Getting To Know A Literacy

Learner
TCHE 2114
Learning To Be Literate

Stephanie Reid

1 | Page

CONTENTS
1. Introduction to the case study Page 3.
2. 21st Century Literacy.............. Page 3-4.
3. Understanding home environments..Page 4.
4. Ruby outside the classroom..............Page 4-5
5. Rubys oral language..................Page 5-6
6. Rubys reading interests......... Page 6
7. Rubys writing/viewing interests. Page 6-7
8. Reflection............................................Page 7
9. Reading analysis................................Page 7-8
10. Ruby writing analysis.........Page 9-10
11.
Future learning..............................Page 10-11
12. Conclusion.............................Page 11
13. References.........................Page 12
14. Appendices..........................Page 13-18

2 | Page

Introduction to the case study

This case study gives us the opportunity to recognize and develop childrens interests,
attitudes, skills and knowledge of literacy. This case study also allows us to understand the
ways children learn and solve problems. We also start to contemplate how to teach literacy
to our future students. Furthermore, it allows us to explore the interests and attitudes of 21st
century literacy learners.
21st Century Literacy
Hill (2006) argues all children learn in varied ways. When working with 21st century learners
we must teach the skills and knowledge required to engage them in activities required for
effective functioning in the community (Hill, 2006, p. 3). She also recognises that a childs
development is most effective when the learning is relevant to their home environment. The
widely accepted theory of social constructivism is what Hill (2006) bases many of her ideas
about literacy development on. The main contributors to the social constructivist view of
learning were the work of Vygotsky (1978) and Dewey (1964).
A key aspect of Lev Vygotsky (1978) was his work was on the zone of proximal
development. Snowman et al. (2009) describes the zone of proximal development as two
divisions. The first being the capability of a child to achieve independently and secondly the
level of performance reached with assistance. The region between these divisions is known
as the zone of proximal development. This idea can help adults to scaffold a childs literacy
progression. Snowman et al. (2009) also suggested that Vygotsky (1978) deemed a childs
language development to be crucial. He considered a childs oral language to form the basis
for other learning such as writing and reading.
Hill (2009) described Deweys (1964) theory as a focus on the process of inquiry based
learning. He also saw the classroom as replicating the community (Hill, 2006, p. 3). This
meant that children would be able to play out specific roles and learn social duties. Therefore
children could experience other types of language and culture they may not encounter out of
a classroom.
Jerome Bruner (1983) further developed Lev Vygotskys theory. Snowman et al. (2009)
describes Bruner (1983) concept that children learn better when they seek out the
information; this may be socially or on their own. 21st century learners have the opportunity
to discover and have access to more literacy materials than ever before. Children now have
access to mobile phones, computers, internet and many other new literacies. All these new
developments are all there for childrens discovery and inquiry.

3 | Page

21st century literacy is forever changing and as Hill (2006) states there is no single literacy
program that will work for all. New ways of viewing literacy are becoming available to
children almost every day. It is vital that we acknowledge this notion and challenge our ideas
on older literacy practises. Students who are entering the 21st century literacy world are now
facing many different opportunity to experience and discover literacy. There are new
technologies becoming available for them to utilize. Hill (2006) states that we must prepare
our students for the endless possibilities 21st century present.

The importance of understanding home environments.

All children come from different home environments. Each diverse environment contributes
different literacies and opportunities available for a childs exploration of literacy. Steensel
(2006) suggests parent and sibling interaction, socio economic status, ethnicity and culture
all play a crucial part to the home environment which shapes a childs literacy development.
According to Saracho (1997) studies show that a childs early environment has an impact on
their literacy interactions, explorations, expressions, and behaviours (p. 201). When a
teacher knows a child outside of the classroom, they have the ability to engage the learner.
Hill (2006) explores McNaughton. (2002)s idea that it is important to build on the familiar.
This notion shows that if a teacher can know a child outside of their school environment,
they can provide relevant and meaningful learning to the child.

Ruby outside the classroom.

Ruby is a 5 year old black female. She comes from a single parent family and has an
adopted older brother who is 8 years old. Ruby was adopted when she was 2 years old from
South Africa. She moved to Sri Lanka shortly after her adoption and then moved to Australia
in May of 2009. Rubys Grandparents live in Australia as well as her teenage cousins who
babysit her regularly. In Sri Lanka she did not go to kindergarten. She attended one
semester of kindergarten in Australia before starting primary school this year and is loving
every day.
Ruby has a rich literacy home environment. Her home has a play room where there is no
television, instead there are a wide range of books, games such as Scrabble Junior, UNO,
Clue Junior and many family puzzles (see Appendix E). The family has a computer which is
used approximately 4 nights a week. Ruby and her brother Zach are currently most
4 | Page

fascinated with taken photos of themselves with different backdrops off the computer. There
is one television in the house which is watched for only 30 minutes per night due to having
family time when Ruby returns from school. Rubys mother, Di, (personal communication,
May 6, 2011), thinks that spending time as a family every night is important and would rather
have the kids playing outside rather than on a computer all night. Family time consists of
reading books, drawing and playing games together. In Rubys room she has her favourite
artwork displayed on the wall, a book shelf with her favourite books and a desk for her to
draw pictures.

Rubys oral language analysis

When I first attempted to observe Ruby it was a bit difficult because she was quite shy. I
decided to start by doing some drawings with her and slowly she started to open up and
became quite talkative. Rubys oral language is still developing and she regularly makes
errors in syntax. When looking at appendix A, Ruby makes many syntactical errors. For
example You go all through those page. As Hill (2006) suggests, all children will experiment
with and develop the positioning of words in sentences. In the case of Ruby she is still
experimenting with her sentence structures. Although Ruby makes these errors, she is still
able to carry out a conversation with you one-on-one. This is most likely due to Ruby having
the opportunity to carry out conversations with her older brother, as well as her cousins. This
is a great example of Hills (2006) notion that states that literacy is best developed when
children are led by those more intellectually advanced. In Rubys case, is being shown how
to communicate by her mother, brother and older cousins whose language is more
developed. She is also still developing her pragmatic competency. She struggles with
knowing when its her turn to be the listener and speaker. She also struggles to maintain
topic relevance. For example when she was responding to a question I had asked.. I just
picked it cause Stella Luna picked it...no I picked it first at the library. Well its about...... Can
we go get an ice cream?

According to Evans (1994) Oral Language Development Continuum, Ruby would be classed
in Phase 2 (Early Language) and is beginning to transition into Phase 3 (Exploratory
Language). A prominent indicator of this is her confusion of pairs of pronouns such as I/you.
An example of this is when Ruby was explaining to me her Magic Words (see appendix B).
She said You go to school and you have to guess... instead of the correct use of a
pronoun: I go to school and I have to guess. Another indicator of phase 2 is her ability to
5 | Page

express opinions and feelings for example in our conversations I think we should go get ice
cream now. She also showed her awareness of social conventions as she would day
excuse me and please. (see appendix A). Ruby is also transitioning into phase 3 as she is
able to sustain conversation for example I saw this through my documented conversations in
Appendix A. She also displays confusion with comparative terms for example in my
conversations with Ruby she would describe the size of objects with her hands saying they
were this big. Her social interaction shows Phase 2 as she is still developing her pragmatic
competency. For example, according to her mother, Di, (personal communication, May 6,
2011), Ruby often talks aloud to herself when not included in a conversation. She also kept
interrupting conversation by stating facts. For example when discussing her schooling with
her mother, she interrupted with I am in grade prep. Hill (2006) explores Hallidays
Language Functions, which would classify Rubys informative language as a
representational function. Ruby also asked many questions. She would ask questions such
as Is it easy? and What can we do now? This demonstrates Heuristic language function
(see Appendix A). While spending time with Ruby, she displayed many of Hallidays language
functions such as personal, where she would express her opinion for example I think we
should go get ice cream now. She used regulatory functions when she organised a game of
hide and seek such as you count to 10. (See Appendix A)

Rubys reading interests and attitudes

When I asked Ruby whether she enjoyed reading she responded with I dont like reading by
myself, its too hard but I like when mummy reads to me. Ruby is still developing her
reading skills, however already knows the types of books she prefers. It was evident when
looking through Rubys bookcase that she loved animal books (see appendix C) with her
favourite book being Possum Magic written by Mem Fox. Ruby is starting to learn high
frequency words with her Magic Words Book (see appendix B). As Ruby gets each page of
words right she gets new pages of harder words. Rubys mother is a very large part of her
reading development as she can assist and model reading to Ruby. Hill (2006) conveys that
parents are a crucial part of a childs literacy development and need to give guidance when a
child is trying to learn.

Rubys writing/viewing interests and attitudes.

6 | Page

Ruby is just starting to develop her writing skills at school. I asked Ruby to write her name on
a piece of paper. Some of the letters were written incorrectly however you could understand
what she had written (see appendix D). Ruby loves watching movies and The High School
Musical series is amongst her favourite. She also loves playing Sing Star when she visits her
cousins house. When playing Sing Star, she sings the lyrics by memorization as she usually
cant read the words in unfamiliar songs.

Reflections
Overall I have learnt ways to engage and have a good quality conversation with a primary
school age child, which previously I hadnt had much experience with. I have also discovered
that all children are different and they all come to the classroom from different literacy
environments. Hill (2006) conveys the message that not all children learn at the same rate or
level and will learn in different ways. This notion has led me to believe that understanding a
child outside of the classroom is vital when teaching literacy. I have also gained a great
appreciation for parents and their roles in developing a childs literacy skills. The language
Ruby is immersed in and the books and literacy opportunities which Ruby has outside of
school are all provided by her mother/immediate family.
As a future teacher I would like to have more experiences working one on one with children
so I can develop my ability to relate to them. I would definitely like to familiarise myself with
many more incredible childrens books and expand my knowledge on how to develop
childrens literacy skills. I also know there is much more that I have to learn. I also recognize
that I will always be a learner and there is always room to learn more.

Read Aloud, Retell and analysis

I gave Ruby the option of three books to read which I thought she may enjoy. She chose to
read I Can Do It written by Martin Chu. I handed the book to her upside down and
backwards, she turned it round the right way and opened to the first page of the book. This
shows that Ruby understands how one reads a book. Furthermore while she was reading
the book she had a complete understanding of reading left to right and top to bottom.
Ruby began to read and there were a few main aspects to her writing which stood out to me.
Firstly she used her finger to track her reading, it helped her to follow the text and find where
she was up to. She also read word by word rather than fluent phrases. However her reading
7 | Page

wasnt slow, she quickly recognised the high frequency words in the book. She also relied
heavily on illustrations to determine words which she found tricky. For example the first error
in the book she made was mistaking the word wash for wipe. She looked at the picture to
find meaning to the word and the boy was wiping his face with a towel and determined the
word to be wipe. This error shows that Ruby used structural and meaning in her reading,
however the word visually wasnt right. Throughout her reading she used made many other
visual errors. For example when referring back to the running record (See appendix F) I saw
that she used brush for comb and shoes for laces. Throughout Rubys reading, she used
structure and meaning cues but she did not use visual cues consistently. She didnt look at
the word and often looked at the picture to gain meaning. Ruby also showed that she relied
heavily on the first letter of word to identify it. For example put for pack Ruby also
displayed that she could self-correct when her reading didnt make sense. She self corrected
using structural and meaning cues to correct I can put my bag to I can pack my bag. This
shows that her reading has meaning.
I asked Ruby to explain what had happened in the text and she struggled to recount what he
was doing. She also was reluctant to explain the meaning behind the activities being done in
the text. To prompt Ruby and understand her comprehension further I devised 3 questions
(see appendix F). The first question was a literal comprehension question. Her first answers
displayed that she had understood the meaning behind her reading. She understood that the
boy was getting ready to go to school. The second question I asked was interpretive. Her
answered showed me that she understood through her experiences that he was doing it
before school. Finally I asked Ruby an inferential question, where she displayed that she
could display knowledge beyond the text. This also showed she could relate her experiences
to the texts meaning. With the prompting of the questions, Ruby found it easier to recall
meaning from the book.
According to the Reading Developmental Continuum (1994), Ruby would most likely be in
the early reading stage. She is displaying characteristics from this phase due to:
Reading word by word...reading an unfamiliar text
Uses picture cues and knowledge of context to check understanding of meaning.
E.g. looks at picture when looking for meaning tying shoes. Also uses language
such as brush my hair instead of comb, as it the word brush is more familiar.
Relies heavily on beginning letters and sounding out for word identification. E.g.
using put for pack. Recognising the first letter of the word to identify.
Has a bank of words which are recognised in different contexts. E.g. Magic words
book/high frequency words. (See appendix B)

8 | Page

Rubys Writing Activities

Writing
During my time with Ruby, I collected two pieces of writing. I asked Ruby to write firstly about
what she did on the weekend end. I also got her to write a shopping list of her favourite food,
this was to observe her write in another genre. Through observing Ruby write, I was able to
see that she holds the pencil correctly. I also noticed that she uses two fingers as a tool to
space her words. I also saw that she self corrects when she doesnt space, as she erased
words in appendix G to allow for spacing. Through observing I also saw that Ruby writes left
to right and top to bottom. She also forms most letters well, however n, p and h, she
would form the line then add the curve, rather than doing one fluid motion. Ruby is still
developing her writing skills when it comes to capital and lower case letters. She often used
capital letters in the middle of words and sentences.
I also noticed while observing her write a shopping list, she understood the different genres,
as she wrote on item per line. She also knew to include the title shopping list, although it
was down the bottom. (See appendix G). I also asked Ruby to reread her writing to me, she
struggled to read some items in the shopping list like bananas as it was spelt incorrectly.
However, she read her weekend recount extremely fluently. Her ability to write extended
pieces of writing is still developing and she doesnt convey much meaning or detail in her
writing. For example she only wrote one simple sentence in her weekend recount. (See
appendix G). However, she did form her sentence in her weekend recount nicely. I observed
that she said the sentence to herself before writing it. Therefore this shows she understands
there is meaning behind her writing.
According to Hill (2006), Ruby would most likely be emerging into the early writing phase,
however doesnt display all indicators yet such as difference between capital and lowercase letters. However, she does display:
A letter may represent a syllable E.g. The syllable en becomes the letter n in her
shopping list. (See appendix G)
Spacing between words becomes consistent. E.g. All Rubys words were spaced
with her finger.
Knows there are different genres of writing. E.g. Shopping list lay-out.

9 | Page

Spelling
Ruby is still developing her spelling, especially with the shopping list as they were unfamiliar,
less frequently used words. She however did spell most high-frequency words correctly
such as the, on and my. The shopping list produced a lot of unfamiliar words. Ruby
countered this by using spelling strategies where she would sound out the sounds in the
word and write them down one by one. She also used her hand to count out the sounds she
heard. Ruby did struggle with putting e on the end of words like grapes.

According to Spelling Developmental continuum (1994), Ruby would most likely be in the
Phonetic phase of spelling. This is due to her displaying characteristics such as:
Letters are often chosen on the basis of sound E.g. chocolet for chocolate
Sounds out and represents all sounds in a word E.g. sounding out with fist.
Spelling is meaningful and more standard. E.g. understanding ch and sh sounds

Rubys Future Learning

Ruby has a wide knowledge of literacy and this is greatly provided by the support network
around her. She is also able to use a wide range of literacies such as computers, books and
educational games. She can covey meaning and communicate through oral and or written
language with people around her. She is still developing her reading, however can
understand meaning of texts when reading.
For Rubys future learning in reading, she should keep developing her reading skills. I
believe she needs to start enjoying reading by herself rather than having someone read to
her. I believe that she needs to find relevant and suitable levelled texts which she enjoys
reading. This will encourage her to want to read by herself as she can read books which she
enjoys. It appears that Ruby in her reading uses many structural and meaning cues,
however struggles with visual cues. I would facilitate her learning by prompting her to look at
letters in words and the sounds beyond the first or beginning letters. I may do this through
guided or modelled reading with her. I would also keep developing her use of structural and
meaning cues. Ruby also needs to self correct more frequently when reading. According to
Reading Developmental Continuum (1994), Ruby needs to start to re-read for meaning and
self correct frequently. I would also facilitate her progression by providing her with a wider
10 | P a g e

range of words in her magic words book. This would help to progress her to next point of the
continuum. Hill (2006) states more exposure to unfamiliar vocabulary increases a childs
vocabulary and in turn increases their fluency in reading. According to

In regards to writing and spelling, Ruby needs to develop her proof reading and self
correction strategies. I would facilitate this as a teacher by providing her with strategies to
proof reading and encouragement. Ruby also needs understand that sounds can be
represented by more than one letter. This may mean expanding her word bank. She also
needs to develop her ideas in her writing, as she only writes one sentence per genre. I would
facilitate this by modelled writing prior to her individual writing. I would also give her
strategies on how to expand detail in writing for example including who, what, where, how in
her writing to expand ideas.

Conclusion
Through this assignment I have gained an immense amount of knowledge on what a child,
Rubys age, understands about literacy. Furthermore some interests of a girl of her age. It
has also given me more experience of working with a child one on one and my ability to
relate to children her age. I have also gained a great appreciation for the importance of
knowing a childs home life in regards to teaching relevant learning. I also now have
practised strategies of how to assess a students literacy skills in reading writing and oral
language. Furthermore I can see how this case study will assist me in my future career. I
believe that I still have much more to learn, however this has been an incredible starting
point for my knowledge of teaching literacy.

11 | P a g e

References:

Evans, J. (1994). Oral Language Development Continuum. Education Department of

Western Australia: Langman Cheshire

Education department of Western Australia (1994). Reading developmental

Continuum. Perth: Longman Cheshire.
Education department of Western Australia (1994). Spelling developmental
continuum. Perth: Longman Cheshire.
Hill, S. (2006). Developing early literacy: Assessment and teaching. Melbourne:
Elinor Curtin Publishing.

Saracho, O. N, (1997), Using the Home Environment to Support Emergent Literacy,

Early Child Development and Care, 127, 201-203. Retrieved March 26, 2011, from
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0300443971270117

Snowman, J., Dodozy, E., Scevak, J., Bryer, F., Bartlett, B., & Biehler, R.(2009).
Psychology Applied to Teaching. (12th Edition). New York: Wiley.

Steensel, R, (2006). Relations between socio-cultural factors, the home literacy

environment and childrens literacy development in the first years of primary
education. Research in Reading, 29, 378-379. Retrieved March 21, 2011 from
http://cm8ek7zy3d.search.serialssolutions.com

12 | P a g e

Appendix A-Transcripts of conversations.

Context: Ruby and I were discussing her book she got from school called Magic
Words. She is explaining to me what they are, why she has them etc.
Steph: Explain to me what these are for? I dont understand.
Ruby: There for.....when you go to school you have to try an guess all the ones right and then... you
come on to this page
Steph: How do you guess them right?
Ruby: You go all through those page and you come to the end.
Steph: Can you read them for us?
Ruby: A a aand, I, is, the, to, was
Steph: Do you get new magic words?
Ruby: Yes you get them all right
Steph: But you got them all right?
Ruby: No I didnt. Whatevers dot and whatevers ticks that means its right
Steph: So ticks are right and dots are wrong?
Ruby: These to I got wrong (Pointing at was and to)
Steph: So you just have to practise was. Youre pretty good though

Begins to read Fox in Sox

Ruby: Thats too hard to read. I carn read, lets not read this right now, its to hard
Steph: Why do you have a book about Port Power? Whats it about?
Ruby: I just picked it cause Stella Luna picked it, no I picked it first at the library. Welll its
about.......Can we go get an ice cream?
Ruby: You say yes
Steph: Yes but after that can I hear you read? I bought a book for you
Ruby: Is it easy?
Steph: Shows book
Ruby: I have that book. Why did you buy this book?
Steph: Because I love Mr Magee books. Has your mum read it before to you?
Ruby: Yeah.....Ill find it, I have to go through ALL these books. Finds and show book. We can tell
whose books whose cause mines got a love heart on it. I think we should go get ice cream now.
Please

13 | P a g e

Appendix B-My Magic Words Book

14 | P a g e

Appendix C-Rubys Favourite Book List

Books in Rubys book case.
Possum Magic. Written by Mem Fox.
Published by Omnibus Books

You and Me and Little Bear. Written by Martin

Waddle. Published by Walker Books

1001 to spot in the sea. Written by Katie

Daynes. Published Usborne Publishing.

Mr Mcgee and the Perfect Nest. Written by

Pamela Allen. Published by The Penguin Group.

The Zoo. Written by Mary Novick and Jenny

Hale. Published by Little Hare Books.

Mr. Brown can moo, can you? Written by

Dr. Seuss. Published by Collins.

15 | P a g e

The Tiny Seed. Written by Eric Carle. Published

by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Appendix D-Writing Samples

16 | P a g e

Appendix E-Things in the family playroom

17 | P a g e

18 | P a g e