3. objectives
• Introduction
• What is theory?
• What is literacy?
• Theoretical perspectives of literacy?
Constructive theory
Schema theory
Emergent literacy
Maturation theory
Cognitive development theory
Family literacy
conclusion
4. introduction
• literacy is a dynamic social practice that is used in
different ways for different purposes by diverse groups.
• Literacy is highly influenced by context, so with rapid
advances in technology and increasing globalization, it
has changed significantly since the beginning of the
twenty-first century.
• There are some major theoretical perspectives on how
children learn literacy.
5. What is literacy
• ‘Literacy encompasses the knowledge and skills
students need to access, understand, analyze and
evaluate information, make meaning, express
thoughts and emotions, present ideas and opinions,
interact with others and participate in activities’
6. What is theory?
• A theory is an idealized representation of reality that help
us explain some natural phenomena.
• Theories of literacy development explain the
development of literacy and provide instructional
guidance to promote early literacy growth
8. Maturation Theory
• According to Arnold Gesell, a child behavior can be determined through
biological and genetics path. A child or teenager develops only
according to what they have programmed in their genetics. He further
points out for the better understanding of anything; life experience is
secondary while genetics is primary because it is natural. This theory
focuses on both the physical and mental development of child.
Morphett and Washburne (1931) conducted research to determine the
optimal age at which a child was developmentally old enough to learn to
read. ● They found that a child 6 ½ would perform better on a reading
achievement test than did younger children. ● Recommended that reading
instruction not begin until students reach this age. ● Teachers and parents
could cause damage to a child’s reading ability if they attempted to teach
reading to children who were too young
9. Theory of cognitive
development
• Jean piaget
• Describes the ways in which the quality of children’s thinking changes over
time.
• -Piaget sought to explain the different ways in which his children processed
information throughout their development.
• -He provides a framework for teachers to understand the way children at
different stages think about objects and events.
• -4 factors that affect the quality of thinking as an individual grows 1.
biological maturation: genetic heredity that is present at birth 2. activity:
physical experiences that the child goes through 3. social experience: the
child's interactions with others 4. equilibration: the child's search for
cognitive balance
• -Stages of Cognitive Development 1. Sensorimotor period (birth-2 years):
thinking is based on sensory exploration of the world 2. Preoperational
period (2-7 years): The child starts to categorize their world with words 3.
Concrete Operational period (7-11 years): the use of concrete objects to
start to think about abstract concepts 4. Formal Operational period (11-
adult): the movement beyond concrete to use language in an abstract way
10. Constructive theory
• ( jean piaget)constructivism is ‘an approach to learning that holds
that people actively construct or make their own knowledge and that
reality is determined by the experiences of the learner’.
• In elaborating constructivists’ ideas Arends (1998) states that
constructivism believes in personal construction of meaning by the
learner through experience, and that meaning is influenced by the
interaction of prior knowledge and new events. Central idea is that
human learning is constructed, that learners build new knowledge
upon the foundation of previous learning.
• The second notion is that learning is an active rather than a passive
process.
• The primary responsibility of the teacher is to create a collaborative
problem-solving environment where students become active
participants in their own learning. From this perspective, a teacher
acts as a facilitator of learning rather than an instructor.
11. Schema theory
• The use of schemas as a basic concept was first used by a British
psychologist named Frederic Bartlett as part of his learning theory.
• Theorist Jean Piaget introduced the term schema, and its use was
popularized through his work. According to his theory of cognitive
development, children go through a series of stages of intellectual
growth. In Piaget's theory, a schema is both the category of
knowledge as well as the process of acquiring that knowledge. He
believed that people are constantly adapting to the environment as
they take in new information and learn new things.
• Schema theory states that all knowledge is organized into units.
Within these units of knowledge, or schemata, is stored information.
• As experiences happen and new information is presented, new
schemas are developed and old schemas are changed or modified.
Like in assimilation, new information is incorporated into pre-existing
schemas. In accommodation, existing schemas might be altered or
new schemas might be formed as a person learns new information
and has new experiences.
12. Emergent literacy theory
• In 1966, New Zealand researcher Marie Clay introduced the
concept of emergent reading, using it to describe the earliest
behaviors of children employ in interacting with books even
before they are capable of reading in the conventional sense.
According to her language learning started immediately,
before a child entered the school and it was the result of
influences from the environment.
• It signals a belief that, in literate society, young children even
one and two years old are in the process of becoming literate.
• Their early scribbles and contact with storybooks and other
texts in the home and community are seen as emergent
writing and reading.
13. Basic component of
emergent
• Print motivation(A child with print motivation might enjoy being
read to, playing with books, pretending to write, and going to
the library)
• Vocabulary(The component vocabulary relates to the knowing
of the name of the things)
• Print awareness(This components relates to noticing print,
knowing how to handle a book, and knowing how to follow
words on a page)
• Narrative skill(This components relates to the ability to
describe things and events and to tell stories)
• Letter knowledge(relates to the understanding that letters are
different from each other)
• Phonological awareness(This component relates to being
able to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words )
14. Family Literacy
• Family Literacy Theory was coined by Denny Taylor in 1983 in her
book, Family Literacy.
• The Family Literacy Theory refers to a series of ideas developed by
researchers based on the importance of student achievement as it
relates to family involvement.
• The theory also refers to programs created to help families create a
literacy rich home environment.
• The theory promotes the relationship between family literacy,
student achievement, and parental participation in children's
education.
• Family Literacy Theorists believe that parents are a child's first and
best teacher.
15. conclusion
• From the above nutshell, I conclude that if children are
born in literate environment, their learning start
immediately before they enter in school.
• Children are actively involved in constructing their
understanding about language and social instruction
support literacy development.
