Complexities Of Literacy Learning For Aboriginal Children - Samples

Questions: Discuss the complexities of literacy learning for Aboriginal children and methods for supporting positive literacy outcomes? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of phonics and whole language approaches to teaching reading. Justify why educators should provide a blended approach and describe? Answers: 1. The concept of literacy learning has been formulated with the aim of providing students with a better understanding of all the processes that are involved while learning reading, writing, and spelling, the origin of different difficulties, and all approaches that are taken for intervention. The national quality standards framed by the Australian government focus on importance of literacy for all aboriginal children and take efforts to make amendments to the existing teaching practices for meeting needs of such children (Australian Childrens Education Care Quality Authority, 2013). Literacy is considered as the greatest challenge for Aboriginal children because their average literacy levels are much lower than other Australian students. The government assessments provide evidence for low aboriginal literacy levels, when compared to the national average, which in turn creates adverse effects on their future opportunity (Australian Government Department of Education and Training for the Council of Australian Governments, 2009). It becomes difficult for educators to manage aboriginal students with weak literacy at secondary school levels. This results in a significant increase in number of Aboriginal school dropout, in remote locations (English: The Australian Curriculum, 2018). One major complexity encountered is the prevalence of a different spoken language, or dialect other than English in Aboriginal homes. Most children belonging to literate families spend several hours in parent-child interaction, before they begin their school years. This is commonly absent among Aboriginal children coming from families that hold strong traditions, or have little scope of parent-child reading. This makes those children less prepared for the literacy learning programs. Differences in their cultural practice are another major disadvantage. Ability levels of every student enrolled in a class also create major problems in reading, learning, and understanding a curriculum (Kli eve Fluckiger, 2015). Moreover, according to research evidences, families play an essential role in early literacy development among children. However, major disjuncture is found in the literacy experiences of children belonging to Aboriginal background, during their formal schooling years. Hence, quality teaching becomes at most important in this context. Efforts have been taken by the government to promote positive literacy outcomes among the children by formulating several programs, such as, the Budget Based Funded program that contributes to the operational costs of more than 300 child care, and early education regions across the country (Programs for Indigenous families, 2018). These government programs work towards increasing the number of qualified teaching staff, strengthening the administrative capacity of education services, and upgrading or replacing the buildings, where education is being provided. The educators and assessors also focus on raising awareness about the Aboriginal communities by acknowledging traditional owners of the reasons and local elders. This helps them to demonstrate dignity and respect towards the community, and all children are able to understand about the cultural and social heritage (Maher Bellen, 2015). Scaffolding the children and providing them sufficient support for performing high level task also enhances aboriginal literacy learning (Hill, Colbung Glover, 2011). Teaching them to read and write stories is also crucial in their development years and is the central part of their culture (Australian Government, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 2013). Shared book reading is another approach that can be implemented by parents as well, where a story gets repeated until all children demonstrate a sound understanding. Praising and acknowledging all children for the little tasks they perform, addressing them by their names, and helping them recognise each word in a story or sentence or other major skills that are applied to overcome these complexities (Flckiger, Diamond Jones, 2012). In addition, phonemic awareness and teaching phonics to Aboriginal children until they are able to recognise all verbs in a sentence also improve their literacy skills (Nicholas, Gary, Tess, Georgie Jonat han, 2011). Furthermore, evidences suggest that efforts must be taken to foster parent engagement with their children in preschool in years, which in turn will enhance the literacy progress of aboriginal children (Flckiger, Diamond Jones, 2012). Therefore, literacy learning encompasses specific literacy skills, attitude and knowledge drawn by all students for meeting the demands of their educational curriculum, regardless of their cultural and ethnic backgrounds. 2. Phonics referred to the systematic teaching of sounds that are confirmed by individual letter or groups of letter. Use of phonics is an essential part of literacy skills and help children identify sounds for writing or reading words (Australian Government Department of Education and Training for the Council of Australian Governments, 2009). The importance of phonics in teaching reading and writing can be attributed to the fact that most of the information gets conveyed by letters that concerned sound. Potential advantages of phonics include the following: Provides confidence to the children while studying shapes and sounds of alphabets, which help them identify the letters on page while reading. Helps children breakdown audible words into shorter words or sounds Builds their confidence while reading unfamiliar or difficult words (Campbell, 2015) Helps children spell new words while writing (NSW Department of Education, 2018) However, there are measured disadvantages as well: All words cannot be spelt phonetically Children may get frustrated while reading non phonetic words such as, Wednesday, ocean or said The method does not focus on comprehension of words Explicit phonics instruction result in a cognitive footprint, that creates problem while reading new words (Block Duke, 2015) It may result in severe mispronunciation Whole language approach encompasses the literacy philosophy, which lays emphasis on the fact that children should always focus on strategy instruction and meaning (Vaish, 2014). It treats language as a meaning making system. Major advantages of whole language approach are given below: It offers children a better understanding of the words or sentences that are being read A creative approach gets applied to reading There are no rules or list of sounds that should be learnt (Hornsby Wilson, 2014) All children are exposed to good literature that enhances their reading experience Children observe real reading behaviour and successfully imitate them However, this approach also has certain disadvantages as follows: Children who are taught this approach without the use of phonetics find it difficult to learn spelling words Several words get misinterpreted Children fail to learn the process of sounding unknown words They often cannot comprehend basics of English language Children display limited ability in memorizing word sequences Recently several educators have resolve the conflict over phonics and whole language and have identified the fact that in spite of all differences that exist between them, both of these approaches are an effective part of teaching how to read and write. This balanced approach will help in creating a constructive view of learning and will retain the detractors (English: The Australian Curriculum, 2018). This approach will integrate systematic phonics instruction with other reading instructions that will guide oral reading, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary development. It will act as a best practice model that will teach students to read and write during all stages of their education. Therefore, advocates of such balance programs should supplement all schools reading program with materials that are able to reflect the experiential interest, and background of all student (Topsfield, 2018). It will empower all teachers and educators to address and respond to individual literacy needs of children, while relating to developmental levels of their learning skills. This can be facilitated by helping children learn to recognise words, creating phonological awareness, developing word reading strategies, focusing on meaningful reading (fluency, comprehension and vocabulary) (Bingham Hall?Kenyon, 2013). Emphasizing on written communication, such as, spelling, handwriting, and meaningful writing are also integrated in this approach. Integrating reading aloud sessions, shared read, independent and oral reading from text can also facilitate adoption of this approach (Coyne, Pisha, Dalton, Zeph Smith, 2012). Thus, educators should therefore use a blended approach that seeks to incorporate the good principles of both the approaches, without acknowledging the potential drawbacks inherent to each method. References Australian Childrens Education Care Quality Authority. (2013).Guide to the national quality standard. Retrieved from https://files.acecqa.gov.au/files/National-Quality-Framework-Resources-Kit/NQF-Resource-03-Guide-to-NQS.pdf Australian Government Department of Education and Training for the Council of Australian Governments. (2009).Belonging, being becoming: The early years learning framework for Australia. Retrieved fromhttps://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2015/belonging_being_and_becoming_the_early_years_learning_framework_for_australia.pdf Australian Government, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. (n.d.)Developmental milestones and the early years learning framework and the national quality standards. Retrieved fromhttps://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-02/DevelopmentalMilestonesEYLFandNQS.pdf English: The Australian Curriculum. (2018).Australiancurriculum.edu.au. Retrieved 22 March 2018, from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/senior-secondary-curriculum/english/english/?unit=Unit+1unit=Unit+2unit=Unit+3unit=Unit+4 Flckiger, B., Diamond, P., Jones, W. (2012). Yarning space: Leading literacy learning through family-school partnerships.Australasian Journal Of Early Childhood,37(3), 53-59.https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=736066505352023;res=IELHSS Hill, S.,Colbung, M., Glover, A. (2011). My favourite book! Young Aboriginal children's book choices.Australasian Journal Of Early Childhood,36(1), 77-84.Retrieved from- https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/39417933/AusJECV36N1_077_1_.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3AExpires=1521738345Signature=aetHLcRx%2BWAVRF4zdINUv26Z2oY%3Dresponse-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DMy_favourite_book_Young_Aboriginal_child.pdf Klieve, H. Fluckiger, B. (2015). Towards an evidence base: Exploring the impact of community-based literacy programs in remote Indigenous communities.Australasian Journal of Early Childhood,40(2), 89-98.Retrieved from- https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=302771280390223;res=IELAPA Maher, M., Bellen, L. (2015). Smoothing Children's Transition into Formal Schooling: Addressing Complexities in an Early Literacy Initiative in Remote Aboriginal Communities, Northern Territory, Australia.Early Childhood Education Journal,43(1), 9-17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-013-0630-5 Nicholas, M., Gary, R., Tess, L., Georgie, N., Jonathan R., C. (2011). Defining and assessing the school readiness of Indigenous Australian children.Australasian Journal Of Early Childhood,36(1), 69-76.https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=950524743942916;res=IELHSS Programs for Indigenous families. (2018).Mychild.gov.au. 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(2015) Feeling the pressure: Early childhood educators reported views about learning and teachingphonics in Australian prior-toschool settings.Australian Journal of Language and Literacy,38(1), 12-26.Retrieved from: https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=916193012905898;res=IELAPA Coyne, P., Pisha, B., Dalton, B., Zeph, L. A., Smith, N. C. (2012). Literacy by design: A universal design for learning approach for students with significant intellectual disabilities.Remedial and Special Education,33(3), 162-172. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741932510381651 English: The Australian Curriculum. (2018).Australiancurriculum.edu.au. Retrieved 22 March 2018, from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/senior-secondary-curriculum/english/english/?unit=Unit+1unit=Unit+2unit=Unit+3unit=Unit+4 Hornsby, D. Wilson, L. (2014). Early literacy is more than phonics.Practically Primary,19(3), 12-15.Retrieved from: https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=624941039634635;res=IELHSS New phonics resource to improve reading skills - NSW Department of Education. (2018).Dec.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 22 March 2018, from https://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/about-us/news-at-det/media-releases1/new-phonics-resource-to-improve-reading-skills Topsfield, J. (2018).Teacher reaps reward of truce in 'reading wars'.The Age. Retrieved 22 March 2018, from https://www.theage.com.au/education/teacher-reaps-reward-of-truce-in-reading-wars-20100825-13s7k.html Vaish, V. (2014). Whole language versus code-based skills and interactional patterns in Singapores early literacy program.Cambridge Journal of Education,44(2), 199-215.Retrieved from: https://repository.nie.edu.sg/bitstream/10497/18205/1/CJE-44-2-199.pdf