Chapter 5: Findings — Relationship of Literacy Events to Other Activities
The children seemed to be aware that literacy events were not isolated activities, but, rather, had connections to other aspects of their lives. One way they demonstrated this was by associating letters and words to their names and the names of their peers. Clay (1975), in a study of emergent writing of hearing children, found that this was a common phenomenon:
A child who is beginning to discover print and who is shown an alphabet randomly arranged may correctly respond to certain letters—“That’s in my name.” He may also identify several letters as occurring in the names of his classmates or siblings. (p. 46)
In the excerpts below, note how the children associated letters and words to their own names and those of peers.
Excerpt from Field Notes (9/11/89, 12:50 P.M.):
Cathy was reading a book to Billy and Janine. As she read, Billy interjected comments. At one point, as he pointed to the letter B on a page with the words "I see a boat," Billy said, “That my name.”
Excerpt from Field Notes (1/22/90, 12:25 P.M.):
Janine took the alphabet puzzle during free play time. As she removed the letter Y, she said “Billy.” She took the letter l and placed it next to the letter Y and again said Billy’s name. Next, she took the letter J and said (orally), “Where is Jon? Billy, Jon not here.”
The children often related literacy events in which they were involved to other school activities. For example, note, in the excerpt below, how Janine connected the activity in which she and Cathy were involved to an experience chart from several days earlier.
Excerpt from Field Notes (11/6/89, 1:00 P.M.):
Cathy took out a book and showed Janine a picture of a girl, a cow, and a meadow. Janine tried to show Cathy there was a picture of a cow on the experience chart. She pointed to the picture of the cow in the book and then pointed in the direction of the experience chart and tried to get Cathy to look in that direction.
The children, on occasion, related familiar fairy tales to other literacy events.
Excerpt from Field Notes (2/1/90, 10:30 A.M.):
It was snack time and Eileen was serving Goldi’s Honey Bear crackers. Michael and Jeffrey discussed the crackers as Eileen passed them out to the children.
Michael: Mother cracker bear. Father.
Jeffrey: Mother, father, baby, and Goldilocks.
Michael then asked Jeffrey about the Goldi bear cracker he had in his hand and he took a closer look at it.
{Both Jeffrey and Michael knew there should be three bears and a little girl cracker.}
Excerpt from Field Notes (1/16/90, 2:45 P.M.):
This afternoon Eileen served Goldi’s Honey Bear crackers for snack. As the children were eating, Billy commented on the crackers.
Billy: (as he pointed to his crackers) Papa bear, mommy bear, and baby bear.
Billy then pointed out to Eileen that the Mama and Papa bear crackers she gave him were the same size and they shouldn’t be, according to the story.
Excerpt from Field Notes (2/12/90, 1:40 P.M.):
During recess the children played their own version of “The Three Little Pigs.”
Billy and Jon hid inside the jungle gym.
Billy: (to Cathy and me) We’re in our house and the wolf (Janine) can’t get us.
When Janine came near the jungle gym, Billy and Jon ran to another piece of playground equipment and that became their house. The children continued playing this game for the rest of recess time.
At times, the children would connect literacy events to their out-of-school experiences, particularly those related to family members and events. Several other researchers have documented that young children make connections between pictures and stories in books and events in their own lives. For instance, in a study of a preschool hearing child, McGee and Richgels (1990) found that the child “was learning to find meaning in the pictures of her storybooks by relating things in the pictures to things in her experience. She was also beginning to link things she heard in stories with things in her experience” (p. 127). Andrews and Mason (1986), Maxwell (1983, 1984), and Rogers (1989) had similar findings in research on hearing-impaired children.
In the excerpts below, note how Jon associated pictures in books with home activities and how Michael related pictures in books and his drawings to his family.
Excerpt from Field Notes (10/2/89, 2:10 P.M.):
Jon took two books and sat next to me for book time. He said, “Read this to me” as he handed me a book entitled “I Help Mommy.” As I read the pages, Jon commented on the pictures in the book.
Jon: I help Mommy at home.
Jon brought over a second book and again commented on the pictures as I read.
Jon: I go to the park. I play on this. I play in the playground. I go on the police car.
Excerpt from Field Notes (10/12/89, 10:35 A.M.):
Michael took a book and when he looked at the first picture, he signed, “Mom, Dad ride motorcycle.”
Excerpt from Field Notes (1/4/90, 9:20 A.M.):
Michael came by and wanted to draw in my notebook. He drew three figures and when I asked who they were, he told me the largest one was Dad, next was Mom, and the very small figure was his brother Darrell.
What do the findings in this chapter mean? What is their significance for the field of deafness and for theories of literacy learning? In the next chapter, the significance and implications of these findings will be discussed with reference to: (a) general contributions of the findings to research on literacy development, (b) significance of the findings to research on deafness, (c) implications for instruction, and (d) implications for research.