Emergent and Beginning Literacy Learners (READ 6706 G1) Walden University

1. HOW DO I TEACH LEARNERS
AT THE PREK–3 LEVELS?
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Emergent and Beginning Literacy
Learners

2. LITERACY LEARNERS: WHO ARE THEY?
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While emergent and beginning
literacy learners are present in
various age groups, early
literacy skills are most often
learned from birth through to
second-grade.
Thus, students’
literacy learning
begins long before
they enter school.
Each child will enter
school with different
levels of exposure to
language, print materials,
writing, and the literacy
process.
Despite these variations,
teachers need to create
literacy environments that
enhance learning and
engagement.
Literacy educators have the
responsibility to scaffold all
children through valuable
reading and writing
processes as described in
the literacy framework for
reading and writing
development (Walden
University, n.d) to achieve
fluency.

3. THE DIFFERENCES
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Emergent Learners
Emergent and beginning literacy learners display different learning behaviors. While some differences may be
minute, others are more noticeable. Emergent literacy learners require highly structured, intensive instruction to
develop oral language, picture reading skills, phonemic awareness and their ability to associate text with speech.
Students can identify a few words in isolation..
Books are primarily fictional and directly connected to content area skills and knowledge and students’ cultures.
These books almost always have a picture on each page with one or two sentences.
Writing takes the form of pupils’ names, an illustration and one or two accompanying phrases/sentences (Laureate
Education, 2014a). Teachers lead the activities most of the time and students develop their language skills and
fluency as they give oral descriptions of their work.

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They can segment
and blend sounds
with inconsistency,
and do choral and
guided reading
activities as they
explore books with a
greater volume of
text and concepts.
Beginning literacy
learners can call
out individual
sounds in words.
Writing
becomes
more
purposeful
and extends
to a few
sentences.
Beginning Learners
Beginning learners
read aloud to
themselves and can
recognize patterns
in words as their
vocabulary
broadens.
As students write,
they engage in
invented spelling
and, touch words
as they read.

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Beginning learners (cont’d)
Beginning literacy
learners can work more
independently than
emergent learners.
Thus, teachers can
group them to complete
reading and writing
tasks then move around
to observe and
encourage thinking.
Wei-fan and Chung-pei
(2011) indicate that
small group reading
exercises, allow
students to learn from
each other’s prior
knowledge.
These activities allow
teachers the opportunity
to observe students’
preferences and
interests and encourage
engagement with the
material (Laureate
Education, 2014b).

6. WHAT TEACHERS CAN DO?
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AssessStudents’Needs
Engage/SupportStudents
ChooseAppropriateText
ConsiderStudents’Interests
Through reading, teachers
can increase students’
world knowledge and
integrate skills and
knowledge of the various
content area through
theme teaching. Neuman
and Roskos (2012) purports
that it is not sufficient for
students to read a few
books within a year. Rather,
children need to read a
broad range of books from
different genres to expand
their knowledge and
understanding of the
reading process.
Teachers may utilize a wide
variety of strategies and
approaches to help both
emergent and beginning
readers to develop proficiency
in the various strands of
literacy whether they are native
speakers of English or English
as second language learners.
Some of these include
modelled-reading/writing,
direct vocabulary instruction,
guided reading and writer’s
workshop. Additionally, the
physical environment should
permit countless opportunities
for direct and indirect
engagement with resources
that have a strong focus on
meeting students’ literacy
needs. Resources may be
printed text or digital media.
As teachers work to meet
students’ needs and help
them to become
independent learners, they
need to make students
earliest experiences with
reading and writing
enjoyable and exciting
because they tend to
become less interested in
writing as they move up
through the grades (Kear,
Coffman, Mckenna, &
Ambrosio, 2000).
•Reutzel and Cooter (2016),
suggest that teachers use
assessment data to
determine students’ level of
literacy development before
they begin instruction.
Teachers should use this
data to design instruction
to fill learning gaps and
provide the skills that
should come next.
Teachers may also
incorporate students’
experiences, culture,
interest and learning styles
into instructional design.
Research suggests that
educators get to know their
students as a whole as they
work together to cover the
curriculum (Laureate
Education, 2014c).

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Design and Implement Instruction: Effective Strategies
Through modelled-reading and read-alouds, students can learn to make connections between print and spoken
language, develop an understanding that letters make sounds, that form words which are used to compose
sentences. Through guided reading, students get the opportunity control their reading pace and independently use
strategies that they have learned. Teachers observe as students practice and enhance their ability make predictions,
decode words, and draw conclusions.
Teachers need to encourage comprehension through questioning. Davoudi and Sadeghi (2015) state that, asking
children higher-level questions, positively influences their critical thinking ability and encourages them to ask
higher-level questions in turn. As students respond to questions, teachers can determine students level of listening
and reading comprehension, their ability to use context to derive meaning from words and to make connections with
prior knowledge.
Reutzel and Cooter (2016) state that listening comprehension influences children's level of success in reading
comprehension as they grow older. Therefore, teachers need to check if students are making meaning of what they
hear and see regularly throughout the day especially in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms to aid
students’ understanding. According to Chung (2012), teachers need to teach vocabulary directly and indirectly to all
learners especially to English language learners (ells) who acquire fewer words incidentally than their native English-
speaking counterparts.
Through writer’s workshop, students can strengthen their reading comprehension by retelling stories using
illustrations and captions. These descriptions will provide opportunities for students to practice using new
words learned. Brown (2010) purports that student’s authentic writing in the early stages of writing
development help them to develop a love for reading and provide essential information for educators to use in
designing instruction. Graham and Herbert (2010) indicate that writing can improve reading as pupils develop
an understanding of both as being communication processes.

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Reading and Writing Development

9. A TOOL FOR EVALUATING TEXTS
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10. CONCLUSION
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Ciampa (2012) notes that when children learn
to read proficiently in their early primary
years, they are more equipped to handle
academic and recreational reading later in
life. Therefore, literacy educators need to
create an environment where students feel
safe and encouraged to explore and learn
new skills and develop existing skills.
Certainly, as students engage in the reading and
writing processes, teachers need to monitor students’
progress and the effectiveness of instruction. Reutzel
and Cooter (2016) state that effective teachers have a
repertoire of proven assessment and instructional
strategies that they use to assess students’ prior
knowledge and increase engagement.
Literacy activities must allow students lots of
opportunities to publish their writing, and evaluate
each other’s work.

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References
Brown, K. M. (2010). Young authors:
Writing workshop in kindergarten.
Young Children, 65(1), 24-28.
Chung, S. F. (2012). Research-based
vocabulary instruction for English
language learners. Reading Matrix: An
International Online Journal, 12(2),
105-120.
Ciampa, K. (2012). Reading in the
digital age: Using electronic books as
a teaching tool for beginning readers.
Retrieved from
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ981
797.pdf
Davoudi, M., & Sadeghi, N. A. (2015).
A systematic review of research on
questioning as a high-level cognitive
strategy. English Language Teaching,
8(10), 76-90.
Neuman, S. B., & Roskos, K. (2012).
Helping children become more
knowledgeable through text. Reading
Teacher, 66(3), 207–210.
Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R. B., Jr.
(2016). Strategies for reading
assessment and instruction: Helping
every child succeed (5th ed.). Boston,
MA: Pearson.
Wei-Fan, C., & Chung-Pei, C. (2011).
Effect of varied types of collaborative
learning strategies on young children:
an experimental study. International
Journal Of Instructional Media, 38(4),
351-358.
Walden University. (n. d). Reading and
writing development. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/b
lackboard/content/listContent.jsp?cou
rse_id=_13726377_1&content_id=_31
959986_1
Graham, S., & Herbert, M. (2010). Writing
to read: Evidence for how writing can
improve reading. Retrieved from
https://www.carnegie.org/media/filer_pu
blic/9d/e2/9de20604-a055-42da-bc00-
77da949b29d7/ccny_report_2010_writin
g.pdf
Kear, D. J., Coffman, G. A., McKenna, M.
C., & Ambrosio, A. L. (2000). Measuring
attitude toward writing: A new tool for
teachers. Reading Teacher, 54(1), 10–23.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014a).
Reading and writing in the pre-k
classroom [Video file]. Baltimore, MD:
Author.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014b).
Assessing word knowledge [Video file].
Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014c).
Getting to know your students [Video
file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.