Emergent Literacy Support for Children from Marginalised Populations

Area of Science:

• Early Childhood Education
• Speech-Language Pathology
• Literacy Development

Background:

• Limited access to speech and language pathologist (SLP) services in marginalized communities necessitates innovative literacy and language support.
• The critical role of early language development in fostering literacy skills is highlighted.
• Focus on practical, classroom-based strategies for language and literacy enhancement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a literacy and language support model for young children in resource-limited, marginalized communities.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention program delivered by Early Childhood Development (ECD) teachers.
• To emphasize the importance of language for literacy development and provide classroom strategies.

Main Methods:

• An intervention program was introduced to ECD kindergarten teachers.
• A pre- and post-test literacy study design was employed.
• Intervention strategies included oral reading, one-on-one reading, and paired-reading, with an experimental and comparison group.

Main Results:

• Significant improvement in the experimental group's scores on concepts about print.
• ECD teachers observed enhanced children's awareness of printed materials.
• The intervention demonstrated the value of emergent literacy and language support models.

Conclusions:

• Explicit early intervention and language support models are crucial for school readiness and academic success in developing countries.
• Collaboration between speech and language pathologists (SLPs) and ECD staff strengthens support structures.
• The model provides a viable solution for early access to language and literacy programs in underserved areas.