Professor, University of Newcastle, Australia. Jacqueline Hayden is Senior Lecturer, University of Western Sydney-Nepean. Criss Jones Diaz is a Lecturer, University of Western Sydney-Macarthur. A recent study of literacy practices in Australian early childhood classrooms (Makin et al., 1999; Raban & Ure, 2000) suggests that current definitions of literacy in early childhood education tend to reflect narrow and traditional views. The multiple literacy practices of homes, communities, and early childhood settings-for example, the literacies of technology and popular culture, everyday functional uses of print, and languages other than standard Australian English-often are undervalued. This limited approach to early literacy can be a disadvantage to children from sociocultural minority groups, including children who speak languages other than English at home (Makin, Campbell, &Jones Diaz, 1995), indigenous children (Malin, 1990), and children from low socioeconomic backgrounds (Freebody & Ludwig, 1995). Connections between low literacy and social disadvantage have been identified within the last 20 years (see, for example, Connell, 1994; Kalantzis, Cope, Noble, & Poynting, 1990). Low literacy can be associated with a range of social problems, including unemployment and delinquency (Holden, 1997). Children from sociocultural minority groups make up the bulk of children less likely to experience literacy success in mainstream or school-based contexts (Gutierrez, 1994; Heath, 1982). Many pathways lead to literacy learning. Recent conceptualizations of early literacy emphasize literacy as social practice. This embodies a view of literacy as a social construction highly important to Western, printsaturated societies. Families, communities, and cultural groups teach children what can be said, to whom and how, and under what conditions (Makin et al., 1999). Social constructionists argue that language and literacy learning is embedded in social practices in culturally specific sites, rather than in universal stages of child development and growth (Makin et al., 1999). Sociocultural perspectives of literacy learning incorporate emergent literacy, social constructivism, and critical theory. Emergent literacy emphasizes children’s capabilities in literacy learning through active, child-initiated experiences in which functionality, meaning, and communication with print and texts are important (Teale & Sulzby, 1986). Social constructivism draws on the social interactionist theories of Vygotsky

Support at Home for Early Language and Literacies (SHELLS): Collaboration and Challenge

The project, “Support at Home for Early Language and Literacies (SHELLS)”, is an early literacy intervention designed to empower the families of young children between birth and three years of age in their role as their childrens first literacy teachers. SHELLS’ content is based on participant interests, current knowledge about childrens literacy learning in the years prior to school entry, and growing acceptance of the importance of learning in the first three years of life. SHELLS began in 1997 and currently operates with both Indigenous and non‐Indigenous families in rural and regional areas of New South Wales, Australia. In this paper, the project and some of the future challenges are discussed. It is suggested that the collaborative and flexible model that has been developed for SHELLS has the potential to assist families from a range of social, cultural, economic and geographical settings in supporting their childrens early literacy learning.

Building Strong Literacy Foundations, Birth to Three Years.

SummarySHELLS (Support at Home for Early Language and LiteracieS) is a program designed for families with children from birth to three years of age. It has operated in Australia since 1998. Partnerships are at the heart of SHELLS. Parents know their children, their community, and what is culturally appropriate. Facilitators know the community, have educational qualifications, and have received specialised SHELLS training. Researchers know which factors have been identified as important in supporting early literacy. A combination of these areas of expert knowledge — situated expertise — offers children strong, ongoing support in their early literacy learning.RésuméSHELLS [Soutien à domicile pour le langage et l’alphabétisation précoces] (Support at Home for Early Language and LiteracieS) est un programme destiné aux familles avec des enfants depuis la naissance jusqu’à l’âge de trois ans. II existe en Australie depuis 1998. SHELLS est fondé sur des partenariats. Les parents connaissent leurs enfants, leur communauté, et savent ce qui est culturellement correct. Les animateurs connaissent la communauté, sont des enseignants diplômés, et ont reçu une formation spécialisée portant sur SHELLS. Les chercheurs savent quels facteurs se sont avérés importants en ce qui concerne l’alphabétisation précoce. La combinaison des ces domaines de compétence — les compétences localisées — offre aux enfants un soutien solide et continu au cours de leur alphabétisation précoce.ResumenEl Programa SHELLS (Apoyo en el Hogar para el Lenguaje Temprano y la Alfabetización o, en inglés (Support at Home for Early Language and LiteracieS) ha sido diseñado para las familias con niños de cero a tres años de edad y ha operado en Australia desde 1998. Las diferentes asociaciones o relaciones son la esencia misma de SHELLS. Los padres conocen a sus hijos, a su propia comunidad, y saben qué es lo apropiado a su cultura. Las personas que facilitan (o “facilitadores”) conocen a la comunidad, y tienen la formación educativa así como capacitación especializada en SHELLS. Los investigadores saben qué factores han sido identificados como importantes en el sostén de la alfabetización temprana. La combinación de estas áreas de conocimiento experto — pericia localizada — le ofrece a los niños un respaldo fuerte y permanente en su aprendizaje de alfabetización temprana.

Literacy Prior to School Entry: Narratives of Access and Exclusion.

SUMMARY The literacy understandings, values and skills that children bring to early childhood settings are based upon their home and community experiences. If what they bring is recognised, valued and built upon in early literacy programmes, then children are constructed as capable, confident learners. Where they are not (see, for example, Hill, Comber, Louden, Rivalland & Reid, 1998; Makin, Hayden, Holland, Arthur, Beecher, Jones Diaz & McNaught, 1999; Hanlen, 2002), childrens life narratives may unfold in very different ways, since literacy and life opportunities are closely linked (Morrow, 2002). Children whose home and community experiences are similar to those valued in early childhood settings have easier access to literacy in these settings. The reverse also occurs. In this paper, findings from three early literacy research projects carried out in Australia between 1998 and 2001 are reported with the aim of identifying guiding principles to assist early childhood educators to reflect upon their current early literacy practices and to construct more inclusive literacy narratives for children prior to school entry.

Languages and literacies in early childhood: At home and in early childhood settings

SUMMARY This paper reports on one aspect of a collaborative early childhood literacy research project in New South Wales, Australia, where two government departments and three universities investigated the language and literacy environments of preschool age children at home and in settings. Researchers observed and rated the environments of 80 early childhood settings, followed by interviews with staff members working in the setting as well as focus group discussions with representative family members. The project focused on families and settings of children from Aboriginal, bilingual and low socio-economic backgrounds. In settings with strong levels of congruence between family and staff perspectives on early literacies, both stakeholders shared understandings of cultural and family practices, in comparison to those settings where shared understandings about diverse literacies were not present.