Literacy in a play program- Part 2

A continuation of this entry.

Discussion of Results (Data Analysis and Interpretation)
Observations of the environment
The centre where the research has been undertaken is at a C&K childcare centre. C&K is one of Queensland’s largest and longest provider of community based early childhood education and childcare services. Currently, C&K has just launched a new curriculum framework, called Building Waterfalls, which the staff refer to in the planning of the activities and the overall play based programme.

How the classroom teachers plans.
The classroom being observed is managed by two classroom teachers and an assistant who take turns to share and manage the classroom over the period of the week. The centre employs a mixture of both a play-generated curriculum and curriculum-generated play in planning for the classroom activities.

“Our play-based curriculum provides a dynamic environment, which encourages exploration, enquiry and creativity, and gives children the time and opportunity to have control over their own learning” (The centre’s philosophy, refer to attachment in appendix given).

As in reference to the above, the teachers plan along these lines and alongside the children and follow the interests of the children as the day progresses. They look at their observations, evaluating it, and then plan on what they think is important and to meet the children’s needs, to extend and develop the child’s skills, and maintain continuous play as a result of their planning choices.

The teachers in the classroom use a variety of ways to observe children’s growth and learning of which these are:

• Photo stories.
• The record of the activities the children have been working on for that day.

• Curriculum Plans (using coded symbols) to maintain the children’s privacy.
• Observation sheets (that are kept in each child’s folder).
• Work samples.
• Children’s own work folders.
• Galleries displaying children’s paintings and artwork.

As the classroom is shared by two main teachers, both teachers utilize a different manner of observation to document the children’s development and learning. Although these methods of observations are different, it permits others (parents, administrators, relief staff and floaters) who view the documentation on the children’s development two different perspectives on how a child’s development can be monitored and recorded down.

Kieff & Casbergue (2000, p. 198) states that teachers who wish to foster language and literacy knowledge, skills and dispositions in young children move beyond planning and providing materials to facilitating development by engaging children in language use and interacting with them in ways that scaffold their learning.

The teachers have attempted to scaffold and extend the children’s thinking and creativity skills through strategies such as

• Initiating ideas to start on a topic of interest, such as a book or a topic of discussion to start on the topic of puppet making.
• Providing support such as providing materials to start on a project or start on an activity, i.e, wooden spoons for the spoon puppets.
• Involving the children in all aspects of the learning environment, i.e transferring the responsibility and ownership of the maintenance and care of the classroom to the children, so that the children will have a shared sense of ownership of the classroom, i.e Ruth’s farewell gift, or in the case of decorations to put up for the classroom.
• Not providing answers, but asking open-ended questions to assist children in looking for solutions, problem-solve and find out answers for themselves
• Assisting children in making choices and decisions for themselves.
• Staff and teachers to join in the children’s play, and scaffold it without taking over the children’s play.
• The teacher joining the children’s play, by providing ideas and supporting and guiding the children in their ideas, by providing questions and cues that could lead the children’s thinking to explore options not previously thought of before.

The planning proforma:

Kieff & Casbergue (2000, p.191) states that knowledge of literacy goals for young children enables teachers to make informed choices about materials, activities and play opportunities that are effective and appropriate for each child.

The planning of the activities for the class is done on a daily basis, and what the teacher has observed of the children have been working on and said for the day.

The advantages of the this strategy of planning is that it is able to extend the children’s interest onto a much deeper level, sustain their interests in the activity, and is relevant to the children’s ideas, knowledge and current thinking.

The disadvantages of this process is that because it is done as a daily planning, it cannot be planned for the week ahead, as the children’s interest may have changed by then and the activities may not be relevant to what the children are working at. Teachers have to always be in touch and observant of what the children are working at in order to provide for their learning experiences at a current pace.

According to the classroom teachers, though they plan the activity according to the interests of an individual child, it has to take into consideration the other children’s interests too so that the other children could participate in the activity as well.

How the planning is set up

Kieff & Casbergue (2000, p. 197) state that planning a classroom environment that supports and extends children’s language and literacy learning entails designing classroom centres, theme studies and projects that incorporate both oral and written language.

The mentor’s philosophy is reflected in the planning of the literacy activities where she believes that the children should take ownership of their own learning. Common centres are set-up with materials already accessible to the children.

These centres include a Collage Do-It table, Puzzles, Book Corner, Blocks, Dress-Ups and Home Corner. As with the rest of the other learning areas in the classroom, the literacy materials are set-up on low shelves where the children have easy access to.

The children have the freedom and choice to take the materials from the shelves to work with. Apart from that, the teacher also plans out other specific and structured language art activities such as sourcing and bringing out materials for puppet making, easel painting, or paint activities if she feels that they have shown an interest in it, or if they specifically requested for it.

As the centre employs a play-based programme, the children are given the time and freedom throughout the day to work with activities of their choice at the different centres. They are not hurried throughout the activity, as the teachers also believe that “it is not the end product, but the process” in doing the activity that matters, where the children learn the skills through working with the activity and experiences provided, and not making the final product. The teachers continuously make a conscious note of this statement and are always finding ways to reinforce this philosophy in the classroom to other staff, parents and visitors who may come in to observe or look at the children’s work.

What the teachers do to enhance the children’s literacy
Literacy is language in use, encompasses speaking, listening, reading, writing and critical thinking. It is developed through involvement in everyday home and community experiences. It is a process that is interactive, dynamic and purposeful. (Early Childhood Australia, 1999, viii, as cited in C&K, 2006).

The teachers state that they do not separately plan for literacy activities, or compartmentalise the developmental and key learning areas when planning for the activities in the classroom, however, instead they plan for activities that integrates the developmental and key learning areas into on activity.

As Van Hoorn, Nourot, Scales , & Alward (1993, as cited in Kieff & Casbergue, 2000, p. 186) states, play can “offer children opportunities to make meaningful use of language and literacy knowledge and skills. …and the unifying quality of play enables it to unite and integrate the socio-emotonal, motoer, and cognitive aspects of learning and development”.

In reference to this, the classroom teachers attempt to develop the children’s literacy skills through different activities such as

• Literacy games
• Name tags and name games
• Signs
• Discussion at Carpet time or any time in a 1:1 or small group.
• Pictures
• Stimulus materials
• Visual cues
• Role model language
• Reading a lot of books: reading it from left to right and pointing to the words as the words are being read.
• Use of verbal and non-verbal language
• Sign language

All these indirectly involve developing speaking and oral communication skills. Goodman (1980, as cited in Kieff & Casbergue, 2000, p. 187) states, it is continuously being accepted that literacy learning is actually language learning…that oral language development is critical to literacy as learning to read and write is simply an extension of oral language learning. Hence, it is important that children develop a good foundation and base in their oral communication skills as they learn to read and write.

The children in the classroom are engaging in emergent literacy (Clay, 1966 as cited in Kieff & Casbergue, 2000), as their knowledge of oral language is immersed in the print-rich environments of the classrooms, the children are encouraged to explore the different ways written symbols can be used.

What is the teacher’s role?

Co-Construction of Knowledge:

“When teachers use the prior experiences and current questions of children as the building blocks of their curriculum, they too have the potential to learn, be surprised, and join children as researchers (Nimmo, 2002, 9, as cited in C&K, 2006).

The teacher adopts the centre’s underlying philosophy of teaching. The centre employs a child-centered philosophy to teaching and planning activities. This is shown whereby:

• The staff shows the children how to do it.
• The staff do not just transfer the responsibility of the learning to the children, but in the process, support their needs as well.
• The staff show by supporting the children in their questioning and following up on to what the children are doing.

Kieff & Casbergue (2000) continue to state that language and literacy occur not as a result of solitary exploration of things in the classroom, but from the rich interactions that should infuse every part of the curriculum.

It is because of this reason that the teacher in their roles, attempt also to foster a classroom culture that places importance on developing social and interaction skills among the teacher and staff and each other. The teachers do this by participating and interacting with the children in their play themes and working with them as the children enact their play scripts and creations.

What responsibility children assume for their own learning?

Teachers transfer the responsibility of making right learning choices to the children by evaluating the appropriateness of the learning choices made according to the context and needs as it happens and how it happens. The teacher’s roles in this is only to guide and extend the children’s decisions as they make their choices, plan as to maintain extended interest and focus on the child’s intended play, and bring into a deeper depth so that the child can explore their own interests.

Kieff & Casbergue (2000, p. 197) state that children’s language and literacy knowledge and skills, as well as their dispositions to use those skills develop best when children interact with print and with each other, exploring, hypothesizing and creating their own rules for written language.

At the childcare centre, the teachers believe that children should take ownership of their learning. It is a conscious decision, and is incorporated into the planning that children make their own decisions. Teachers provide teaching and learning opportunities for the children such as possibilities, scaffolding, and extensions for learning. It is out of these choices, and as a result of these choices, that the program believes children will learn from the outcomes and consequences.

Kieff & Casbergue (2000, p. 197) continues to state that because children are engaged in language use for their own purposes, they are invited to construct their own knowledge about critical aspects of language.

Observation of a child: Gini

Attached are the observations of a child, Gini, who has been enrolled in the childcare centre for the past two months (2006). English is the child’s second language and she speaks a different home language that from at school.

The individuals (staff and peers) in the classroom have encouraged Gini in the development and learning of the English language skills. The results of the observations show that as a result of the play in the class, Gini from speaking only one word (12/10/06), yes and no (26/10/06), she had progressed to drawing and naming objects, communicating by showing and understanding instructions (9/11/06). The greeting card that Gini made showed she understood the meaning of words and its importance attached to words in her creations.

Conclusion

Children are able to develop skills in the language areas as the child socialises with surrounding peers, be it another child or his/her guardian. By taking part in play themes initiated by either the teacher or the child's self, the child will be able to put into practise the literacy skills they have learned and acquired.

With the observation of Gini, it can be concluded that surrounding peers and a conducive environment play an important role in helping a child to develop his/her communication skills, be it written or oral. In the play based program, Gini was able to develop her literacy skills holistically as it gave her the opportunity to put her newfound skills to practise.

As such, the outcome that has been seen through the implementation of a play based programme, children are able to practise and develop their written skills, communication skills, oral speaking skills in an environment, which is individually planned and catered for their learning needs, interests, personality, free to make choices, and have the freedom to play and follow their own interests without being hurried by the system or the individuals around them.

References
Campbell, Rod, & Green, David (eds) (2000) Literacies and Learners: current perspectives, Prentice Hall: Australia.

Cohen, Louis & Manion, Lawrence (1994) Research Methods in Education (4^th edition), Routledge: London.

C&K (2006) Building Waterfalls: A living and learning curriculum framework,

Theobald, Maryanne & Houen, Sandy (2000) Monitoring Children’s Progress Using Child Portfolios, Theobald and Houen: Queensland.

Diaz, Jones C & Makin, L (2002) ‘Literacy as social practice’, in L Makin & C Jones Diaz (eds), Literacies in early childhood: changing views, challenging practice, MacLennon & Petty Pty Limited: Eastgardens

Hoorn, Nourot, Scales & Alward (1993) Play at the Center of the Curriculum, Macmillan: USA

Hughes, Fergus P (1995) Children, Play, & Development 2^nd Edition, Simon & Schuster: USA

Kalantzis, M & Cope, B (1997) Strong and weak languages in the European Union: aspects of linguistics hegemonism, 26-37 March 1997, Thessalonika: Greece.

Kieff, Judith.E & Casbergue, Renne M (2000) Playful Learning and Teaching: Integrating Play into Preschool and Primary Programs, Allyn and Bacon: America

Merriam, Sharan. B (1988) Case Study- Research in Education: A Qualitative Approach, Jassey-Bass Publishers: San Francisco.

Neuman, S & Roskos, K (1993) Language and literacy learning in the early years: An integrated approach, Harcourt Brace & Company: Florida.

Stake, Robert. E (1995) The Art of Case Study Research, Sage Publications: USA.

Literacy in a play program- Part 1

Enclosed is the first part of my Research Project in 2006. This research work is the outcome of 20 days practicum in a childcare centre and thereafter about 10 days of analysis & consolidation of data.

You may use the information here provided that you link it back to here, or quote this site. Just remember, the work of this website falls under the Creative Commons author rights if you plan to take any ideas from here.

1. Project Title:Literacy in an integrated play-based program

2. Definition of the question:

• How does the Centre plan for an integrated play-based program to develop young children’s literacy?

3. Significance of this study:

• This project will help contribute understanding on how literacy can be fostered through the different learning areas in the preschool program
  

• On a personal level, it allows the researcher to foster a deeper understanding of the utilization of both a play-generated and curriculum-generated play program.

• This study will link theory and practice through the application of contemporary and current perspectives of literacy practices. In a context which is becoming more multi-cultural, findings on multiple intelligences state that there are different multi-modal approaches to a person becoming literate.

• Literacy is not the matter of just learning to read and write, but being “literate”

As to be able to use the technologies and skills acquired to communicate affectively and effectively and contribute to their own personal growth as a member of society. (Diaz & Makin, 2002)

• The results of this study could advance the work already reported in the literature through the use of the observations and data given to reinforce and substantiate the theoretical and hypotheses given, or to give a different analyses and interpretation to the information that a different slant could be taken.

• The results could have potential benefit both theoretically and practically for

Childcare workers in this field of work through the interpretation and explanation for a student researcher who comes from a different culture and upbringing from the host culture in the current context.

• The results will enlighten and bring to understanding as well to other child care workers of the Western counterpart, the different learning styles, especially Asian cultures that value learning by rote and worksheets, and how they as workers, in a context that values learning through play, to prepare emotionally and adapt and adjust their interaction styles when working and interacting with families and children of diverse learning styles and cultural backgrounds.

On a personal level, this investigation:

§ could clarify appropriate courses of action on my part through allowing the development of understanding the preparation of activities that value literacy through play if working in a context that values learning through rote.

§ could produce a product for future use by allowing me to share my knowledge either through verbal interaction and presenting my knowledge with similar staff in the same field of work in education settings, or to work with other staff who may be experiencing conflict whilst working with children who come from a background that values a different learning style than held predominantly by the host culture of Australia.

§ could clarify a process for the improvement of learning though facilitating and providing a supportive environment for staff who may have difficulty understanding and following a program that values the learning of more hands-on literacy activities through play and the value of play itself. This is especially so in Australian schools where Campbell & Green (2000, p93) states that “it is a challenge for schools in today’s diverse society to understand how to cater for the needs of all students within traditional school structures”.

4. Literature review and conceptual framework

What is Literacy?
An environment that only fosters learning by rote and memory, and worksheets, may deprive young children of the opportunity and skills that they need to develop and learn when they develop into adulthood.

Diaz & Makin (2002) states that the traditional view of literacy, that is just only learning how to read and write, has been unable to account for the different ways that people read and interpret situations. They continue to state that literacy is a “social tool”, and far from just knowing how to read and write, but “making meaning out of it” and using this knowledge of literacy in a wide variety of contexts and using the different technologies and popular culture to communicate out their ideas.

The implications, Diaz & Makin (2002, p.12) continues to say that as such, it is important that among the steps that early childhood educators need to take are to “plan to develop children’s ability to think critically, to compare, contrast, evaluate, make judgements, and to relate what they hear, read and view to them”.

Multiliteracies is a word coined by Kalantzis & Cope (1997, p. 28) to describe the “awareness and growing significance of cultural and linguistic diversity” in many nations. They attest that what was thought to be adequate by learning the lingua franca, the main language which is colonial version of the British English in the past, is no longer sufficient and does not work as well in different contexts as it was previously thought to be. (Kalantzis & Cope, 1997).

Kalantzis & Cope (1997, p.32) state that in order to move on with the times, it is important that schools have to “service linguistic and cultural diversity”. They continue to attest that as the world becomes more networked and interconnected, through use of modern technologies and new developments that are being discovered each day, it is or importance that students have to develop skills in “negotiating dialect, register and semiotic differences, code switching, interlanguages and hybrid cross-cultural discourses, …for the hope of averting the catastrophic conflicts about identities and spaces” (Kalantzis & Cope, 1997, p.32).

Why is Play so important?

Play is important in facilitating general cognitive development and consolidating learning that has already taken place while allowing for the possibility of new learning in a relaxed atmosphere (Hughes, 1995, p. 19).

The availability of play materials (Barnard, Bee & Hammond, 1984, as cited in Hughes, 1995) is among the many factors in stimulating children’s intellectual development. Bradley (1986, as cited in Hughes, 1995) states that young children spend much time and have a huge interest in playing with toys. Hence, it is important that good quality play materials are available for the children to work and explore with as this is among the factors in intellectual development.

What are the benefits of literacy learning through play?

• A play based programme could employ either a play generated curriculum

“that emerges directly from the interests of the children” (Hoorn, Nourot, Scales & Alward, 1993, p.59) or Curriculum- generated play where “the adult’s observation includes materials/ technique the adult suspects will create a match with children’s spontaneous interests” (Hoorn, Nourot, Scales & Alward, 1993, p.59).

• Play facilitates children’s language development:

Ø In a centre that employs a play based programme, the adult attempts to

plan activities which cater to the needs of the child such as their interests and matches the child’s developmental stages. The adult understands the child’s individuality through a variety of different ways such as undertaking observations of the child, making note during interactions with the child, as well as when the child asks for it.

The different “learning centres” in a play based programme include:

• The physical environment: the sand play areas, home dress area, the book corner, art construction areas and the outdoor play areas.
• The temporal environment: the interaction and activities planned out by the adult in the classroom, the interaction between teacher and child.

A play based programme accords the child ample time in working at the “learning centres” without being pressured to complete the product within a specific period of time, and children are encouraged to work on the activity they do over a period of time.

The “learning areas” in the classroom such as the home corner, or sand play corner, allows the child the opportunity to develop skills in the language areas as Hughes (1995) states, by the child socialising and taking part in play themes that could be teacher initiated, or child initiated, and extended over a period of time.

During play, the child will be able to put into practice the literacy skills they have learn and acquired. For example, when the child is working at the collage table, the child may want to create a card for a loved one, or at the writing centre, the child decides to make a shopping list for their dramatic play.

This requires the child to draw on their repertoire and own knowledge of numbers, letters of the alphabet and social knowledge of context. This is all just to create a card, or a shopping list relevant and acceptable to the rest of the members that the children are playing within their context.

The values the researcher assumes in undertaking the current research:

The values that the researcher is assuming when tackling this current research is that the play based program is a program that highly values early childhood as a right by itself. Children in this program are given ample time and are allocated a time period for both outdoor physical play as well as indoor play with activities.The researcher has to keep in mind that the play based program is written and based in Australia, where the values are completely different from that of the researcher’s, who comes from an Asian- Malaysian background, which values learning by rote, and not through exploration or “play”.

There are the limitations that the researcher acknowledges in analyzing the topic is that the researcher may have difficulty in reconciling the freedom and learning opportunities that may be accorded in a play-based programme as opposed to children who learn through working with worksheets and learning by rote.

5. Methodology

The questions to ask in regard to the topic itself:

• How each learning centre contributes to the literacy learning in the classroom?
• How does the adult use the information/observation to plan and scaffold the learning to the next stage?
• How does the adult in the classroom plan for the child to learn what is considered “literacy skills” from the different learning centres through the play based program employed in the centre?

The description of the research approach that will be undertaken:

The researcher will undertake research for this topic through the use of case study as the research approach. The data that is collected will be made done through observations of one childcare centre.

The location of the childcare centre where the researcher will undertake is in a small town in the state of Queensland, Australia. The centre is a community funded childcare centre which is located near a tertiary institution and is provided as part of the services rendered to the staff who are employed by the tertiary institution.

This centre has been utilised as a training centre for both local and international undergraduate and post-graduate students who are undertaking professional teacher training courses with tertiary institutions in the particular province in that specific area itself.

The method used by the researcher in context of this research is that of the Case Study. Case study is defined as observing the properties and characteristics of a particular unit “with the intention to probe deeply and to analyse intensively the workings and life-cycle of the unit with a view to establishing the generalizations about the wider population to which that unit belongs” (Cohen & Manion, 1994, p. 107).

This case study method will be used in the manner of participant observation as this particular method utilised in terms of data collection in regard to non-verbal behaviour, is more “superior to experiments and surveys” (Cohen & Manion, 1994, p. 110) as it allows researchers the ability to be able to discern “ongoing behaviour as it occurs and make appropriate notes, and are less reactive than other types of data-gathering methods” (Cohen & Manion, 1994, p. 110).

Case study methods allow observations made “over an extended period of time that the researchers to develop a more intimate and informal relationships” (Cohen & Manion, 1994, p. 110) with their subjects. This is possible as the current observation to take place will be over the course of 6 weeks and the researcher will have close contact in the classroom with both the adult and the children under their care. This would allow the researcher the opportunity to understand the “contextual influences” that play a major role in the planning of the programme outlines for the classroom.

Type of Data Collection tools used:

• Interviews: Interviews to be conducted with the

Ø main teacher,

Ø assistant teacher in the classroom.

The other staff that could be interviewed would be:

Ø a particular childcare centre’s principal.

• Document review – curriculum planning:

Ø This includes asking for consent from the centre to access the classroom’s lesson plans made over the period of the year,

Ø The observations of the children made and how they have developed their literacy skills throughout the year.

Ø Observation of the children’s written work.

The research interview has been defined as “a two-person conversation initiated by the interviewer for the specific purpose of obtaining research –relevant information, and focused by him on content specified by research objectives of systematic description, prediction, or explanation” (Cannell, and Kahn, 1968, as cited in Cohen & Manion, 1994, p. 271).

Data Analysis – how to make sense from the data collected:

Ways of making sense of the data collected include:

• Direct Interpretation: whereby, aggregating and testing the researcher’s unrealised hypotheses that they may have of the subjects or the findings (Stake, 1995).
• Naturalistic Generalisations: conclusions that arrive as a result of personal engagements in life’s affairs so well planned it may have happened to themselves (Stake, 1995).

Another strategy would be the utilisation of triangulation, which is the use of “two or more methods of data collection in the study of some aspect of human behaviour” (Cohen & Manion, 1994, p. 233) as it would produce a more “holistic view of educational outcome” (Cohen & Manion, 1994, p 239).

As the researcher, I shall make use of the information gathered, and look through the observations and findings on the play-based curriculum as well as the literacy experiences in the centre. Out of which, this information shall be evaluated, analysed and interpreted in order to summarise and present the final results in my final paper.

Cohen & Manion (1994, p.348) state that it is possible that in the course of research undertaking, “ethical issues will stem from the kinds of problems investigated by social scientists and the methods they use to obtain valid and reliable data”.

In the course of the undertaking of this research, informed consent through the tertiary institution has been made and given to the said Centre before any prior observations have been made. This is made through the utilisation of an official letter requesting access to the centre on the student researcher’s behalf.

(to be continued.... !)