Literacy Development through Critical Literacies in Early Childhood Education

Literacy development through the inclusion of critical literacies in
early childhood play based education
Submitted by
Sidra khan

Communication, Language and Literacy
Literacy development through the inclusion of critical literacies in early childhood play based
education This has been an issue of long debate, the critical literacy in the early childhood phase.
Firstly, it is very important to thoroughly understand the underlying basic concept behind the
critical literacy. The debate highlights the points of how to teach it, how to measure, and how to
set the standards. Ironically what is understood from literacy is debatable. Literacy is a unique
phenomenon, natural skill to be qualifiable (Salvia, 2012).
It is a set of tools for learning and effective functioning in daily life it also includes reading
writing, speaking, listening, viewing and then graphically representing from least proficient to
most proficient. It is very important to motivate children to delve into critical literacy from a
tender age so that critical thinking can be developed in them. This essay highlights the
intersection of critical literacy in society and culture by taking into consideration “critical
literacy” and “sociocultural” theories in discussion. The essay also criticizes popular culture for
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Student# 803807817

Communication, Language and Literacy
depicting consumerism. The essay also highlights the inclusion of critical literacy in childcare
settings and the manner in which it can be adopted to suit the needs of a diverse range of
learners.
The early aspect of learning establishes foundation upon which most contemporary human
beings develop their conception of the world. Effective literary development is one that
contributes and collaborates in the collective growth of the conscious for the greater good of both
the person and society. The idea of introducing diverse literary skills was itself new(Anthony,
2009). The critical literacy is typically dominated by the developmental theory with its
assumptions of the naturally developing child and emerging literacy. The critical literacy
concept of learning has its roots in the critical theory. It puts literacy and language as principle
aspect in creating continuation into asymmetrical power relations in the society. It is
understanding more simply as a concept based on learning through language and literacy
(Brighouse, Ladd, Loeb, & Swift, 2015).
Critical literacy highlights the important role of education in the extent to which the world-wide
views are expressed, heard, strengthened or ignored. The critical literacy uses text to refer to a
wide range of expressive medium. while seeing it is read uncritically the dominant view in the
world always appear to be correct, natural and strongly followed while the view less spoken
about less highlighted are either ignored or seem less true or powerful (Fellowes & Oakley,
2010). Critical literacy emphasizes on all texts being fundamentally biased. The perspective
behind a written text is based on the beliefs of the writer within the political, social and cultural
pools of knowledge. This denotes that critical literacy is a social practice. As Mitchell (2012)
states that all content is motivated, there is no neutral stance from where a test can be written or
read. An important aspect here is, to be totally independent to critically analyse text to be able to
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Student# 803807817