Enhancing Literacy and Language Development in Preschool Children

This article discusses teaching strategies that can stimulate children's emergent language and literacy with the help of play-based learning experiences such as play, music, and interactions. It also talks about designing a classroom literacy center with adequate literacy activities and reinforcing the home-school connection. The article focuses on enhancing the language and literacy among the age group of three to five-year-old children.

Running Head: EDUCATION 1
Literacy and child care
Institutional Affiliation

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Introduction
Project Overview
To learn to talk and communicate is not an easy task for the children aged three to five
years or for their teachers and instructors. It is tough for the young minds to learn the sounds,
make words and how to combine them into coherent sentences within a culture or environment.
The children literacy project aims to demonstrate knowledge of teaching strategies that can
stimulate children's emergent language and literacy with the help of play-based learning
experiences such as play, music, and interactions.
Although most preschoolers are not seen scribing words and sentences at their desks, it
does not mean that they are incapable of understanding or creating stories. The preschoolers
carry a never-ending supply of stories to talk and write about (King, 2012). Reading aloud is an
effective way to engage the young children socially, emotionally, and intellectually (Kreider,
2018). Teachers get trained in five district modules to support children’s literacy development in
the school classrooms. These include an interactive book reading and guiding conversations.
Phonemic awareness, alphabet knowledge and writing (Byrnes, & Wasik, 2009). Preschool
teachers and administrators can design a classroom literacy center with adequate literacy
activities and reinforce the home-school connection. Research has evidence that parental
involvement provides a supportive role in learning for children at home and school. They can
provide support by communicating with the school or volunteering their time in the school
(Motlhagodi & Kasule, 2015). Positive results can be seen by collaborating with the school
community regularly. Parental involvement in school-based activities and interactions can help
with literacy development of children. Teachers can add excitement to reading and writing for

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preschool children by using the right literature. It is essential that the preschool children's
literature should be both enjoyable and easy to understand.
The current theme of the project is based on storytelling and the use creative techniques
to make it more alive and exciting with the use of props, sounds, and images. The story is chosen
carefully as per the appropriateness for the group and to enhance children’s learning and literacy.
It is essential that the book be colorful, with lots of pictures and the words are simple and easy to
read.
Learning Experience Analysis
Several literacy-building activities can be employed in the classrooms. The objective
should be to enhance the language and literacy among the age group of three to five-year-old. It
is essential to keep the activates simple and enjoyable for the children with the use of print
information, arts, and crafts, music or communication. Practical examples hold importance in
preschool classrooms for professional and literacy development. As early childhood educators, it
is essential to focus on supporting literacy-rich environment for young children with practical
and interesting activities. There were about seven children in the classroom, three boys, Smith,
Bob, and David. The girls' names were Carol, Karen, Sally, and Maggie, and they are all about
four years old.
The classroom environment was made interesting and enjoyable for the children. The
chairs and desks were arranged so that they can see the teacher and the backboard easily. Each
of the children was settled comfortably on the chair. As children enjoy literature and stories
which are predictable, the teacher has selected a story that is sure to interest them. They take
more interest as they can understand the a simple and colorful story and feel motivated to read
along. Predictable literature means include stories with rhyme, receptions and familiar

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sequencing (Morrow, 2007). It is the hardest to write books and literature for children, as the
authors have to keep in mind that the children have just started recognizing sounds and words
and have just started learning to read on their own. Thus, it is essential to use a book that will
motivate them to read and hold their interest. The challenge lies in motivating the young reader
and at the same time ensure that the challenge is not too challenging to lose their interest
(Corbett, 2018).
The objective of reading the story is to enhance the language and literacy among the
children. New words will be introduced by speaking, listening, reading and writing. The
teachers will explore the alphabetic principle concept and awareness of the Phonological
awareness in the children that include rhymes and making the differences in sounds. The
students would be encouraged to engage in enjoyable interactions and construct sentences using
verbal and non-verbal language.
Experience One
Children’s familiarity with alphabet knowledge is an essential component of emergent
literacy. Their knowledge of letter names and sounds are a good pointer towards their reading
and spelling abilities. Knowledge letter name and letter sound predict their literacy skills. It is
essential to develop an alphabet concept in preschool and kindergarten students so that they
develop strong literacy skills (Piasta, & Wagner, 2010). The session with alphabets is kept short
enough to not to overwhelm the students with too many alphabets. Only five to six alphabets are
selected for the session. Too many alphabets and a longer session can make the children lose
interest.
Before starting the story, the students were given alphabetical cards and were asked to
come and place their card on the felt paperboard. For example, when alphabet “A” was called

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out, each student picked up the alphabet card and placed it on the felt board. Everybody was
clapped and motivated to bring the right card. Only ten alphabets are used to develop an alphabet
concept in the children. The letters and their sounds were emphasized on. For example, the letter
an “A,” was called out as “aah,” or “D” as “daaaad” and so on. At the end of the session, a fun
alphabet song was played to revise all the alphabets.
All the students were able to follow the alphabets and the sounds clearly. As Carol was a
bit slow in responding she was given extra time and the session as revised with her again.
Repetition is always a good way of enhancing emergent literacy during the experience. The
teacher plays an essential supportive role here to extend the children’s learning. She can further
extend children’s learning of alphabets y asking the children to pick the letter for their name. For
example, David can pick the alphabet “D” or Maggie can pick the alphabet “M.” That will help
the children to learn the alphabet in their friend’s names. The teacher can link the alphabets of
their names to colors and other daily objects to increase the familiarity.
Experience Two
The next objective was to raise the phonological awareness in the children, and the stage
is set for book reading. The children are shown the book to get them interested and are given a
little brief on the story. The teacher reads the title of the book aloud and talks about where the
story takes place and who are the main characters. The children are interested and show a keen
interest in the colorful book.
When reading the book, the teacher goes slow and keep adding information to help the
child understand what's happening. She can use puppets and props to explain the characters and
the plot. Any new word is written on the blackboard, and the meaning explained. The children

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are motivated to participate by shoring their views and reactions. The teacher motivates them to
say the repeated words and join in with rhymes.
EYLF outcomes regarding Phonological awareness expect the children to recognize
familiar rhyming verses and notice the use of rhyme in verses and stories. They learn to identify
some words that start or end with the same initial sound. When students learn to make
predictable differences in rhymes, they enjoy the story session because of their higher
phonological awareness. They feel connected with the story and begin to understand how
rhyming words link with other. They begin to understand how patterns work in words and their
pronunciation. When the teacher repeats a particular word and asks for the rhyming one, they are
able to answer back with the rhyming word. It shows that they understand that a word is made of
letters and similar letters can create similar sounds. They can identify words beginning with the
same sound and pay more attention to the sounds at the beginning and the end of words.
The student group exhibits a good grasp over phonological awareness and show
enjoyable interactions when making sounds with rhyming words. The teacher can further support
the learning and literacy by taking some more rhyming words used in everyday life that the
children are familiar with, such as cat, bat, mat, and more.
Experience Three
It is essential that children not only raise their literacy level but enjoy the session with
useful interactions. The teacher encourages them to use sentences after the need of the story
sessions. The teacher asks simple questions related to the story and motivates them to experiment
with new words. The students are motivated to repeat familiar texts and words from the story.
They are given the book so that they can spend some time looking at pictures and the words.

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EYLF outcomes here focus on the using words for interactions and build awareness that
print is linked to spoken language. Children recognize some words when they see it in the book
and try to say them. They ask questions about the book, the pictures, and characters, and thus are
encouraged to build sentences naturally. The teacher uses both verbal and non-verbal language to
make the interactions enjoyable. The students also learn the importance of books and how to
handle them. The verbal and non-verbal session encourages children to communicate and
express themselves with confidence. Activities like questioning and interacting g build their
literacy. Children feel motivated to use simple sentence structures and learn the use of new
words. They feel free to communicates with other students and the teacher. They learn to share
and express their ideas and the use of language
The teacher can extend the children’s learning by involving parents in the sessions. That
would make the students more excited and involved. Children’s and teen book festivals
encourage children to read more. Partnerships between schools and libraries can help organize
successful festivals and a strong literacy environment for the young readers (Green, 2018).
However, such festivals need volunteers and financial support to be successful.
Conclusion
The children in the age group of three to five, require a thoughtful and balanced approach
to improve their literacy levels, whether it is listening, writing, and reading. The material chosen
for the project should be according to the age group of the children. Parents and teachers carry
the prime responsibility of strengthening the early literacy practices and environment within the
school classrooms and at home Research shows that regular engagement of the children in
literacy support good literacy outcomes. The above project helps to understand how particular
learning outcomes for language and literacy development can be achieved by providing the right

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environment for the child. Parent’s and teachers as adults should realize their key roles in
enhancing literacy in children. For example, in the given project, the teacher encourages the
students to explore the alphabetic concepts, raise Phonological awareness and engage in
meaningful interactions. By emphasizing on alphabets, the sounds, use of new words, rhymes
and phrases, the children feel encouraged to make observations, learn new words and make
conversations. The story session helps the students to develop their alphabetical concepts, build
their phonological skills and converse in simple sentences. Different techniques and experiences
can focus on development of children's language and literacy with positive learning outcomes.
The language and literacy development can be further encouraged by involving parents
and developing partnerships with local libraries. It is a good idea to involve parents in the early
literacy development of their children. Reading stories from books is a powerful means of
developing literacy skills in young children aged three to five. Thus, it is essential to read and tell
stories to children in classrooms. The children not only enhance their literacy skills but also
understand the concept of books and relate print to words and entertainment.

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References
Byrnes, J. P., & Wasik, B. A. (2009). Language and literacy development : what educators need
to know. New York : Guilford Press, c2009.
Corbett, S. (2018). The Toughest, Most Important Books to Write: Publishers discuss the unsung
value of early chapter books in fostering literacy. Publishers Weekly, (30), 18.
Green, A. (2018). Promoting Literacy, Promoting Sales With Book Festivals: Some bookstores
are giving back to the community by creating children’s and YA book festivals.
Publishers Weekly, (23), S16.
Kreider. (2018). New books help start pre-schoolers on road to solid literacy skills. University,
22(4), 1–12.
King, K. A. (2012). Writing Workshop In Preschool. Reading Teacher, 65(6), 392–401.
Motlhagodi, N., & Kasule, D. (2015). 6. Parental involvement in children’s early grade literacy
learning: voices from parents unable to read or write English. Nawa: Journal of
Language and Communication, (1), 132.
Morrow, L. M. (2007). Developing literacy in preschool. New York : Guilford Press, c2007.
Piasta, S. B., & Wagner, R. K. (2010). Developing Early Literacy Skills: A Meta-Analysis of
Alphabet Learning and Instruction. Reading Research Quarterly, 45(1), 8–38.