Supporting Language and Early Literacy Practices

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Queensland kindergarten

learning guideline
Professional development | Resources

Supporting language and early literacy practices


in kindergarten
A definition of literacy
Literacy includes talking, listening, visual literacies such as viewing and drawing, and critical
thinking — not just reading and writing. In addition, the literacies of technology (e.g. computer
games and activities, internet searching, faxes, emails), popular culture (e.g. movies, theatre,
arts), functional literacy (e.g. road maps, timetables), ecological literacy (especially for Indigenous
groups) and literacies other than English are relevant to the lives of young children today. 1
Kindergarten programs based on this definition of literacy aim to provide young children with the
foundation they need for a successful transition to the literacy learning focuses in the Prep Year.

Contents
1. A conceptual framework for supporting language and early literacy learning and
development
This section identifies key characteristics of learning environments that promote language
and early literacy learning and development and includes questions that teachers can use
as a starting point for critically reflecting on their practices.
2. Strategies for language and early literacy learning and teaching
This section provides advice for teachers planning a balanced approach to supporting language
and early literacy learning and development. It describes a range of strategies teachers can use
to develop social relationships and focus on socially appropriate communication in context,
promote vocabulary development, develop phonological awareness, develop alphabetic and
letter–sound knowledge (phonics) and provide a rich literacy environment in which literacy
is purposefully used and discussed.
3. Snapshots of a balanced language and early literacy program in kindergarten
This section shows snapshots of how teachers promote language and early literacy
learning and development within their kindergarten programs.
Appendixes
a. An integrated approach to supporting early literacy development in kindergarten
b. Learning and teaching language in kindergarten

1
B Raban, M Brown, E Care, F Rickards & O’Connell, T 2011, Young Learners — Learning and Literacy in the
Early Years. AARE International Education Research Conference, 29 Nov – 3 Dec 2009,
r1061 Rebranded July 2014

www.aare.edu.au/09pap/rab091255.pdf.
1. A conceptual framework for supporting language
and early literacy learning and development
As an experienced kindergarten teacher I often find myself having to justify why I teach the way
I do through play-based learning. Increasingly, there has been pressure from parents, who connect
commercial phonics programs with becoming literate and ready for school, to teach differently. Media
pressure that devalues the place of play-based learning and promotes the need for ‘school readiness’
contributes to parent confusion about how best to help their children. I find I often need to explain how
I promote children’s literacy learning, including phonics, within my program.

This teacher’s predicament is a common one faced by early years professionals working in prior-
to-school settings and in the beginning years of schooling.
Early years teachers are faced with challenges such as:
• a range of viewpoints about the best ways to support children’s literacy
• media focus on literacy results and the perceived need for educational systems to improve
children’s literacy
• questions about the value of play as a powerful context for learning over more formalised
and directed approaches to teaching children
• the promotion of phonics based materials as ‘the answer’ to ensuring that all children
become literate
• fears of curriculum ‘push down’ amongst early years educators
• diversity of parental and community expectations.
Dealing with these challenges in early years education while sustaining a rich literacy program
for young children requires a positive and proactive approach.

A conceptual framework for supporting language and early literacy


learning and development in kindergarten
The conceptual framework outlined in Figure 1 (below) reflects a holistic approach to teaching
and learning that aligns with the principles of the Queensland kindergarten learning guideline
(QKLG). It is based on an ecological perspective that recognises the influence of children’s social
and cultural experiences and prior knowledge on their learning and development in early
education and care settings. It acknowledges that children’s interactions with people, objects and
symbols affect their understandings, capabilities and dispositions towards learning. It foregrounds
the importance of children having opportunities to engage with peers in interesting and
meaningful learning opportunities facilitated by supportive adults. Underpinning this holistic
framework is the perspective of the engaged child, engaged teacher, engaged parent and
engaged teaching and learning described in the QKLG.
While this framework describes influences on learning and development in general, it is also
useful for thinking about ways that adults can support young children’s language and literacy
learning and development, since these are essentially social practices.

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As Raban and Coates note:
What is now evident is that the development of literacy is profoundly social and is being experienced and
experimented with throughout children's daily lives. Indeed the concepts
of literacy that young children bring to school will be defined by their experience and understanding of the
2
functions of literacy in the world that surrounds them.

Focusing on language and literacy development as a social practice is a particularly helpful


conceptual framework to support teacher practice. This framework acknowledges the importance
of social and cultural contexts to children’s learning, and recognises the significance of children’s
diverse backgrounds and the richness of the language and literacy knowledge they bring to
kindergarten. It moves beyond the perspective in which language and literacy development is
treated as a series of technical skills that can be taught independently of the social context.
As Hamer observes, ‘Sociocultural theory challenges us to widen our perspective beyond that
of the individual child and of knowledge and meaning in isolation. Instead, children are viewed
as inseparable from their social contexts, and knowledge and meanings are seen as embedded
within sociocultural practices.’ 3
Figure 1 (adapted from Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of developmental processes)
highlights the importance of moving forward from a technical view of language and literacy
learning that focuses on a narrow set of skills and processes to a more holistic sociocultural
perspective.
This conceptual framework highlights the importance of:
• teachers’ critical reflection on their practices
• the inter-relationships of:
− educational research into young children’s learning and development, language
development and early literacy learning, including their working definition of early literacy
− beliefs, principles and practices, including the teacher’s role, the image of the child
and intentional teaching practices
− rich conversations and interactions in the kindergarten learning environment
− supportive partnerships with children, parents, families and communities
− inclusive learning environments and children’s capacity to experiment and engage
with literacy through play
− connections with children’s prior language and literacy experiences, family priorities
for supporting literacy, children’s interests and strengths and community and family
opportunities for language and literacy learning.

2
B Raban & H Coates, 2004, ‘Literacy in the Early Years: A follow up study’, Journal of Research in Reading, 27,
1, pp. 15–29 (quote from p.16).
3
J Hamer, 2005, ‘Exploring Literacy with Infants from a Sociocultural Perspective’, New Zealand Journal of
Teachers’ Work, Volume 2, Issue 2, www.teacherswork.ac.nz/journal/volume2_issue2/hamer.pdf, pp. 70-75
(quote from p.70).

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Using the conceptual framework to support language and early
literacy learning and development in kindergarten
Teachers incorporating this framework into their daily practice would find it helpful to:
• keep up-to-date with current research about language and early literacy practices, children’s
learning and development
• draw on current research to inform discussions with parents and families
• be familiar with current recommended practice in early childhood settings (see sections 2and 3)
• clearly articulate the ways that children’s language and literacy learning and development are
supported within play-based curricula
• provide parents with resources to help them support their children’s literacy learning,
highlighting the important role they play
• communicate with parents regularly about the kindergarten program and their child’s
language and literacy learning and development, and invite them to participate in the program
• demonstrate respect for the diversity of experiences and beliefs others hold about supporting
children’s language and literacy learning and development.

Creating supportive learning environments to promote language


and early literacy
Rather than promoting debate about the ‘best’ way of supporting early literacy, as though
there is a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach that will suit all learners’ needs, it is helpful to work from a
perspective that recognises the diversity of children’s interests, experiences and prior knowledge.
Current research about language and literacy learning and development, and ways of engaging
children in learning, provides strong evidence of the need for supportive adult interactions in rich,
inviting learning contexts where language and literacy learning is related to real-life purposes.
Children ‘learn best when, with the support of a knowledgeable and trusted adult, they are
actively involved and interested.’ 4 For teachers, it is particularly useful to build strong
relationships with parents so that their relationships with children are built on knowledge of
parental expectations, priorities and children’s home experiences. The more ‘teachers know
about parent’s beliefs and the activities in which they engage with children at home, the more
they can help to build a bridge between home and school literacy’. 5
The importance of a supportive learning environment is highlighted by Hyson’s research,
which identified a number of factors that undermined young children’s positive approach to
learning. She found that such things as unsupportive relationships between adults and children,
unchallenging and irrelevant learning experiences, and teaching methods that failed to support
children’s engagement and motivation to learn were associated with children becoming
disengaged as learners. 6
It is, therefore, essential that teachers critically examine their current practices for planning
and implementing literacy programs within the contexts of everyday kindergarten experiences
including play, real-life engagements and routines and transitions.

4
I Siraj-Blatchford, 2009, ‘Curriculum, pedagogy and progression’ in Early Education, Sustained Shared Thinking,
Spring, p. 6.
5
J Lynch, J Anderson, A Anderson, & J Shapiro, 2006, ‘Parents’ beliefs about young children’s literacy
development and parents literacy behaviours’, Reading Psychology, vol. 27, iss. 1, 1-20.
6
M Hyson, 2008, Enthusiastic and engaged learners: Approaches to learning in the early childhood
classroom. Early Childhood Education Series, Teachers College Press: Columbia University.

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Reflecting on language and literacy learning and teaching practice:
A starting point for teachers
Using the following reflective questions to guide thinking about current language and early literacy
learning and teaching practices is a helpful starting point.
Ask yourself:
• How does the language and literacy component of my program fit with a holistic view of
young children’s educational experiences?
• What are the strengths and gaps in the way my program incorporates recommended ‘best
practice’ in promoting language and literacy learning and development? (See Parts 2 and 3
for specific examples.)
• How connected is the language and literacy component of my program with emergent
curriculum perspectives? (See Modules 3 and 4 of the QKLG Professional Development
materials for detailed explanations of emergent curriculum.)
• What language do I use to describe the language and literacy component of my program?
• What does this reveal about my understandings of children’s learning and development and
the practices I value?
• To what extent does the language and literacy component of my program build on children’s
interests, engage and motivate children to learn, and promote independence and self-
regulation?
• What opportunities are there for rich conversations and interactions that promote language
and literacy learning and development?
• What opportunities do children have to engage in language and literacy learning through the
contexts of play, real-life engagements, and routines and transitions?
• How does the language and literacy component of my program support the diversity of
children’s experiences and the cultural knowledge that they bring to kindergarten?
• How flexible and responsive is my program in terms of engaging and challenging children
with meaningful, relevant language and literacy learning experiences?
• What intentional teaching strategies have I used to promote language and literacy learning
and development? To what extent are they related to real-life language and literacy?
• To what extent does the language and literacy component of my program incorporate family
priorities and connect with family and community expectations and learning opportunities?
• How well could I talk to families and other educators about my approach to language and
literacy learning and development?
• What aspects of language and literacy might I need to clarify or learn more about?
Considering these questions and developing a clear understanding of how language and early
literacy are learnt and developed are invaluable. This reflection will assist you to plan learning
and teaching experiences to build a strong foundation of dispositions, knowledge and skills for
children’s continuing language and literacy learning in school settings. It will help teachers explain
to parents how their program works, and why it is important to provide a rich and balanced
program. In addition, these reflective questions will help teachers make informed decisions about
which resources to use in their programs.
Appendix A provides a collection of questions that will help you review your practices for
supporting language and early literacy learning. It is based on the informed decision-making
model of the Queensland kindergarten learning guideline (Figure 2, p. 18).

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2. Strategies for language and early literacy learning
and teaching
What does a balanced approach to supporting language and
literacy development include?
Konza suggests that adopting a balanced approach to support young children’s language
development and literacy learning involves the following six features:
• developing social relationships that draw on children’s strengths, interests and
prior knowledge
• focusing on socially appropriate communication in context (pragmatic language use)
• promoting vocabulary development
• developing phonological awareness
• developing alphabetic and letter–sound knowledge (phonics)
• providing rich literacy environments in which literacy is purposefully used and discussed. 7

Developing social relationships and socially appropriate


communication in context
The Queensland kindergarten learning guideline incorporates a perspective of language and
literacy learning and development that acknowledges the crucial roles played by parents and
other supportive adults. Early literacy experiences with family and supportive adults occur through
social interactions that combine children’s growing understandings about the world, and their
place in it. Language and literacy development at this point in children’s lives is ‘as much about
relationships as knowledge and understandings.’ 8
As children explore sounds and babble, play games and interact with adults, listen to and enjoy
songs, rhymes and stories, and engage in conversations in the context of everyday social and
cultural experiences they build language skills. These skills provide a foundation for literacy
learning. Language is essential for building relationships and social practices:
The relationship between social and emotional competence and language ability seems to be reciprocal;
language serves to support social interactions and social interactions provide a context to further develop
linguistic skills. These skills are supported by interactions with adults and peers where opportunities for
9
establishing and practicing language skills, role modelling, and offering feedback are provided.

Using language to communicate in socially appropriate ways that fit varied contexts is an
important skill for young children to begin learning. Kindergarten is a time to learn the social
conventions for communicating, e.g. to take turns when talking with a partner, to stay on
topic, to listen and to wait, to ask questions, to make requests and to use social language
vocabulary such as ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. As children learn to communicate with peers
at kindergarten, their communicative competence has a significant impact on their developing
social relationships and their acceptance by other children. Recent studies by Bonamy 10 and

7
D Konza, 2011, Supporting Oral Language and Reading development in the Early Years. Spotlight research into
practice: research monograph 5, Victorian Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat, February, p.2.
8
Learning Together Research Program, 2007, Investigating children’s early literacy learning in family and
community contexts: Review of the related literature, Commissioned for the Government of South Australia, p.6.
9
J Dockrell, K Sylva, L Huxford, F Roberts, 2009, Oral language skills in the early years, pp.3-4.
10
RO Bonamy, 2011, ‘Social cognition and conduct problems: a developmental approach’, Journal of the
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, vol. 50, issue 4, pp. 385–94.

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Leonard 11 have found that children who have less competence in communicating in a way
that inappropriate to the context are more likely to have social skills problems.
Conversational skills that influence peer acceptance include:
• initiating conversation appropriately
• contributing to ongoing conversations
• communicating intentions clearly
• presenting more positive than negative comments
• adjusting communication strategies to suit the listener’s needs.12
Engaging in these language skills and contexts helps young children learn that the rules
for communication vary according to the situation and the purpose.

Promoting vocabulary development


Kindergarten is a significant time in young children’s lives for a rapid growth in vocabulary
development. It is essential that children have multiple opportunities to learn new words, and
to use them in context, since a rich vocabulary is a strong predictor for the development of early
reading skills. ‘Knowing a lot of words usually reflects knowing a lot about the world. Preschool
children with strong receptive vocabularies tend to have better listening comprehension, word
recognition and reading comprehension in the later primary years’. 13
Supportive adults can enrich young children’s developing vocabulary through play, real-life
engagements and routines and transitions. Vocabulary development is easily embedded within
the daily program:
• Intentionally introduce and use new or different words in authentic contexts, e.g. when
children are interested in a particular topic or investigating a particular idea (see table below
for examples).

New Language Learning experience Context


Labelling nouns When pouring a drink at snack time the teacher Meal time
refers to the object: ‘Pass me the jug please’.
During dramatic play the teacher refers to Dramatic play
people: ‘What kind of uniform does a flight
attendant wear?’
When reading a book about transport the Story time
teacher explains: ‘The bus station is the name
of the place where you catch a bus.’
Using verbs When making animal movements the teacher Music and movement
introduces action words: ‘Let’s slither like a
snake across the floor’.
Comparing One child speaks to another about her block Play
design: ‘My road’s longer than Kym’s.’
Describing When talking about a story the teacher Group discussion
comments, ‘The monster was enormous.’

11
M Leonard, et al. 2011, “The role of pragmatic language use in mediating the relation between hyperactivity and
inattention and social skills problems”, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, vol. 54, pp. 567–79.
12
J Dockrell, K Sylva, L Huxford, F Roberts, 2009, Oral language skills in the early years, p. 4.
13
Scarborough (2001, “Connecting early language and literacy to later reading (dis)abilities: Evidence, theory and
practice”. In S Neuman & D Dickinson (eds) Handbook of early literacy research. Guilford Press, New York, pp. 97–
110) cited in D Konza, 2011, Supporting Oral Language and Reading development in the Early Years. Spotlight
research into practice: research monograph 5, Victorian Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat, February, p.2

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New Language Learning experience Context
Pretending The teacher joins in a child’s retelling of a familiar Play
fairy tale with felt pieces, ‘I’m the grumpy goat that
stomped on the bridge.’

Creating When painting, a child comments, ‘I’m painting Play


Father Bear really big because he’s scary.’

Using prepositions Using prepositions in games and when giving Games


instructions, e.g. Simon says: ‘Put your hands on Giving instructions
your toes’; ‘Please put your name-card under your
construction.’

• Use specific words to talk about language and literacy concepts (metalanguage), such as:
− concepts of print: when reading large print and writing, talk with the children about the text,
identifying and using the terms such as: ‘letters’, ‘words’, ‘full stops’, ‘spaces between
words’, ‘reading from top to bottom’ and ‘left to right’; referring to ‘print’ and ‘pictures’;
referring to the title on a book cover or the title of a song
− concepts of digital literacy: e.g. ‘scroll’, ‘mouse’, ‘menu’, ‘icon’
− language: when developing phonemic awareness, listen for and use the terms ‘sound’,
‘word’, ‘pattern’
− text types: refer to ‘stories’, ‘songs’, ‘signs’, ‘name-cards’, ‘labels’, ‘recipes’, ‘lists’,
‘instructions’, ‘webpages’, ‘magazines’, ‘catalogues’, ‘maps’, ‘diagrams’
− text purposes: refer to why we read or write particular text types, e.g. explain that ‘the website
will tell me how to make a kite’; or ‘I’ll write a list to help me remember what to buy’.
• Introduce mathematical vocabulary when talking with children about learning experiences
(see table below for examples).

Mathematical Mathematical vocabulary in the learning Context


concept experience
Measuring Referring to ‘a full cup’ when cooking. Real life
1 to 1 correspondence At snack time, asking a child to get a cup for Routines and
each child at his table. Then counting the transitions
number of children in the group, asking how
many cups he’ll need so that everyone at the
table gets a cup.
Estimation length When making a dramatic play prop, suggesting Play
to a child that she finds a piece of material or
paper long enough to go around her head.

Shapes Recognising shapes, e.g. when playing card Small group game
games with shapes, naming the shapes that
match.

• Organise small group or one-to-one experiences with a supportive adult to increase the
quality of the interaction, the variety of words children are exposed to and the number of
words that they are likely to hear
• Share quality texts. It is important that children engage in focused interactions and
conversations about the texts, their meanings and purposes. Quality literature provides
opportunities for children to build a rich vocabulary by learning unfamiliar words such as new
descriptive vocabulary, e.g. bird movements can be described as ‘flutters’, ‘floats’, ‘flaps’.

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• Explore rhythm and rhyme in language and features of different texts, e.g. exploring the
characters, conflict/problem and resolution/solution in a narrative, the use of pictures and
captions in a diagram or the use of graphics and print on a webpage.
• Provide children with daily opportunities to explore and talk about a range of texts for different
purposes, e.g. information texts, magazines, catalogues, comics, recipes, maps, illustrations,
diagrams, websites, audio and video recordings. (These texts should be available in
children’s first language).
Appendix B summarises language learning and teaching focuses in kindergarten.

Phonological awareness
‘Phonological awareness is the ability to focus on the sounds of speech as distinct from
its meaning; on its rhythm, the patterns of intonation and most importantly on the
individual sounds.’ 14
Phonemic awareness is a part of phonological awareness and is the ability to segment words into
phonemes (individual sounds). Phonemic awareness is a prerequisite to learning the alphabetic
code because children need to be able to hear the separate sounds in words in order to relate
these sounds to the letters of the alphabet. However, young children find it easier to hear
syllables in words before they can hear the sounds of individual letters because speakers do not
normally break spoken words into separate sounds.
The earliest phonological skills children begin to develop are an understanding of the concept of
rhyme. When children learn to recognise, match and then produce rhyming words they are
demonstrating initial phonemic awareness because to produce words that rhyme, (e.g. ‘cat’, ‘fat’,
‘bat’) they are actually deleting the first sound in a word (the ‘onset’) and replacing it with another.
This is an essential foundational skill that is built on in the Prep Year.
The introduction of rhyming games is an important first step in helping children to develop
phonological awareness. Intentional teaching strategies that support phonological awareness
include:
• encouraging children to play with rhymes and rhyming sounds
• playing games where children match objects that rhyme; then progressing to card games
where children match picture cards
• segmenting spoken words in different ways, e.g. clapping the syllables in their name: ‘Clar-a’,
‘Ben-ja-min’
• reading quality picture books and computer games with rhyming text; on subsequent
readings, listening for the rhyming words; children saying the rhyming word when the adult
pauses.

Alphabetic and letter–sound knowledge


When children develop an awareness that words can be broken up into sounds and letters, and
that symbols are used to represent what they hear on the page, they are building a understanding
of the alphabetic principle. This knowledge involves understanding that there is a systematic
relationship between the letters of the alphabet and their sounds.
Isolating sounds in words and understanding the relationships between sounds and written
letter (phonics) is difficult for many kindergarten children and is more likely to develop during
the Preparatory Year. Until a child has well-developed phonemic awareness they are unlikely
to benefit from phonics teaching.

14
D Konza, 2011, Supporting Oral Language and Reading development in the Early Years. Spotlight research
into practice: research monograph 5, Victorian Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat, February, p. 2.

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In the Kindergarten Year children are beginning to develop the phonemic awareness that
provides the foundation needed for successful learning in the Prep Year, when phonics becomes
a focus of learning and teaching. By the end of Prep, children are expected to know most letters
and their sounds and how to write these letters. They are also expected to recognise rhymes,
syllables and sounds (phonemes) in spoken words by the end of Prep. (See Australian
Curriculum English Foundation Year www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/English/Curriculum/F-10)
During kindergarten, children:
• need time to build their interest and confidence to explore letters and sounds in
purposeful contexts
• begin to show interest in letters and their sounds in different ways and in different time frames
• explore words, letters and sounds significant to them used for real purposes, e.g. when they:
− want to help write ‘post office’ for a pretend play game, they will listen and watch as an
adult refers to the alphabet chart. With support, they can talk about the letter sounds and
write letters to represent the sounds they hear in the word ‘post office’
− notice that two children’s names start with the same letter and want to be able to tell which
one is their friend’s name (e.g. discussing how ‘Samantha’ has more letters than ‘Siena’,
but both start with the sound ‘s’)
− watch an adult use an alphabet chart to find a letter they want to copy or write
− sing and play games to explore letters of the alphabet and their sounds.
This interest leads them to begin to recognise a few familiar letters in other contexts (e.g. on a
sign or in another person’s name) and begin to use the names of a few familiar letters. Learning
to chant the alphabetic sequence is a starting point for future learning about letter names and
sounds. Developing alphabetic knowledge takes a significant amount of time and cannot occur
before children have opportunities to build foundational understandings.
These foundational understandings are best developed in everyday purposeful contexts.
For example:
• as you help children to make a menu for a pretend game, say words slowly to emphasise the
‘sound parts’. Explain how this helps you work out how to write the word. You could break a
word into syllables (e.g. ‘pan / cake’); break a word into an onset and rime (e.g. ‘c –ake’);
break a simple C-V-C (consonant-vowel-consonant) word into individual letter sounds (e.g. ‘p
– a – n’)
• when writing a message to share with parents, use an alphabet chart (from time to time)
to show how you locate a letter that you need to write
• play with sounds in words to build children’s sensitivity to individual sounds in words, e.g.
make up tongue twisters using a child’s name (‘Karrie can catch a kite’) or emphasise similar
sounds in lyrics in familiar songs (‘Miss Mary Mac’).

Adults should also respond purposefully to children’s questions and comments about letters and
their sounds to extend children’s understandings about letter–sound relationships and how letters
and sounds are used; for example:
• if a child asks, ‘What does that number say?’ respond by saying, ‘This is the letter “s”.
I need to write it at the start of this word on our sign about the ‘s-s-sausage sizzle’
• when a child comments, ‘Charlie starts like my name (Cate), but it sounds different,’ you
could respond, ‘Sometimes letters work together and make a different sound. The “c” and “h”
work together to say “ch” in Charlie’s name.’

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Providing a rich literacy environment
One of the most important ways in which kindergarten teachers can promote children’s literacy
learning is by creating, with the children and their families, a learning environment in which
literacy is purposefully used and discussed. Focused conversations are characteristic of rich
literacy environments. Adults and children discuss ideas and experiences throughout the day,
building children’s understandings about communication, developing their thinking abilities and
extending their vocabularies.
Conversations around shared books that address issues such as the setting of the story,
the attributes and motivations of the characters and the order of events have been found to
support children’s early literacy development. The extent to which teachers engage children
in intellectually challenging conversations around ideas and the meanings of new words is
also strongly related to measures of emergent literacy. 15
Adults read and use a variety of texts for real purposes with the children and encourage them to
use texts in their play. For instance, they might investigate a website with children, follow a recipe
to cook, read a picture book for enjoyment or an information text to find out about a topic of
interest, or read the instructions on a seed packet to make sure they are planting seed correctly.
A kindergarten room should be full of print, images and other symbols used for a wide range
of purposes that are both adult- and child-initiated, e.g.:
• favourite and new books invitingly displayed
• songs and rhymes written on posters and accessible to children
• children’s art work aesthetically displayed with explanatory labels
• plans for the day written with the children and displayed on a wall or easel
• children’s collections of objects labelled, e.g. a collection of shells
• shelved equipment and materials labelled
• a clock referred to as part of the daily routines
• personal name-cards easily accessible to the children
• notices and messages written collaboratively with children for families and visitors,
incorporating the children’s ideas
• signs, labels, menus, tickets, price tags, shopping lists written with the children during their
dramatic play
• purposeful signs created with the children during their play, including using construction
materials to make signs for outdoor play
• writing materials and cardboard, paper, and so on accessible to children in easily portable
boxes to use during play.
As everyday events in kindergarten, adults read and write, and draw children’s attention to what
they are doing and its purpose. For instance, they might say, ‘I’m going to write a note so that
I remember to get some more string for tomorrow’.
Reading to children and modelled and collaborative writing should be daily routines in
kindergarten. Children also need encouragement and time to try out their developing literacy
understandings in their play, e.g. making signs for a construction, drawing a map of an
obstacle course.
Modelling involves talking about the thinking that accompanies the writing and reading. It is
a powerful way of helping children understand the range of purposes for which we use literacy
in our society and also developing their concepts of print. Adults could explain:

15
B Raban, M Brown, E Care, F Rickards & O’Connell, T 2011, Young Learners — Learning and Literacy in the Early Years.
AARE International Education Research Conference, 29 Nov – 3 Dec 2009, www.aare.edu.au/09pap/rab091255.pdf.

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• where/how the meaning is shared, e.g. in particular words or in pictures, sounds (narration,
music) or captions
• that print (written words) can be ‘read out loud’ (turned into speech)
• how print is read from left to right and top to bottom on a page, and sometimes print goes
above and below an image
• how we use a scroll bar to move down the screen when reading on a computer and explain
the concept of menus and icons
• aspects of the print, for example, words, letters, repeated phrases, use of speech bubbles
or large/different font
• and use letter names, and explain that particular letters make particular sounds, e.g. to find
a repeated word on different pages of a book
• how ideas are represented through print, e.g. when writing for or with children to make a sign
for a block building, names in an appointment book as part of pretend play, a list of equipment
needed for a game or when scribing a caption for a painting.
A combined focus on the six features identified by Konza is essential for supporting young
children’s language and early literacy development. A balanced language and literacy program
also combines planned learning experiences created in response to observations of children’s
interests, skills, strengths and needs and spontaneous experiences that arise from children’s
emerging interests. The combination of planned and spontaneous experiences with children
focuses on purposeful language and literacy use supported by caring adults with whom they
have a mutually trusting and respectful relationship.
Kindergarten provides time for children to explore and experiment with language. When the
program is balanced and language-rich, children’s interests and engagement in learning is
stimulated and they are more likely to develop positive dispositions to learning.

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3. Snapshots of a balanced language and early literacy
program in kindergarten
In broad terms, by the end of the kindergarten year, children would have had experience with
a wide range of language and literacy experiences. These should include games that involve
matching rhyming pictures, making up nonsense and real word rhymes, shared rhyming stories
and creating simple rhymes as a group. These games are likely to occur during focused language
sessions, in small group games, as part of transition songs and rhymes activities, and incidentally
as children play with the sounds of language.

Supporting name recognition in daily routines


One daily routine in this kindergarten class is marking the roll. Since second term, children have
taken turns to mark the roll, calling each child’s name and putting a tick alongside it if the child is
there. Each name has a picture of the child alongside it to help the children identify the names. By
the end of the year, many children were marking the roll by identifying the words, without needing
to refer to the pictures.

Using literacy in a real-life context; recognising familiar, significant words

Children in this same kindergarten


setting have many opportunities to see
and recognise each other’s names. At
the beginning of the year their individual
storage boxes are labelled with their
name and picture. Their pictures are
removed as children become
competent at recognising their own
names. By the middle of the year the
children generally only have their name
on the label. If necessary, they help
each other identify the name to find the
correct box.

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Playing with rhyme
Towards the end of their Kindergarten
Year, Min and Tran were playing with
the puppets of farmyard animals.
Min started singing her version of ‘Old
MacDonald had a farm’ and, after she
bounced her duck, sang: ‘With a quack,
quack here and a quack, quack there.’
Tran nodded her cow puppet and sang,
‘With a mack, mack here and a mack,
mack there,’ then laughed at her clever
way of playing with sounds.
Min responded by picking up the dog
puppet and singing, ‘With a back, back
here and a back, back there,’ and
An example of spontaneous word play using joined in the laughter.
understandings built through many games and
discussions of rhymes and listening for sounds

Most kindergarten children enjoy chanting alphabet songs and rhymes. They may have a general
awareness that letters have names, but they may not necessarily know the name of particular
letters. They may know their name starts with an ‘m’ and notice other words that start ‘like their
name’. They may recognise their name in familiar contexts, usually by noticing the first letter, and
the length and shape of the word. They may see another word that looks similar to their name
and say, ‘That’s my name,’ (e.g. ‘Lauren’ and ‘Laundry’). In Prep, children will continue to develop
their alphabetic knowledge and understandings about letter–sound relationships within play and
active learning contexts.

Pretend reading
Kindergarten children also enjoy pretending to read. For example, they may make up a story to
match the pictures and approximate telling the story from memory.
Reading a familiar book is a regular
choice during outdoor time in this
kindergarten setting. A box of books
that have previously been read to the
children is placed on a rug in an inviting
position. It is a favourite choice of many
children.
Here we see Travis ‘reading’ a book to
two friends. He is reading from
memory, taking his cues from the
pictures. He knows the story so well
that it is almost word-for-word accurate
and he ‘reads’ it with great expression
to make the story exciting for his
listeners.
Using literacy for a real-life purpose; pretend reading
to entertain

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Children in the Kindergarten Year often write or approximate writing their name and they may
pretend to write using some letter-like symbols, e.g. to make a sign for block play, to write an
invitation, or to send a friend a message. As part of the daily program children should have many
opportunities to enrich their vocabulary by sharing their ideas, posing questions, participating in
discussions, telling stories and engaging in dramatisations of familiar tales.

Literacy in dramatic play

The travel agency


Mia and Taylor had set themselves up
as travel agents with a collection of
printed material for reference – a
calendar and brochures. When they
answered the phone to imaginary
customers, they took bookings for
particular days, referred to the
brochures and wrote down where the
customer was going, and quoted prices
for the booking. They had several
customers agreeing to go on million
dollar journeys!

Using literacy in real-life contexts: language and


pretend reading and writing

Retelling familiar stories


Eve and Sophie cooperated to retell a
story about a starfish, using felt story
props. They selected the background
pieces first as they chatted about the
setting and then found the felt pieces
for the characters.
As they retold the story, they moved the
characters against the background.
When Eve left out one of the events,
Sophie reminded her of it, took over the
character, a crab, and hid it behind a
rock.

Using literacy for real purposes: story retelling


and language

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Catching the bus
Zehra suggested to a group of friends that they might build a bus in the home-play area. The four
children moved the dolls and dolls’ beds to make room and then collected chairs from around the
room. They arranged the chairs in pairs and while Zehra was the driver, up front, her three friends
sat on chairs as passengers. By this time several other children had become interested in what
was going on and also joined in as passengers.
The teacher came by at this point and asked the children where the bus was going, because she
was waiting for a bus and wanted to make sure she got on the correct one. Zehra announced that
the bus was going to the beach, so the teacher suggested that they make a destination sign for
the front of the bus so that passengers knew where the bus was going.

Zehra asked two of her friends to make


the sign so they went to a table near
the store of pens and paper.
Olivia wrote her sign on a strip of paper
as a series of long wavy lines. She was
very happy with her ‘pretend writing’
and stuck it on a chair at the front of the
‘bus’.
Rachel, on the other hand, asked the
teacher to write – to the beach – for
her. She then painstakingly copied
each word, letter by letter. Her teacher
had pointed out that there was a space
between each word and Rachel made
Using literacy in real-life contexts: pretend writing and sure that she had a space too. When
copying words she had finished to her satisfaction,
Rachel also attached her sign to the
first chair in the bus.

Conclusion
During the Kindergarten Year the focus for language and literacy development is on providing a
balanced and rich program through the contexts of play, real-life engagements and routines and
transitions. For instance:
• during play, an adult might model how to find a letter on an alphabet chart when writing a sign
for a block building; a child might create a plan or map as part of a pretend game
• during transitions and routines, an adult might help a child use labels to help put things away
or find a name on a helper’s chart
• during real-life engagements, an adult might talk about the purpose for reading instructions on
the plant seed packet, or talk with a child about the images and letters on the covers of books
or search engines to help them choose the one that might have the information they need for
their investigation.
The role of adults is to support children’s developing understandings about language and its
purposes, to build on existing knowledge and experiences and to nurture their confidence to
communicate through a range of social experiences. Current research indicates that ‘good
outcomes for children are linked to sustained and shared talking time, involving open-ended

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questions to extend the child’s thinking and giving formative feedback during the activities in real
time’.16
Avoid focusing exclusively on any one aspect of literacy, such as letter recognition, as this is
‘likely to send a clear message that this is what is most valued by teachers in literacy learning.
This narrow focus is unlikely to allow individual children to have their strengths recognised.’ 17
Providing a balanced program that emphasises the centrality of play in young children’s learning
is the focus of the kindergarten program. As current research highlights, play is an essential
context for supporting young children’s language and literacy development.

Play offers a chance to provide experiences which replicate or approximate the ways literacy is
genuinely used in everyday life, thereby offering children insights into what it feels like to be
literate.
This will be more potent for their developing awareness and understandings than providing
them with decontextualised literacy experiences that they may find bewildering and confusing
in relation to what they see adults around them doing. This is the danger of introducing a formal
school curriculum during the early years, before children have developed a flexible conceptual
framework within which they can use such item knowledge. 18

16
B Raban, M Brown, E Care, F Rickards & O’Connell, T 2011, Young Learners — Learning and
Literacy in the Early Years. AARE International Education Research Conference, 29 Nov – 3 Dec
2009, www.aare.edu.au/09pap/rab091255.pdf, p. 5.
17
S McKenzie 2006, Making Connections to Promote Early Literacy. Literacy and Numeracy
Innovative Projects Initiative: Final projects report for Round Two, Commonwealth of Australia,
www.dest.gov.au/literacynumeracy/innovativeprojects/mckenzie_making_connections/default.htm
p. 20.
18
B Raban, M Brown, E Care, F Rickards & O’Connell, T 2011, Young Learners — Learning and
Literacy in the Early Years. AARE International Education Research Conference, 29 Nov – 3 Dec
2009, www.aare.edu.au/09pap/rab091255.pdf, p. 4.

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Appendix A: An integrated approach to supporting early literacy development in kindergarten
Assessing children’s learning
Monitoring and documenting learning Making judgments
How do you monitor and make judgments about children’s language and early literacy knowledge, skills and dispositions? Interpreting documented evidence of learning
What opportunities do you create for children to discuss their ideas and knowledge about literacy using sustained, shared
What is happening in the situation or conversation you have
thinking ?
observed and documented?
How do you observe children as they engage in language and literacy through play, real-life engagements and routines
What important information does it give you about this child’s or
and transitions?
children’s literacy learning, e.g. learning strengths, motivations,
When do you engage in learning conversations with children and parents about literacy?
needs, interests, skills, knowledge or dispositions?
Selectively documenting learning Why is this learning significant?
What significant early literacy learning have you observed? (See QKLG Table 3, p. 33.) What other information do I need to gather to understand this
How can you most effectively document this learning, e.g. anecdote, photo or work child or these children’s literacy learning?
sample with commentary, learning story, conversation record? What does this mean for future decisions?
Note: When possible and appropriate, involve parents and families in What other evidence do I have that enriches my understanding of
gathering and documenting learning. this child’s/ these children’s literacy learning?
Making judgments
Identifying and reflecting on ‘where the child has come from’;
Reflecting on language and literacy practices ‘where they are now’ and ‘where they are going’.
Reviewing evidence of learning collected over time in a portfolio
Interacting and co-constructing Identifying learning possibilities of learning:
learning What does this evidence tell me about this child’s developing
What is happening to promote this child’s literacy learning? literacy knowledge, skills and dispositions?
Engaging in literacy learning How can this child’s / these children’s literacy learning be further How is their literacy learning progressing?
How do you support literacy development through promoted? What does this mean for future decisions?
the contexts of play, real-life engagements and What conversations, questions, materials, partnerships Considering the level of support provided and whether the literacy
routines and transitions? or learning contexts could be planned? learning occurred in a familiar or new situation. (Referring to the
What intentional teaching practices do you build into What do you need to record, share or communicate? Why? With Continua of learning and development, pp. 35–37, while making
your literacy program? (see QKLG Appendix 1, whom? How? judgments about the phase of learning.)
p. 63). What opportunities are provided for children to demonstrate Reviewing the relevant collections of descriptions
How do you celebrate diversity in your literacy literacy learning? Making a more-like judgment, e.g. ‘this child’s learning is more
program? What self-assessment tool for literacy are you using? like a learner in the emerging phase than the exploring phase
Partnerships with parents and because …’
families
How do you engage children, parents, families and Planning and organising for literacy learning
communities in conversations about the importance
of early literacy? Look at the resources available in the kindergarten setting to support early literacy
What opportunities are available to parents to share Does your kindergarten room provide a rich literacy environment?
their priorities and expectations about children’s early How would this be evident to a visitor to the room?
literacy learning? How do you incorporate children’s prior knowledge into the literacy program?
How confident are you in being able to articulate Considering the decision-making elements (see QKLG pp. 19–37)
current perspectives on early literacy development How do you promote early literacy development through:
with parents, families and communities? responsiveness to children
building partnerships
creating learning environments
developing learning contexts — play, real-life engagements, and routines and transitions
promoting children’s literacy learning and development (see QKLG, p. 61).

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Appendix B: Learning and teaching language in kindergarten
What are the focuses for learning and teaching? How do adults facilitate the learning?
Learning and teaching focuses on: • Adults use a range of intentional teaching strategies
• developing and extending vocabulary for describing what children see, hear, taste, smell, touch and feel and activities including:
• developing and extending vocabulary for describing imaginative experiences, past and present personal • talking with children
experiences and topics of personal interest • discussing topics of interest
• developing and extending vocabulary for describing mathematical and scientific ideas • planning collaboratively, and modelling this process
• developing confidence in using language in familiar situations with children
• sequencing information • modelling language strategies for children to use
• playing with rhyme and sounds through songs, games and group experiences when needed, e.g. how to request help, negotiate a
turn
• using simple sentences in informal situations, e.g. to comment, ask a question, give directions, or explain
a relationship • scaffolding socio-dramatic and fantasy play to extend
the range of ideas and language use
• using language for a range of social and personal purposes.
• planned and incidental teachable moments to extend
For what purposes do children use language in kindergarten? vocabulary
• talking about vocabulary used in texts by people or
Children use language to: characters
• join in play and social activities • modelling ‘pair and share’ discussion strategies with
• participate in discussions a partner
• express needs and feelings to familiar people using verbal and nonverbal elements of their first language • sorting and classifying activities to extend language
and SAE and/or signed language or AAC devices using feely bags to develop children’s descriptive
• direct others vocabulary
• explain games, rules and how to do something • same and different games where children describe
• imagine why things are the same or different
• negotiate turns • playing rhyming games to help children hear the
• recount events and share news and ideas sounds in words — ‘tuning up the ear’
• reflect on experiences • discussing social problems and role-playing expected
behaviours
• ask questions to seek clarification.
• making explicit, behaviours for children to use in
What conventions do kindergarten children learn to use when interacting group times
and listening? • modelling what listening looks like, sounds like, feels
like.
Children learn to:
• develop an awareness of listener’s needs
• take turns as listener and speaker
• use polite conversational strategies including ‘please’, ‘thank you’, ‘excuse me’.

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