Early Literacy Development

The Concepts of Early Literacy Development The article under analysis is the â€Å"The comprehensive language approach to early literacy: The interrelationships among vocabulary, phonological sensitivity, and print knowledge among preschool-aged children† (2003) by Dickinson, McCabe, Anastasopoulos, Peisner-Feinberg, and Poe in the Journal of Educational Psychology.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Early Literacy Development specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The study reports about the assessment of the literacy skills of preschool-aged children and analyzes various ways of developing early literacy. The authors of the article evaluate other different studies in this area and analyze effectiveness and productivity of various methods and factors influencing correct assessment principles. In this respect, a combination of phonemic awareness and â€Å"phonology, semantics, syntax, discourse, reading, and writing† (Dickinson et al., 2003, p.465) enables learners to acquire the language and its peculiarities with the help of literacy skills. I think that the idea of a complex approach is really constructive and requires more common application of it among tutors and learners. Phonological Sensitivity Approach The phonological sensitivity approach is the basic one and it is not sufficient to provide researchers with a comprehensive analysis of learners’ literacy skills and is aimed at merely making children of early preschool age aware of the basic phonemic structures, rules, and principles. In this respect, tutors can make use of the method offered by Schmidt, Miodrag, Francesco (2008) where researchers analyze the productivity of computer related collaboration of a teacher and children while acquiring early literacy skills. I think that the phonological sensitivity approach appears to be of little use due to its insufficient sphere of influence and results demonstrated during numerous analyses. However, the authors of this study have chosen the right method for their research because a vivid contrast enables the readers to realize the importance of taking necessary measures while developing early literacy skills. Furthermore, it empowers us to analyze the significance of phonemic awareness for older children as â€Å"Studies of older children who have great difficulty learning to read have highlighted the importance of phonemic awareness† (Dickinson et al., 2003, p.467).Advertising Looking for term paper on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In this respect, phonemic awareness appears to be required for basic skills of reading. Nevertheless, the literacy skills include other more complicated structures and concepts than mere phonemes. Storybook reading is aimed at development of the only aspect (recognition of phonemes previously learned in a separated manner and combined in a way that makes them full of sense). However, it is necessary to take into account the effectiveness of storybook reading for literacy development. This effect is achieved through engaging a child into an activity that appears to be interesting for him/her and useful at the same time. Thus, Justice, Kaderavek, Fan, Sofka, and Hunt (2009, p. 68) have suggested that the process of storybook reading can be successfully used to accelerate literacy skills development in preschool-aged children. So, the study by Justice et al. (2009) develops an approach appropriate for early literacy development with the help of verbal and nonverbal references made by teacher during the reading session to print objects. Thereby, the phonemic awareness approach can be considered more effective than previously suggested in the study by Dickinson et al. (2003). At the same time, it is more preferable to use a complex approach because different peculiarities of inborn skills can require an alternative method to be used. Comprehensive Language Approach The comprehensive language approach includes many different concepts existing in language that should be learned and understood in order to achieve results in developing literacy skills. Understanding of concepts and their role in the speech construction is really important because it enables tutors to spend fewer efforts on explanation of theoretical points and devote focus more on practical application of knowledge. Learners can get a maximum of such approach because they can identify some concepts and see the difference being aware of the theoretical background and importance of language structure principles. In this respect, a more complicated approach can accelerate the literacy development.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Early Literacy Development specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Consideration of other useful factors typical of simpler approaches is of gre at significance for the application of comprehensive language approach because such concepts and acknowledgements and use of computer technology can be helpful while dealing with not-typical learners or those who may experience some difficulties in the course of development literacy skills. Thereby, it is necessary to address the study by Schmid, Miodrag, and Francesco (2008) reporting the importance of acknowledgements in the course of the experiment: Children looked toward tutors for acknowledgement of mastering activities, need for further clarification, and appraisal for correct answers. Children appeared to want to please the tutors, and were often observed looking up at them for affirmation and recognition that they in fact, mastered each letter after an activity (p.71). Though acknowledgements play a crucial role in the teacher/children interactions and effectiveness of their collaboration, it is necessary to provide children with a constructive feedback on their achievements in the sector of their literacy skills. Another method that can be of great use for the complex approach is the referencing to print targets while reading storybooks for children. Books for different reading-referencing interventions should be selected with â€Å"print salient features such as speech bubbles, font changes, and accentuated words, and they are appropriate choices for 3- to 5-year-olds† (Justice et al., 2009, p.71). Computer technology can be used as reported I the study by Schmid, Miodrag, and Francesco (2008) where computers were used to support tutoring and make it more advanced and productive. When a tutor is aware of the effects, benefits, and disadvantages of various methods, he/she can choose the most appropriate one for certain learners and apply it to practice. In other words, all methods can be beneficial for learners; the most important part of the dispute concerns the necessity for separating different approaches and analyzing their effectiveness fo r literacy development separately.Advertising Looking for term paper on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Conclusion The literacy development is a concept related to acquisition of reading and writing skills. The problem of literacy development in preschool-aged children requires a specific approach to be taken and applied. Though it appears to be difficult to find a universal approach for all learners regardless of their inborn skills, it is possible to choose a combination of the most appropriate approaches and methods to introduce into groups of learners selected in accordance with their intellectual and language acquisition skills. Tutors that apply a complex approach can make use of a combination of computer technologies, storybook reading and referencing system and phonemic awareness methods. Thus, every individual is unique addressing him/her as a learner and requires a specific approach to make a maximum of the teaching methods and achieve success in learning basic principles necessary for literacy development. Reference List Dickinson, D. K., McCabe, A., Anastasopoulos, L., Pei sner-Feinberg, E. S., Poe, M. D. (2003). The comprehensive language approach to early literacy: The interrelationships among vocabulary, phonological sensitivity, and print knowledge among preschool-aged children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95 (3), 465–481. Justice, L. M., Kaderavek, J. N., Fan, X., Sofka, A., Hunt, A. (2009). Accelerating preschoolers’ early literacy development through classroom-based teacher–child storybook reading and explicit print referencing. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 40, 67–85. Schmid, R. F., Miodrag, N., Francesco, D. F. (2008). A human-computer partnership: The tutor/child/computer triangle promoting the acquisition of early literacy skills. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 41(1), 63–84. This term paper on Early Literacy Development was written and submitted by user Er1ck to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Crucial Features of DBQ Essays

Crucial Features of DBQ Essays You may think that writing a DBQ essay is a very difficult task but it only looks so scary. If you want to pass the AP exam, you must know what you’ll be going through. As soon as you learn more about DBQ essays, you will realize that you certainly can deal with it. DBQ, which stands for Document Based Question, is a type of essay that is often required for AP exams as well as for history exams both in the US and Europe. Being a â€Å"document-based question,† this essay implies several underlying documents on a certain subject. Your task is to consider the relationship between these documents, tendencies that appear in documents during some period of time, and other details. In addition, you cannot just describe these features of documents. You need to provide an accurate analysis of sources. DBQ essays are also somewhat similar to cause and effect essays because you need to explain the flow of events and relationships between them. Many students are confused by the fact that DBQ essays are quite different from free-response essays, while in fact there’s nothing special about this task. Check our useful guide and write your DBQ essay following simple steps. How to Write a DBQ Essay If you want to write a good DBQ essay, there are only two things you must know. First of all, you must be able to plan your work properly. If you plan your work in advance, you can be more confident and use advanced methods of writing. In addition, you will easily cope with your AP exam if you practice a lot. Follow our advice and work on your writing skills! Usually, you have only 55 minutes to complete the DBQ essay for the AP exam. Sometimes this limit may vary but, most often, you have 15 minutes to read all necessary materials and 40 minutes to write your paper. However, 15 minutes of reading means that you must also spend some time on understanding your question, generating ideas for the essay and processing new information. You may want to start writing earlier but even if you have a couple free minutes, we suggest taking your time and planning the structure of your essay. Time management is especially important, since the essay isn’t the only task of the AP exam. Read your question. Not only should you read it, but you also must understand it. Note some important data that may be useful when writing the essay. Jot down facts that you must mention and underline your key tasks. After this, quickly write a few thoughts related to the question. You don’t have time for proper brainstorming so make sure to use a couple minutes that you have. Analyze documents effectively. You may need to work with many different documents and you will need to provide a good analysis. We suggest considering it an opportunity rather than a challenge, because a proper analysis also provides you with necessary evidence for supporting your ideas. There are many kinds of documents that can be used in AP exams, such as speeches, letters, legislative documents, maps, articles, and even pictures. Sometimes you must analyze some classic documents that you certainly have heard of, though they will not sound familiar to you. First of all, pay your attention to the author of the document and to the time when it was published. Jot down key ideas of this text. After noting important points, get to the questions about this document. Don’t forget to write notes ? this is how you save your time because otherwise you will need to return to certain parts of your sources and re-read them. Ask yourself a couple additional questions, for example, can these documents be divided into some groups? What are they based on? Develop your thesis statement. Make a draft of your thesis statement and draw up an outline for your essay. If you already know something interesting about the topic of your task, this information may also be useful in the future. Think about the structure of your essay, and make it so that every paragraph of the essay will consider a particular idea. Write an essay. Your goal is to write a meaningful text based on a strong thesis. Each paragraph must provide examples and facts related to your question. You also need a conclusion, however, let’s take a look at the whole writing process from the beginning. An introduction of a DBQ essay is no different from this of any other essay. You must introduce your topic, provide your readers with necessary background information on this subject, briefly describe your main points, and come up with a thesis statement. Try to focus on the purpose of your paper. A body section includes one or several paragraphs, each one of which focuses on one idea and supports it with evidence. Start every paragraph with a topic sentence so that it will reflect the overall structure of the essay. If you have divided your documents into several groups, you can devote every paragraph to a certain group of sources. Include more documents so that you will have more evidence for your arguments. You should not just describe documents, in fact, it is the worst thing you can do. Make proper references and include parts of sources in your essay. On the other hand, always make sure that all documents that you include are directly related to your thesis statement. The conclusion is aimed to remind your readers the purpose of the essay and provide them with a concise summary of everything written before. Another important feature of the conclusion is that it can address more global issues. We suggest taking this opportunity to make your paper more meaningful. Ask yourself, why is this topic so important? Think about it in a global context. If you realize that you’re running out of time, write at least one concluding sentence. It’s much better to conclude your essay briefly than if you don’t conclude it at all. Proofread your essay. We know that 55 minutes is not enough time for proper proofreading but we suggest doing this. Plan at least a few minutes to read your essay, to fix all mistakes, and to check such specific details as places, dates, and names. Tips on Writing DBQ Essays Make sure that you understand the question well, as your main goal is to answer it correctly. Unless your assignment has such requirements, don’t dig into the historical background. When mentioning documents in text, don’t refer to them as â€Å"document 1† or â€Å"document 2.† Instead, write the whole title of a source. You may or may not be allowed to use quotes in your essay, however, DBQ essays often benefit from citations because you can clarify what source you are talking about. Anyway, don’t forget to write your quotes according to a required format. Check the paragraph structure and make sure that all your thoughts are presented in a logical order. Keep in mind that sometimes, there’s no right answer to the topic question. Thus, you are allowed to consider any points that you can support with evidence. In order to increase the credit for your paper, you can use outside information. Don’t get too emotional about your exam and don’t panic! To feel confident on the exam, learn more about it, read examples of DBQ essays on the internet, and prepare. Don’t forget that your readers can be too limited in time to consider your essay in details. Thus, it’s important to create a good overall picture of your work. On the other hand, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t work on details. DBQ essays often focus on such issues as art, science, and religion. Therefore, we suggest getting acquainted with methods of writing historical essays. The most important thing about writing DBQ essays is to stay calm. Sometimes students spend a lot of time preparing but fail their exams just because they panic. Even if you think that this task is hard, it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to complete. Thus, just focus on your goal and prepare for your DBQ exam in advance.