Abstract

Pre-service and in-service teachers get sound instructional strategies for teaching the language arts to young children from birth to kindergarten and enhancing their reading, writing, speaking and listening development in this unique book that places children at the center of all good language and literacy teaching.

This book is about teaching the language arts–about facilitating young children’s reading, writing, speaking, and listening development. In a very readable manner, the book places children at the center of all good language and literacy teaching, while focusing on four central themes that run throughout the book:

1. The authors provide rich descriptions of two perspectives in children’s language and early literacy learning: emergent literacy and scientifically based reading research, and equip early childhood teachers with the know how to use the instructional strategies supported by the research in both perspectives.

2. The authors acknowledge and take into account the increasing diversity of our society and schools by providing numerous illustrations of how teachers can work effectively with diverse learners, providing special features at the end of chapters that explain how to adapt instruction for English Language Learners and children with special needs, and by providing information on the tools teachers can use to discover what each child knows and can do, in order to build on that child’s prior knowledge.

3. The authors stress that assessment cannot be separated from good teaching and they describe strategies that teachers can use to understand children’s language and literacy knowledge in the context of specific learning and teaching events, while also focusing on today’s increasingly important “accountability” function of assessment and standardized testing instruments.

4. The authors acknowledge the importance of the family in young children’s language and literacy development and include descriptions of how early childhood teachers can connect with families and engage caregivers in their children’s school or center.