Executive Summary
Early literacy and language skills are fundamental to a child’s development. Indeed, the younger the child, the easier it is for them to learn the language, as young children form neural connections rapidly. Children can learn languages quickly thanks to the brain’s flexibility and the nervous system’s rapid formation (Essa & Burnham, 2019). This peculiarity helps children master literacy and language skills more easily. However, one should not diminish the role of a teacher in the process, since children need guidance on the way to success. By employing suitable strategies and selecting activities that are most beneficial to a child in their pursuit of mastering language skills, a teacher lays the groundwork for the pupils’ further development of all aspects of language.
Scenario
Haru is a Year 2 student who recently moved from Japan to Australia and speaks Japanese as his first language. Although he began learning English in Japan, he now requires additional support with oral language, phonics, spelling, and vocabulary to further develop his literacy skills.
The Importance of Early Literacy and Language Skills
In the scenario provided, the child, Haru, requires language and literacy skills for effective communication, as he is unable to share his ideas clearly. Moreover, he may be unable to understand what is wanted of him, which might result in awkward situations and a condescending or outright negative attitude on the part of his peers (Isabelli-García et al., 2018). The significant advantage of early literacy skills is that they promote effective communication with others.
Indeed, oral speech sounds much nicer and clearer when correct and concise. At the same time, well-written texts are much easier to read and perceive than texts full of mistakes and inconsistencies. Therefore, the early mastery of literacy and language skills in this scenario would enable the child to communicate their needs effectively, make friends, and, in general, interact with their surroundings more efficiently.
The more correctly and competently a child speaks, the easier it is for others to understand him. On the contrary, illiteracy can lead to misunderstandings of words and their misinterpretation, misconceptions, and a lack of contact. The rules of the language were created for a reason, and literacy and language skills form the basis of these rules.
Literacy contributes to how the person perceives speech, listens, or reads more carefully. Speech flaws and spelling mistakes distract attention so that the listener can lose track of the essence of what is said. Mastering early literacy and language skills will help the child make their speech more understandable to others.
A Diverse Factor That May Hamper the Child’s Literacy
Various internal and external factors can impede a child’s development of literacy and language skills. Such internal factors as low aptitude and difficulty maintaining attention may negatively impact the child’s academic performance (Thien et al., 2021). Moreover, a disadvantageous home and school atmosphere, poor relationships with peers, and a lack of family support can lead a child to lose interest in studying (Thien et al., 2021). However, in this particular case, the child’s cultural and language background is the factor that, to my mind, would significantly impact his ability to master literacy skills.
From a linguistic perspective, English and Japanese belong to different language families, derived from their respective structures, phonetics, and alphabets. Thus, the Japanese language has only two tenses – the past and the present- that denote the future (Akiko, 2018). Therefore, the complex English tenses and verb forms may present difficulties for the child.
Moreover, the alphabet and its structures in both languages are entirely different. Thus, each letter denotes a sound if pronounced separately in the English alphabet. In Japanese, a letter denotes a syllable, which, on the one hand, results in a large number of language signs and, on the other, makes the rules of pronunciation more understandable (Akiko, 2018). For the child, English pronunciation may be challenging to master, not only because of the complex rules of reading but also due to many sounds that do not exist in the Japanese language.
The child may have difficulties adopting the Western communication style from a cultural perspective. Indeed, Japanese children are taught obedience and discipline from a very early age, which are seen as essential for the child’s success. Therefore, the child may be apprehensive of approaching the teacher and asking questions, fearful that the teacher will take it as a sign of disrespect. The teacher, in turn, may believe the child has a sound understanding of a subject if they do not ask questions. In this situation, the child will be unable to communicate his needs due to a cultural barrier, and the teacher will not be able to perceive them.
A Classroom Strategy and a Learning Activity
The classroom strategy I believe would be most appropriate for teaching early literacy and language skills in this scenario is a word wall. A word is a specific selection or system of active words written or printed for a classroom wall, allowing students to easily see and read them (Ismiyati & Saputri, 2020). This collection of words is interchangeable, relevant, and interactive, and has proven effective in engaging children in their studies (Siregar et al., 2020). The strategy would be most appropriate for the child since the English and Japanese alphabets are entirely different, and the child may have difficulties reproducing the letters. With the aid of visual perception and clarity, the child will learn to recognize, accurately reproduce, and subsequently memorize a word (Mercer & Dörnyei, 2020).
Moreover, the strategy improves the spelling and reading of certain words due to their rapid recognition in texts or exercises. It is especially relevant for the child because he may have difficulties reading and being accustomed to the situation when words are written as they are pronounced (Rao, 2019). Therefore, this strategy will help him to learn correct pronunciation. Additionally, a word wall can help increase pupils’ passive and active vocabulary.
The learning activity I would choose in this scenario is OOPS. I will create cards with words written on them and place them in the box, as well as several cards with the word ‘OOPS’. The pupils would come to the box and draw cards.
I would ask them to read and explain the word that they get. If they do it correctly, they may keep the card. The person who receives the most cards at the end of the activity is the winner. A person who receives an OOPS card must surrender all their existing cards and begin collecting them again (Johnson et al., 2019). The proposed activity will provide additional support for Haru and other children in oral language, phonics, and reading, as he will have to read the word. Extending his vocabulary would also support his literacy development (Siregar et al., 2020).
A Formative Assessment Strategy
I believe the most appropriate formative assessment strategy in this scenario would be analysis of a child’s work and performance, as it allows for incorporating diverse teaching methods and evaluating the results of their application (Prashanti & Ramnarayan, 2019). Moreover, this strategy enables daily assessment of the child, which is highly desirable in EAL/D assessments (Dilova, 2021). More specifically, the simplification strategy will assess the child’s writing skills. The children will be offered to read a text or listen to a teacher reading it. Then, Haru and others will be asked to describe the essence of what they read or listened to.
To help Haru cope with the assignment, after reading, I would engage the children in a discussion of key words and notions used in the test and key events of the story. I would put new or challenging words on the classroom’s word wall and the key events on the blackboard. After that, I would ask pupils to write a simplified version of the text and a summary of key events using the discussed vocabulary. The pupils will be assessed based on their written works.
The proposed strategy will allow Haru to expand his vocabulary and significantly enhance his literary skills. Thus, he will acquire the skill of forming sentences and organizing words. Moreover, the strategy will help him to overcome spelling difficulties (Xiao & Yang, 2019). The strategy also enhances cognitive skills necessary for all learning activities (Dilova & Saidova, 2020). Thus, he will learn to convert oral speech into a written format, establish causal relationships, and build logical reasoning.
From the teacher’s perspective, the strategy will help develop intermediate writing skills. Thus, I will see how the child has learned to translate sound into a letter; to correctly spell words and sentences; to write dictation; to check what is written and correct mistakes; to express his impressions in writing as well as build his written works in a coherent and argumentative way (Lee et al., 2020). Writing and literacy lessons should align with reading lessons, as these two skills are developed simultaneously (McLachlan et al., 2018). I will not be overly harsh in my assessment, as at this stage it is essential to motivate the child to study and instill in him the feeling of confidence. Therefore, I will not give marks for the assignments, but instead, I will point out the problems Haku experienced and suggest ways to resolve them.
References
Akiko, K. (2018). Factors affecting Japanese EFL learners’ pronunciation learning: age, linguistic differences, aptitude personality, and gender. 兵庫教育大学 研究紀要 第53巻 2018年 9 月 pp. 181- 193. Web.
Dilova, N. G. (2021). Formative assessment of students’ knowledge–as a means of improving the quality of education. Scientific reports of Bukhara State University, 5(3), 144-155. Web.
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Essa, E. L., & Burnham, M. M. (2019). Introduction to early childhood education. Sage Publications. Web.
Ismiyati, W. L., & Saputri, T. (2020). Using Word Wall to improve English vocabulary mastery: Systematic review. Konstruktivisme: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Pembelajaran, 12(2), 120-131. Web.
Isabelli-García, C., Bown, J., Plews, J. L., & Dewey, D. P. (2018). Language learning and study abroad. Language Teaching, 51(4), 439-484. Web.
Johnson, J. E., Sevimli-Celik, S., Al-Mansour, M. A., Tunçdemir, T. B. A., & Dong, P. I. (2019). Play in early childhood education. In Handbook of research on the education of young children (pp. 165-175). Routledge. Web.
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McLachlan, C., Fleer, M., & Edwards, S. (2018). Early childhood curriculum: Planning, assessment and implementation. Cambridge University Press. Web.
Mercer, S., & Dörnyei, Z. (2020). Engaging language learners in contemporary classrooms. Cambridge University Press. Web.
Prashanti, E., & Ramnarayan, K. (2019). Ten maxims of formative assessment. Advances in physiology education, 43(2), 99-102. Web.
Rao, P. S. (2019). Effective teaching of writing skills to the English language learners. International Journal of English Language, Literature and Translation Studies (IJELR), 6(4), 196-205.
Siregar, S. F., Pulungan, A. H., & Murni, S. M. (2020). The Effect of Word Wall Strategy and Students’ Interest on English Vocabulary Mastery. Web.
Thien, N. M., An, L. T., Nam, N. T., & Bao, N. D. T. (2021). Factors affecting English capacity of non-English students at Dong Nai Technology University. International Journal of Research in Engineering, Science and Management, 4(6), 29–34. Web.
Xiao, Y., & Yang, M. (2019). Formative assessment and self-regulated learning: How formative assessment supports students’ self-regulation in English language learning. System, 81, 39-49. Web.