Methods of Teaching Early Literacy

Reviewed by Zulma Mojica, Assistant Professor of Bilingual/ESL Education, University of Texas at Arlington on 4/15/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book is well-organized and written in an easy-to-follow manner. It provides various ways to access and interact with content, such as links, videos, transcripts, and visuals. The table of contents is accurate and demonstrates how each chapter builds on the previous one. The chapters cover all the necessary components to teach early literacy, from phonological awareness to comprehension. They also include essential vocabulary required to grasp each chapter's primary concepts and reflection questions that help the reader review, reflect, and apply the ideas presented in the chapter.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The text provides suitable material for teaching one of the first early literacy undergraduate classes. It encompasses definitions, examples, and activities that will aid the students in comprehending early literacy development, both in theory and practice. The content is accurate, and I did not come across any errors. Each chapter includes objectives that help the reader grasp the crucial aspects of the respective chapter.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The text delves into the crucial research-based elements of teaching early literacy skills. Given the extensive research in this area, the text is likely to remain significant as it presents multiple perspectives While there was some discussion about the Science of Reading movement, contextualizing it would have been more helpful by providing additional background information on the trends that have influenced early literacy instruction.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is written in simple language that is easy to understand without using complicated words or sentences that might make it difficult for readers to comprehend. Using keywords, definitions, and links makes the text more accessible to unfamiliar readers. However, some sections could have provided more information to help students with no knowledge or experience in early literacy understand the concepts better. Nonetheless, the definitions in each chapter add to the clarity of the text, and information can be inferred from the information provided in the text.

Consistency rating: 5

The chapter structure is consistent: each chapter starts with objectives, definitions, and practical explanations, while concepts are revisited and elaborated in subsequent chapters.

Modularity rating: 5

This text is an excellent example of well-organized headings and subheadings. These subheadings make it easy for readers to navigate the text and find specific information. This organization is beneficial when reading longer texts, as it saves readers time and effort by providing clear signposts throughout the text.
Moreover, the text is enhanced by links, pictures, tables, and learning activities. These resources provide a break for readers, keeping their attention engaged while they read. Additionally, these resources help readers extend their knowledge and understanding beyond the text by providing further information and points of reference.
In summary, the well-organized structure of the text, combined with the presence of additional resources, makes this text both informative and enjoyable to read.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization of this text is designed to be consistent with the structure used in other textbooks on early literacy development and instruction. It is arranged logically and sequentially, with each section building upon the knowledge presented in the previous one. This helps readers to learn and understand the early literacy components more effectively, as they are offered in a clear and easy-to-follow sequence.
The book explains in detail the components of early literacy: Phonological Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency, and Comprehension. Each chapter contains clear and detailed objectives, definitions, and an overview. The text is organized straightforwardly to make it easier for readers to follow the sequence of information.
This text provides a comprehensive overview of early literacy development and instruction by presenting these components clearly and organized.

Interface rating: 5

The text was straightforward to navigate, with a well-organized layout that made finding the information accessible. I encountered no significant interface issues, and all the features worked as intended. The links provided throughout the text are particularly helpful, as they direct readers to additional resources that allow them to expand their knowledge and understanding of the concepts discussed.
The text was very user-friendly, with clear, concise language that was easy to understand. I appreciated the attention to detail, as no spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors could have detracted from the reading experience.
In addition, the learning activities provided within the text were a great way to reinforce the concepts being discussed and put them into practice. They are well-designed and beneficial in helping readers understand the material thoroughly.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Upon close examination, I have not detected any grammatical errors in this text. The clear and concise text presents a coherent and logical flow of ideas. The punctuation and spelling are accurate. Overall, this is a well-crafted text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text provides cultural relevance and addresses some specific activities to encourage multilingual and multicultural students to participate, such as leveraging students' cultural and linguistic capitals, allowing students to use their home language, and creating spaces for students to contribute to meaning-making by sharing personal experiences. The text also addresses how to adapt early literacy instruction for diverse learners. They could have used more culturally relevant examples representing linguistic and cultural diversity.

Reviewed by Christina Madda, Professor of Literacy Education, Northeastern Illinois University on 4/9/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text covers all pertinent areas and ideas relevant to early literacy teaching and learning. There are individual chapters that address the key curricular components for early literacy instruction as informed by the research base: Phonological Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency, and Comprehension. Other key considerations for early literacy are also emphasized such as creating a print rich environment and the importance of oral language development in early childhood classrooms. There is also an introductory chapter that does a nice job contextualizing the rest of the book by introducing additional considerations and perspectives such as multiliteracies, the role of technology, culturally sustaining pedagogy, etc. Regarding the chapters that address the key curricular components, my opinion is that some provide more breadth than depth. Many concepts associated with early literacy teaching and learning will be unfamiliar to undergraduate students and I feel the text does not provide enough in-depth explanation or clear examples to make the content highly accessible to its intended audience. For someone with a lot of familiarity or background knowledge on these topics, the content presented may be adequate; however, for pre-service teachers, more detailed descriptions and explanations – especially with respect to how to teach many of these areas – would be beneficial. There are many links to additional resources and embedded videos which can help to expand the reader’s understanding of content, but more elaborations on content within the actual text would better prepare the reader to engage with these resources. Each chapter includes a table of important terms with definitions, however there is no stand-alone glossary or index.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found the content of this text to be overall accurate, error-free, and unbiased. Chapters are well referenced with citations to many important works of research and scholarship in the field of literacy education. Multiple perspectives are presented on the nature of literacy, frameworks for teaching, and considerations as they relate to an array of learners including children from low-income families, English learners, and diverse learners. One thing I noted and questioned in terms of accuracy was describing sight words as a third type of vocabulary alongside receptive and productive (see Chapter 2). I also felt the text could have done a better job of distinguishing between sight words and high frequency words since there are common misconceptions that accompany learning about these two terms. The way sight words are defined in Chapter 7 is not entirely accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The text addresses the important research-based pillars of early literacy instruction. Given the substantial research base in this area, the text as written will maintain its relevance. One area where the text could improve its currency is in discussions regarding recent trends and perspectives associated with the Science of Reading (SoR) movement. There was a little of this, but it could have been better contextualized in the history of debates in the field (i.e., the reading wars). On the other hand, there were a few topics taken on that perhaps don’t necessarily need to be included in a text specifically about early literacy instruction. Discussions of disciplinary literacy, writing workshop, strategies for teaching narrative/informational text all seem to fall slightly outside the purview of working with emergent and early readers. While these are important topics, I felt the real estate devoted to these topics could have been better allocated to expand on topics more highly relevant to supporting emergent literacy like phonics elements and instructional routines, how to plan and execute an interactive read aloud, how to build oral language in primary classrooms, etc.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is written in accessible language. There are other features that also help increase its accessibility to readers less familiar with the content such as keywords, important terms with definitions, and links to supplemental resources and videos. I did feel, however, that due to the brevity of many sections, the text does at times require a fair amount of background knowledge on behalf of the reader. Jargon and technical terms are overall well defined and/or there is enough context to infer meanings. However, there are a few places where I felt more explanation or context was needed for individuals less familiar with topics presented.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework. The Big 5 curricular areas for literacy development are used/referred to as a framework for thinking about literacy teaching and learning throughout. Most concepts and terms presented are revisited across several chapters.

Modularity rating: 5

The text makes good use of headers although I wish there were more heading levels to make it clear to the reader which topics were more closely related or nested within others. For the most part, the text is free from very long stretches of text without (there are definitely some sections that are longer than others, but none seem unreasonably long). Overall, there are ample opportunities for chunking the text to make it more manageable for students. The incorporation of learning checks and embedded videos also create natural breaks for engaging with the content.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

This text is organized in a fashion consistent with other textbooks on early literacy development and instruction. It begins with an overview chapter that explores the nature of literacy, definitions, and relevant theoretical and scholarly perspectives. It then proceeds through the major pillars of early literacy instruction according to research: Phonological Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency, and Comprehension. There are additional chapters towards the end that cover Writing, Supporting literacy in Content Areas, and Literacy Instruction for Diverse Learners. The text’s organization is both typical and logical. There is some redundancy with topics surfacing in more than one chapter. While in some cases, this can be helpful for the reader, in other cases, it felt unnecessary and repetitive (e.g., defining/discussing productive versus receptive vocabulary).

Interface rating: 5

The text is very easy to navigate. There are no significant interface issues. All features display properly, links are working, and the text is overall user-friendly and easy to interact with. I particularly appreciate how videos are embedded throughout to provide additional content or elaborations on topics under investigation. There are several text features intended to augment or support the reader’s engagement with the content including learning objectives, lists of keywords, important terms with definitions, reflection questions, learning activities (which function as learning checks), key takeaways, additional resources, and references. The style and organization of the online edition is user friendly, aesthetically pleasing, and easy to navigate. One suggestion would be to have used additional headers/subheaders to better convey the relationship between sections within chapters.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not note any grammatical errors. This is a well written and carefully edited text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text is inclusive of discussion and visual representation of individuals from an array of backgrounds. This is true throughout the text’s chapters as issues relevant to multilingual/ English Learners and Diverse Learners are distributed throughout. The text also addresses literacy issues as they relate to children from low-income families or those who have experienced trauma. There is an entire chapter dedicated to literacy instruction for diverse learners which addresses instructional approaches and materials to reach and teach every child. Cultivating a positive, inclusive, nurturing, and responsive classroom is a central theme throughout the text.

Comments

I want to commend the authors for putting together this much needed OER on methods of teaching early literacy! Thank you!