Nikki Meyer

Emergent Literacy
Dr. McKool

Oral Language Assessment

Purpose: The purpose of this assessment was to get a better understanding of the
students and figure out how their home and school experiences shape the
way they learn to read and write. The difference between a child who
likes to read and a child who doesn’t like to read can stem from their home
life in which a child may not have many books, seldom get read to or they
simply aren’t encouraged to read. For instance, in the book, Kidwatching
Documenting Children’s Literacy Development, it states that, “With each
family contribution, adults help children tune into and make connections
among the varied language and literacy practices associated with life and
communities” (Owocki and Goodman 22). When families interact with
their children and encourage reading and writing as well as demonstrate
reading and writing practices, “Children come to value the literacy of their
homes, and the classroom community enriches the literacy practices in
children” (Owocki and Goodman 23). In my interview, Jim made it
apparent that his interests play a huge role in his book choices and the
stories and events he chooses to write about. This is extremely important
for a teacher to recognize because then they can use their student’s
interests to engage them in writing activities and to make reading fun. For
example, “Kidwatchers create learning environments in which school
practices connect with children’s personal and social worlds. Driving this
is the understanding that children learn best when language and
experiences are meaningful to them” (Owocki and Goodman 21).
Children have stories to tell and like to educate their peers about their
interests so when teachers incorporate the students personalities and
hobbies into the reading and writing curriculum, the students will respond
positively making them engaged, interested and excited about the
assignment.

Introduction: Jim is a very lively student; he participates often in class and is very
independent when it comes to reading and writing. He enjoys math and
helps the students at his group who struggle with it. The setting was his
first grade classroom and during the students down time, I pulled Jim to
interview him at the back table.

Methodology: I collected my data by first observing the students to see which student
had a good understanding of how to read and write. I looked for students
who read harder books and wrote longer and more detailed sentences so I
when I interviewed them I would understand how they became so
advanced at such a young age. I took notes on a few children I saw
reading quietly by themselves and being actively engaged in the book. I
 also observed the students during a writing assignment to see who finished
first and what kind of work they produced. I decided that Jim was very
good at reading and seemed to enjoy it. He also wrote detailed sentences
and spelled almost all the words correctly. I was intrigued by his work so
I decided to interview him for my oral language assessment interview.
During down time, I asked Jim if he could help me with something and
when we sat down at the back table I explained to him that I was in
college and studying to be a teacher and that I needed his help with an
assignment for one of my classes. He seemed eager and excited because
he was doing me a favor and helping me with school. He was very
cooperative during the interview and gave stories to accompany his
answers, which helped me understand him better and why he enjoys
school so much.

Description: Jim is a very engaged student when it comes to school; he participates

often and enjoys helping other students. When I interviewed Jim, I found
out that in addition to reading and writing, he also enjoys math. He
proceeded to demonstrate his knowledge by adding 116 to 116, and in his
head he did the math and gave me the correct answer. He also explained
how he enjoys reading by himself and reads two books everyday and
especially enjoys books about danger. He explained that he enjoys
playing tag games with his friends and has taken two years of karate and
that he is a black belt. His personality is apparent in his reading choices
because he likes to play energetic games, goes to karate lessons and when
asked what he collects, he explained that he collects action figures and
weapons, and because of these interests, Jim chooses books about action
and danger. He enjoys playing outside on his scooter and playing with his
younger sister and when he has down time he’ll watch his favorite show,
Ben 10. Jim is very independent when it comes to his school work, he
prefers to read alone and doesn’t get read to by his parents, in fact he
enjoys listening to them tell him stories. Jim likes to write and explained
that he can spell dinosaur, and that when he struggles with a word while
reading, he separates the word and sounds it out, I his opinion, trying to
figure out a word instead of skipping it makes a good reader. He enjoys
writing about karate since that’s a topic he is knowledgeable about and
when he does his homework, he does it by himself, and even though he
has his mother check his answers, he is usually always right. Jim’s
personality and love of action and adventure contribute to the type of
books he reads and the stories he writes. It’s because of those interests
that he enjoys reading action books in his spare time, which contribute, to
him becoming a stronger reader and writer.

Discussion: Because Jim benefited from reading books of interest during his spare time
at home and in class, I would encourage all students to read for at least five
minutes minimum when they go home at night. I understand that not every
student is a good reader and that asking him or her to read at home may
sound like a chore, but it’s a necessity. By giving the students a minimum
amount of time they have to read, that leaves the door open for them to read
for as long as they want, and for those who don’t enjoy reading, to have
been able to get some reading in. I would encourage students to pick a book
that interests them and reflects their favorite activities so they can relate to
it. In addition to encouraging students to read alone, I would ask them to
read with their parents or read to their parents so they feel like they are
teaching them something about their personalities. Reading will also help
students learn sight words and learn new words just like Jim learned how to
spell the word dinosaur. To help the students understand the meaning of
more words so that they understand the contents of their books, I would
have the children write down three to five words from the book they read at
home that they didn’t understand either it’s meaning or why it was spelled
that particular way. They would bring the words into class as we could look
at them together to help them understand the words better, this was the
students learn more words and I will know that they read.