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Literacy is the basis for all formal education, across subject areas. Competent readers

who are able to digest written information have an advantage in every facet of the school system

and, indeed, modern life. Effectively teaching literacy is the absolute highest academic priority

of educators. This emergent literacy case study demonstrates how close personal relationships

with students, understanding students’ concepts about print, assessing students’ work, and having

a holistic approach to literacy learning can improve student literacy outcomes.

When teaching literacy (and any number of other subjects) teachers must attend to their

students’ basic needs. One of these needs is to be recognized as a human being with individual

characteristics and interests. Students who are given access to materials that interest them and

who are given choices about materials are more likely to respond positively (Clay, 2014). This

case study demonstrates how getting to know a student can help identify her interests as well as

challenges she might face and special skills she might enjoy developing.

Part of getting to know a student is coming to truly recognize that student’s own ability

levels, rather than expected or desired levels of ability and achievement for any particular age of

student. Assessing a student’s understandings of written language is one effective way to assess

her status as a literacy learner. Concepts About Print, a short test used in this case study, helps

determine what children are attending to and in what order (Clay, 2014). This helps the educator

develop ideas about how to better orient students towards print concepts, or the “code” of written

language (Clay, 2014, 111). Armed with a better understanding of the student’s concepts, a

teacher can give direct instruction about what a student needs to attend to and when, which has

been shown to increase understanding more dramatically than indirect instruction (Johnson,

2015).
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Of course, assessing a student’s understanding before instruction is given is only a slice

of the assessment pie. It is through authentic on-going assessment that educators can discover

whether or not their students are learning the material that is being taught (Wiliam, 2013). In this

case study, student work was assessed after a lesson was delivered. Student performance was

rated in terms of objectives met, not met, or developing. The majority of students in the class

were developing the skills taught in the lesson, which is appropriate.

Another assessment method used in this case study was oral running records and miscue

analysis. Oral running records are a useful tool for assessing student growth and

misunderstandings as well as for planning instruction. Students in schools that use running

records outperform students in schools where running records are not used (Ross, 2010).

Although understanding students, assessing their work, and basing instruction on

students’ understandings and misunderstandings are all key elements in a good literacy program,

the most crucial attitude for a teacher to adopt when it comes to literacy instruction is the attitude

that learning to read is not about a simple decoding process. Rather, reading and literacy are

about the creation of meaning (Emmitt, Hornsby, & Wilson, 2013). In this case study, the teacher

worked with the student to create meaning, from reading, in discussion, and by writing and

illustrating. The student in this study understood phonics but often failed to grasp the meaning of

written works. Understanding that “meaning results not necessarily from the precise

identification of every word in a sentence, but from the constant interplay between the mind of

the reader and the language of the text” enabled the teacher to guide the student towards a more

holistic approach to literacy (Weaver, 1994, p.15).

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References

Clay, M. M. (2014). By different paths to common outcomes: Literacy learning and teaching.

Portsmouth, NH: Stenhouse Publishers.

Emmitt, M., Hornsby, D., & Wilson, L. (2013). The place of phonics in learning to read and

write. The Australian Literacy Educators Association. Retrieved from

https://www.alea.edu.au/documents/item/773/

Johnson, C. (2015). Concepts about print and literacy skill acquisition of preschool students.

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Collection. Retrieved from

scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2358&context=dissertations

Ross, J. A. (2010). Effects of running records assessment on early literacy achievement. The

Journal of Educational Research 97 (4), 186-195. Retrieved from

https://doi.org/10.3200/JOER.97.4.186-195

Weaver, C. (1994). Reading process and practice: From socio-psycholinguistics to whole

language. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Wiliam, D. (2013). Assessment: the bridge between teaching and learning. Voices from the

Middle 21 (2), 15-20. Retrieved from

https://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/.../VM0212Assessment.pd...