Amanda Williams

November 11, 2007

 Introducing/Questioning

The point I intend to make is that the more literate someone is, the more likely they are to achieve due to those literacy skills. I feel like children who were read to and those that developed other early literacy skills are more literate and therefore achieve more than those who were not read to and did not successfully develop early literacy skills. For this reason, I think it is necessary to answer my question: Do adults who developed emergent literacy skills as preschoolers achieve more in adulthood? If my question yields the answer I expect, content standard objectives, laws, and the overall curriculum of early childhood education could all be affected. The foundation questions I am asking to lead to my essential question are: What are emergent literacy skills? How are emergent literacy skills encouraged and developed? What constitutes achievement in adults? How many adults developed emergent literacy skills as preschoolers and are considered to be at a high level of achievement?

Searching

 Emergent literacy skills are those skills that a child needs to be successful in reading and writing. “Considerable research has shown children’s emergent literacy skills- the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are necessary for the development of reading and writing…are important for later reading success” (Roberts, J., Jurgens, J., & Burchinal, M.,p.345,2005).Emergent literacy skills are those skills that children develop before learning to read and are also referred to as early literacy skills, early reading skills and emergent reading skills.

There are hundreds of ways that parents, educators and caregivers can encourage the development of emergent literacy skills, and children develop emergent literacy skills in a variety of ways, as well. Some ways of encouraging emergent literacy skills are: reading to the child, naming objects in the presence of the child, repeating things the child says, encouraging the child to tell stories and basically interacting with the child(Roth, 2006). Emergent literacy skills are developed through the use of early literacy activities, reading experiences, and the modeling of literacy skills by both caretakers and educators (Ortiz, 2000). Often times the encouragement and development of such skills is incidental and occurs naturally in healthy home environments.

In 2006, approximately 13% of Americans were found to be living in poverty (Webster,2007). Poverty does not constitute achievement in adults, so I will assume that the other 87% of Americans are successful, or at high levels of achievement. Achievement is difficult to define universally because of its complex nature; however, I chose to define achievement based on the distal factor, Socio-economic status (SES).Achievement is defined as “a result gained by effort [and] the quality and quantity of…work” (Achievement, 2007). There are many different methods of measuring achievement; consequently, choosing one method to determine a factor so complex it is not feasible. “High achievement is a function of three categories of factors: (a) opportunity factors (e.g., coursework), (b) propensity factors (e.g., prerequisite skills, motivation), and (c) distal factors (e.g., SES)” (Byrnes, J., & Miller, D.,p.1,2007). For the purposes of my research I decided to use the poverty guidelines provided by the U.S. Census Bureau to measure achievement. I understand that using only one factor of hundreds is not the most accurate representation; however, due to limited time and the nature of this project I have chosen to do so. The U.S. Census Bureau uses family income and measure of need to determine poverty thresholds and in 2006 approximately 13% of Americans were determined to be living in poverty.

Only 20% of Americans who developed emergent literacy skills as preschoolers are not considered to be at a high level of achievement. Denton (2002) found that 67% of students in the first half of their kindergarten year had letter recognition skills. Letter recognition is only one small component of emergent literacy skills, but I feel like most children who are considered to have developed emergent literacy skills most likely have letter recognition abilities. So, if 67% of children developed early literacy skills and 87% of Americans are considered to be at high levels of achievement, then only 20% of Americans developed early literacy skills and yet are not considered to be at high levels of achievement (Denton, 2002).

Concluding/Answering

Emergent literacy skills are those skills that are necessary for successful reading and writing, like knowing the sound for each orthographic letter. These skills are encouraged and developed through reading experiences and the modeling of literacy activities by everyone in the child’s life. For the purposes of this research I used poverty guidelines provided by the U.S. census and data collected from a survey conducted by the National Institute for Literacy to define achievement. I found that approximately 13% of Americans live in poverty, so I determined that the other 87% of Americans are not within poverty guidelines and therefore are considered to be at high levels of achievement (Webster, 2007). Based on information collected by the National Institute for literacy approximately 67% of students entering kindergarten had letter recognition skills (Denton, 2002).I am considering letter recognition skills as concrete evidence of emergent literacy skills. Since 87% of Americans are considered to be at a high level of achievement, and 67% of children had emergent literacy skills when entering kindergarten it is fair to say that only 20% of Americans who developed emergent literacy skills are not considered to be at high levels of achievement(Denton, 2002). With that said, I feel like there is a strong positive correlation between emergent literacy skills and high achievement. My hypothesis proved true; children who developed emergent literacy skills are more literate and therefore achieve more than those who did not develop emergent literacy skills.

References

Achievement (2007). Retrieved November 16, 2007, from http://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/achievementByrnes, J., & Miller, D. (2007, October). The relative importance of predictors of math and science achievement: An opportunity–propensity analysis. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 32(4), 599-629. Retrieved November 4, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database.

Denton, Kristen & West,Gerry.(2002) Children’s reading and mathematics achievement in kindergarten and first Grade.U.S. Department of Education, NCES, Washington, DC, 2002 Ortiz, R. (2000). The many faces of learning to read: The role of fathers in helping their children to develop early literacy skills. Multicultural Perspectives, 2(2), 10-17. Retrieved November 4, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database.

Roberts, J., Jurgens, J., & Burchinal, M. (2005). The role of home literacy practices in preschool children’s language and emergent literacy skills. Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 48(2), 345-359. Retrieved November 4, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database.

Roth, Froma P. & Paul, Diane R. (2006).National Center for Learning Disabilities. Retrieved October 31, 2007, from http://www.ncld.org/content/view/999/527

Webster, Bruce H., Jr. & Bishaw, A. (2007).U.S. census bureau, american community survey reports,ACS-08,income, earnings, and poverty data from the 2006 american community survey. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.