Language and Literacy Development

Listening

“Four year olds gain knowledge about their world by watching and listening”

(Dichtelmiller et al., 2004, Pg. 5). Just like sponges, preschoolers soak up all of the

information they can from caregivers, teachers and other relevant people in their

lives in order to make sense of the world around them. This is why developing

efficient listening skills, especially in the group setting, is crucial for preschoolers, as

this will be how they obtain a majority of the information presented to them

through out their schooling career. Gabe demonstrates this ability with great

proficiency, as he regularly answers questions asked by my coordinating teacher

during whole group read alouds. During the previously mentioned “shapes” read

aloud, my coordinating teacher asked the whole class if they could find a square on

the page she had stopped on. Gabe promptly raised his hand, pointed to a picnic

table, and said, “that’s a square,” demonstrating his developing listening skills

through “responding to stories read to the whole class, rather than responding only

when read to as part of small group” (Dichtelmiller et al., 2004 Pg. 5).

Gabe’s developing listening skills are also recognizable by his ability to follow

two- or three step directions. At the end of every day of class after nap time, the

students are instructed to put away their blankets and sleeping mats, get their book

bags from their cubbies, and come sit on the rug. Gabe is successful in putting away

his sleeping mat and blanket without adult assistance, and always remembers to

bring his book bag with him to the rug, which indicates that he comprehends the

multiple step instructions given by my coordinating teacher. This is another

important milestone that indicates appropriate developments, as “remembering and

following directions is critical for preschool children’s independent functioning in

educational settings” (Dichtelmiller et al., 2004, Pg. 5).

While Gabe demonstrates sufficient listening abilities in multiple aspects of

learning, his phonological awareness appears to be lacking in comparison, which is

defined as “the awareness of the sound structure of a language” (Wagner &

Torgesen, 1987, Pg. 192). While assessing Gabe’s phonological awareness, I recited

ten groups of two words, and asked him to tell me if the two words in each group

rhymed or not after I said them aloud. For every group of words I recited, Gabe

claimed that they rhymed, while only seven out of the ten groups had two words

that actually rhymed. This reveals that Gabe’s phonological awareness is not quite

where it should be in regards to developmental norms, as children at this age should

be able to “listening to the word the teacher says and then finding a word to rhyme

with it” (Dichtelmiller et al., 2004, Pg. 5). Despite this, Gabe does recognize the same

letters in different words, like the “g” in “gorilla” and “go,” which he demonstrated to

me when I asked him to point to all of the “g’s” on a page when I read him the “G

Book.” This information tells me that while he may not understand the concept of

rhyming and phonemic awareness, he does recognize identical phonemes in

different words. This indicates that his development in this area is still progressing,

and that he will likely require specific instruction on phonemic awareness and

manipulation in order to acquire these skills.

Speaking
 Gabe’s ability to effectively articulate and pronounce words is one of the

main reasons I chose him to be the subject of my case study. He is very well spoken,

and has a clarity in his speech that many of his classmates lack. This clarity is also

evident to others who are not typically around him, as I observed him effectively

communicating with a substitute teacher during a read aloud in early October. The

substitute asked many different questions to the class about a book on family

structure, such as “What kinds of people are in a family?” and “What kinds of

animals have families?” Gabe answered several of her questions with responses

such as “sisters and brothers are in family,” and “gorillas have families,” and these

responses were all clearly understood by the substitute. According to Charlesworth

(2010), “The average child has achieved nearly adult language facility by the age of

four” (Pg. 409), and Gabe clearly demonstrates this competency through his ability

to effectively communicate with relative strangers.

Gabe is also very capable of using his speech and proper vocabulary to

describe his feelings. On one particular day at gym in mid-October, Gabe was not

participating in the activity the rest of his classmates were engaged in, and was

sitting by himself at one end of the gym. When I approached him and asked why he

wasn’t playing with his friends, he responded with “I don’t feel good.” I then asked

him what was wrong, and he said that he “had a tummy ache,” and felt “sick.” After

consulting his teacher, he ended up going to the nurse and was confirmed with a

fever. His use of language, while relatively basic, was sufficient in communicating his

feelings, and was a form of self-maintenance necessary for higher level functioning.

Reading
 While Gabe is not yet able to read printed text, he exhibits a basic

understanding of books and printed text. During my one-on-one readings of letter

books with the students, I always required that they first correctly orient the book

before I began reading it to them. They were to also turn the pages themselves as I

read, being sure not to damage the book as they did so. For all of the different letter

books I read to Gabriel, he was always capable of orienting the book correctly and

quickly, was very gentle when turning the pages, and, more often than not, was very

engaged in the story. According to the Work Sampling System (2004), this indicates

that Gabe “shows an appreciation for books and reading” (Pg. 6), and is on the right

track towards literacy development.

Gabe is also demonstrating a “beginning understanding of concepts about

print” (Dichtelmiller et al., 2004, Pg. 7) through his writing. Through out my

practicum placement, I constructed a literacy assessment portfolio with Gabe

serving as the primary subject of research. As part of this portfolio, I had Gabe take

a writing assessment where he was to draw one of his favorite things, such as an

object, place or person, and then write what his picture was on the same page. See

figure 1. I asked Gabe to do this in September during art class, and he chose to draw

his mother and father. He then wrote “Mom” and “Dad” under the corresponding

pictures with some assistance, and was careful to not write the words over top of his

picture, demonstrating his ability to separate writing from drawing, and his

comprehension that his writing held meaning. According to Charlesworth (2010),

this indicates that Gabe is at the appropriate developmental level for this skill, as he
was five years old at the time of this assessment, and three to five year olds should

be “aware that printed text communicates messages” (Pg. 437).

Gabe’s developing knowledge of letters seems to also be progressing in a

typical fashion. According the Work Sampling System (2004), this knowledge is

demonstrated by a child “naming the letters in their first names as they attempt to

write their names“(Pg. 7). Towards the end of my practicum placement, I witnessed

Gabe do this on several occasions, but one specific incidence of this occurred in early

November when I was crafting the “Happy Holidays” greeting card with Gabe. I first

wrote “Happy Holidays” in the middle of the card, and then instructed Gabe to write

his own name underneath of my writing, and tell me the letters as he wrote them.

He was able to accomplish quickly and this with no assistance, indicating that his

knowledge of letters is on track towards proper development.

As part of the literacy assessment portfolio previously mentioned, I also had

Gabe take part in a story retelling of the children’s book “The Three Billy Goats

Gruff” in early October. See figure 2. As part of this assessment, I first read the story

to Gabe, then retold it once more through the use of cut out props that consisted of

the three Billy goats, the bridge, and the troll from the story. Once I finished this, I

then instructed Gabe to retell me the story by using the cut out props. There were

seven story elements that I graded, which included the setting and characters, the

story problem, episodes 1-3 of the story, the resolution, and the reaction of

characters, with each section having a possible score of 0-3. 0 meant that this

portion of Gabe’s retelling was inaccurate and 3 corresponded with a detailed

retelling. Overall, Gabe scored an 8 out of 15 because he failed to mention the setting
and characters, and story problem, but did fairly well in describing the episodes,

resolution and reaction of the characters, indicating his comprehension of the story.

According to this assessment, this places Gabe in the early retelling phase, which

corresponds with the appropriate developmental level described by the Work

Sampling System (2004), which states “Four year olds show their comprehension of

stories by retelling the main events of a story just read or told by the teacher” (Pg.

8).

Writing

The assessment described above not only demonstrates Gabe’s ability to

“comprehend and respond to stories read aloud” (Dichtelmiller, 2004, Pg. 7), but it

also illuminates his ability to “represent ideas and stories through pictures,

dictation, and play” (Dichtelmiller et al., 2004, Pg. 8). By retelling the story using the

cut out props, Gabe was required to give the cut outs symbolic meaning in order

convey the plot, which can be seen as a type of dramatic play. This dramatic play

“affords children the opportunity to develop narratives in formats that they could

use later in writing” (Charlesworth, 2010, Pg. 442), and is typical of a developing

preschooler such as Gabe.

The literacy assessments I administered to Gabe, once again, indicate his

proficiency in writing and proper literacy development. Another aspect of writing

that is characteristic of preschoolers is the ability to “use letter-like shapes, symbols,

and letter to convey meaning” (Dichtelmiller et al., 2004, Pg. 8). As previously

mentioned, Gabe was able to accomplish this when describing his picture of his

mother and father through his writing of “Mom” and “Dad.” He was initially unsure
of how to spell the two words though, and was hesitant to write them without

knowing with certainty on how to do so. I then verbalized on how to spell each

word, resulting in Gabe writing a fairly legible “Mom,” which went from a proper left

to right orientation, and then a slightly less recognizable “Dad,” which he wrote

going from top to bottom, claiming that he did so because he ran out of space on the

paper. Despite this, both his drawing and writing carried meaning and were

representative of what I assigned him to do for the assessment. These actions are

indicative of properly developing preschoolers, as “at the novice level, children are

usually becoming aware of the alphabet and its relation to writing” (Charlesworth,

2010, Pg. 442).

In regards to Gabe’s understanding of purposes for writing, I never directly

observed Gabe utilize his writing for any other purpose than to label his work with

his name. However, when crafting the “Happy Holidays” greeting card, Gabe was

required to sign his name inside the card. I described to Gabe that the writing on the

card would carry the message of “Happy Holidays from Gabe” to his parents, to

which he appeared to understand. According to the Work Sampling System (2004),

four year olds learn that “writing can fulfill many different functions and that

writing can be read for enjoyment as well as for information” (Pg. 9). Since Gabe did

not have a choice in making the holiday card, I cannot confirm that he comprehends

this idea fully, though it is safe to say that he is in the process of realizing this

concept since I gave him direct instruction on it.