Here we will outline issues (will soon be edited) and provide links that should help us to work to improve the quality of Early Literacy for young children. The Chatterbox page link-- http://www.freewebs.com/caribe/chatterboxresearchnotes.htm
* WE BELIEVE that the quality of educational life rests (to a large extent)on the kind of early literacy experiences which we provide for Caribbean children. If enough emphasis is placed on good practices in Early Childhood literacy teaching then that the number of young people who "fall away" at the secondary level e.g. in Trinidad and Tobago, will be drastically reduced. We need to describe then what literacy practices exist at present in homes and in preschools.
*A specific tool: http://scholar.google.com/
*A research approach is necessary. Teachers themselves can be equipped to become researchers in their classroms and communities.
*Some factors affecting Early Literacy teaching are
*Socio cultural and Economic
*Sociolinguistic
*Professional and political
**A "solid" list of Early Childhood Research,Publications and Projects: UWI http://www.uwi.edu/caribecd/researchpublications/caribbeanresearch.htm
Other general search lists for important info:
**You can also use our "St. Mary's Search page"..here...http://www.freewebs.com/caribe/searchlistspage.htm
**The work of Early Childhood Associations in the Caribbean: http://google.icq.com/search/results.php?q=+The+work+of+Early+Childhood+Associations+in+the+Caribbean
**CAL Resource Guides Online--re teaching SE to speakers of language varieties :http://www.cal.org/resources/faqs/RGOs/dialects.html#TOP -- an important list
*International Literacy website links--Literacy Trust/U K: http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/links/webinternat.html
**Chatterbox in Early Literacy Research:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=Current+chatterbox+skills+in+Caribbean+Literacy+research&btnG=Search
**Early Childhood Development issues--academic--T C Record: http://www.tcrecord.org/default.asp
This section will contain links to examples of Early Literacy research projects and methods: (check our Chatterbox Notes pages at http://www.freewebs.com/caribe/chatterboxresearchnotes.htm/ )
**The main "LIST"--"Early Literacy Research"--google: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=Early+Literacy+Research&btnG=Google+Search an up-to-date list of a multitude of research sites, reports, projects etc--
--from "Google Univ."
**Some Qualitative methods used in Early Literacy research --http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=Qualitative+methods+used+in+Early+Literacy+research&btnG=Google+Search
*As we are limited on space we are asking you to search interesting aspects of a topic : http://www.google.com/
"Ethnography of Communication in Early Literacy": (An approach like this as with Semiotics may open up new insights about Early Literacy learning.)
-- fools rush in ?? "The Ethnography of Speaking in the West Indies", "The work of Dell Hymes in Ethnography"
**Software for Qualitative data analysis (?) http://www.qualisresearch.com/
**Changing the Research Paradigm Shift...http://www.education.man.ac.uk/rtgs/langlit/staff/WORLDCALL.htm
*TCRecord.org has an entire collection on Research Methods http://www.tcrecord.org/ (*This link for this writer: http://www.tcrecord.org/Collection.asp?CollectionID=66) This is a key source of info on methods. It will take an age to really read this (sound!).
**BOOKS on Language in the Classroom (including Courtney Cazden) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0325003785/ref=ase_teacherscolleger/002-7839397-3940859?v=glance&s=books
*MORE examples...
**SEMINARS 2004-2005 at the Martha L King Center OSU--on (1) Writing Development and (2) Language in the Community: Sociolinguistic and Ethnographic Perspectives http://www.teach-learn.org/mlk/seminars.html
The Linguistic Ethnography Forum /U K--a good look at what UK researchers in this field are doing with regard to Literacy see esp. Julia Gillen's work (Open U.)- It touches on Early Literacy and the Discourse of children: http://www.lingethnog.org.uk/edge_hill_2003_participants.htm --a good reference list
**National Institute for Education--Singapore--Research Centre for Pedagogy and Practice: several projects carried out here on the language-literacy connection: http://www.crpp.nie.edu.sg/CurrentProjects/
**How to do ethnography--Quick Ethnography: http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=10996 (--this link for this writer)
**Handbook of Qualitative Research-- http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/ow/813b6107764e153fa19afeb4da09e526.html
***A KEY WORK in the field of ethnography and language-literacy dev. is S. Brice Heath-- Ways with Words : http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=Ways+with+Words+by+S.+Heath+Brice&btnG=Google+Search
Try Kartoo: http://www.kartoo.com -- type in some of the following search phrases--
"Early Childhood and Development Training in Trinidad and Tobago," "Early Literacy Research," "How to do ethnographic research," "Early Literacy Resources for Caribbean Teachers," "Early Childhood Education policies in the Caribbean" and "How young children grow into language."
The map format and key word links are quite interesting.
**HERE is a list of searches our portal has generated over time about Early Literacy and Language using Veoda search: http://www.google.com/search?q=Language+Literacy+in+the+Caribbean++Veoda+search&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&filter=0
*see our search Page for how a few of these lists are used as Resources by others:http://www.freewebs.com/caribe/searchlistspage.htm
**The work of Dr. Dennis Craig in Linguistics and Literacy: PACE newsletter/workshop: http://www.hawaii.edu/spcl03/pace/12-article.htm
**Dell Hymes on the Ethnography of Speaking:-- important search list:
**Donald Winford and other linguists on the Speech of Trinidad and Tobago(?)--a necessary background to understanding how children grow into language and Literacy in their communities http://www.google.com/search?q=Donald+Winford+on+Trinidad+Speech&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=10&sa=N
*"Roger D. Abrahams on Speaking in the West Indies" http://www.veoda.com/
This search should provide useful descriptions of a variety of speech events and acts and what the use of "words" mean --among adults. How does this "fuse" or conflict with the ways of acquiring meanings from texts written in English?
**The above are some useful lists for understanding the "language nest" in which young children grow and develop while at the same time "learning how to be literate"--through the value that is placed on Literacy and how it is taught in this setting.
Create a free website at Webs.com