*Here on these pages we are simply "exploring"-- or looking for ways in which this particular kind of research ( about the language-early literacy connection) can be done. We are making jottings of the process or the build-up towards a planned project. Being geograhically far away far from metropolitan academic centres with library facilities, we decided to use the Internet as the prime tool, at this point in time, for our research.
**We are pleased with the facilities on the Open Dokeos Campus where are shaping this project-- as in a virtual office: http://campus.dokeos.com/
The net can be an exciting place.
**Where on this site we use the term Early Childhood Literacy" we have taken the liberty of merging or subsuming under this term all stages that relate to literacy acquisition or literacy development in children both before and during their stay at pre-school -- specifically these stages are "the emergent stage" and a child's first attempts at"conventional" literacy learning.
*As we SHAPE our project we have in mind to look closely at how our children's acquisition of community language "styles"( e.g.creole speech acts) impact on their literacy development and how this can be used as a "resource" to assist in their literacy learning.
*Basically this is what "Chatterbox" is all about. We need to see the work of ethnographers in this field, those involved in Literacy, Caribbean Sociolinguistics, Semiotics and Child Development.
**FINDING YOUR WAY--
*For other useful references --http://www.freewebs.com/cariblink/researchmethcaribfocus.htm and http://www.freewebs.com/caribe/searchlistspage.htm
**For some Personalities who have influenced the field: go to Chatterbox Notes #2 in the nav. panel.
Our OPEN FLUID STRUCTURE--for the exchange we hope to develop
Our Early Childhood Literacy feature in this "freewebs space" has an open and fluid structure that allows a visitor to share ideas that will elucidate our Chatterbox project and bring it to life. We'll pose many questions and search the literature. Especially we will want also to view( and form links with) similar projects that have been/are being done and the methods that the researchers use--esp. qualitative/ethnographic.
*BLOG FOR RESPONDING TO OUR THEME: http://chbox.blogspot.com
*FOR MORE INTERACTION AND EXCHANGE ON CHATTERBOX USE OUR CHAT ROOM -- You are invited to join a friend or two in our chatroom (see nav. panel);raise issues on Language and Literacy teaching and tell us of your experiences as parents and teachers. We are looking forward to this. Send us an e-mail when you want to arrange a chat session with us: webbjoy1@yahoo.com
*Report of our first CHATTERBOX project --being posted up
** This is the start of it --the style is easy and journalistic since I want parents and our Early Childhood teachers to read it and respond--http://chbox.blogspot.com/2004_05_01_chbox_archive.html
In this blog http://chbox.blogspot.com I am describing -- by way of informal notes, what I have observed in two young girls (from the time they were 2 years until they were 5/6) of language and literacy learning in a creole-speaking home. It is an intensive account of 4-5 years of my observations ( 1993 to 1997)and involvement in the process in a home setting.
**There is an urgent need to do a similar study with a larger sample of very young boys ("boy chirrun"). Teenage boys are more prone than girls to "fall away" from the education system. Does the answer lie in our not making use of their oral skills to teach them literacy?
*You are invited to leave your comments in the blog/journal.
*QUESTIONS FOR RESHAPING THE CHATTERBOX THEME
Here are some questions/issues that come to mind when we think about language/child chatter and Early Childhood literacy.
Basic question: How is child chat viewed and used in homes and schools? ( Also *Are children who are called "chatterbox (es)" necessarily early talkers?)
For definitions of terms: Early Literacy, chatterbox, Emergent Literacy, Creole Language, speech styles, language acquisition please use our Google search box.
How can we use the chat skills/chatterbox skills in young children from a creole- speaking background to develop their early Literacy?
**We'll explore notions of how child talk/language can be developed as a "resource" for literacy learning in the Commonwealth Caribbean.
*This is the focus of our portal at this time. Your experiences with young children can provide valuable inputs. You are invited to leave your comments or responses here: http://chbox.blogspot.com/
*Unique topics
**Ways of looking at chatterbox and how child talk develops in a Creole-type community of speakers.
**Chatterbox as a phase of early language learning--has to be described. What are the tools for doing this? What precedents?
**Chatterbox and the prevailing attitudes to home-language in pre-school settings in Trinidad and Tobago.
*Suggestions for the chatterbox-literacy connection in the light of (i) the challenge for intellectual growth (??) and (ii) Roles of teachers and parents.
* We are putting together SEARCH LISTS using the major search engines. These lists do contain some valuable info for us. See esp. the Search Page on this site (which one day can grow to be a search engine in itself )
:
*On the value of having conversations with young children: http://www.rif.org/coordinators/articles/when_talk.mspx
Some helpful info. http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Language+and+Literacy+research
**Language-Literacy Environments in preschools ( US) CP Snow et.al--http://ecap.crc.uiuc.edu/eecearchive/digests/1999/snow99.html
And on Dialects in Education --Douglas A Demo (CLL) and Literacy: an ERIC Resource: http://www.cal.org/ericcll/faqs/rgos/dialects.html
The value/s attached to a Language and Early Childhood Literacy
CHILDREN GROW into language/talk through acquiring and participating in community interactions and speech scripts. They learn their roles and language in home, school and community settings. Young children test meanings as they learn. They learn the attitudes and values that adhere to language use /spoken and written. (will want to connect with relevant sources at this point)
*All of this may form a part of "their meaning-making apparatus" which they are developing while they are in pre-school (3-5yrs) and which will affect their literacy development. **The home language is an English-based creole as in the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean--e.g. Trinidad and Tobago.
*What value does this language have? In the community? in educational settings?
*How do pre-school teachers view the home language of their children?
*What are the literacy teaching practices in selected pre-schools?
*What does Literacy development entail?
**For useful LISTS/links-- also see our search page and a "Caribbean Focus" and a "Research Methods" shelf at http://www.freewebs.com/cariblink
**Beginning Literacy with Language--book--Dickinson & Tabors:http://www.brookespublishing.com/store/books/dickinson-479x/
**Attitudes to Creole Language/dialect --icq/google: (see the ERIC/CAL List above
http://google.icq.com/search/results.php?q=attitudes+to+the+use+of+Creole+dialect%2Flanguage+in+the+Caribbean
*How young children acquire language in a creole-speaking Caribbean setting: http://google.icq.com/search/results.php?q=How+young+children+acquire+language+in+a+creole-speaking+Caribbean+setting
*SEARCH icq-google with thumbnail sketches http://google.icq.com/search/
for the topic : "Literacy experiences of young Caribbean children"-- turns up some interesting links
**Learning how to code-switch in the English-speaking Caribbean: http://www.google.com/search?q=learning+how+to+code-switch+in+the+English-speaking+Caribbean&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=0&sa=N
*The difference between Emergent and Early Literacy -- examine the practices---"emergent" leading into "conventional" or no real "boundaries"?
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-http://8&q=Is+there+a+difference+between+emergent+and+early+literacy%3F&btnG=Google+Search
*Our task NOW is to consolidate ideas in the literature and "point them" to our chatterbox theme.
Please click on this link for sharing on the topics "Caribbean focus in Early Literacy" and 
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*No, we have not but we have imposed on all "more distance" with unreacheable chasm-like spaces through the setting up of more difficult demanding examinations. THESE assessment procedures are fine in themselves, "but unless research and teaching procedures are put in place to harness the Creole verbal potential that exists here in Trinidad and Tobago and to translate these into ways that will bridge the formality of school type Literacy", there will continue to be this lack of identification on the part of many young people with what is deemed social success.... to read more and previous entries go to our blog in the section below.
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