Promising Findings on Preschoolers’ Emergent Literacy and School Readiness In Arts-integrated Early Childhood Settings

Abstract

An approach to early childhood education that integrates visual and performing arts throughout the preschool curriculum—Art as a Way of Learning—was implemented in a program (Promoting and Supporting Early Literacy through the Arts) designed to improve the emergent literacy and school readiness of at-risk young children in community-based preschool settings. A quasi-experimental pre-post treatment-only design was used to explore this program’s potential effects in a real-world setting. Preliminary results revealed improvements in young children’s emergent literacy on a number of targeted and standardized measures after participation in the program. This arts-integrated approach to the teaching of and learning in young children shows considerable promise and warrants a rigorous test of its effects.

Appendix: Early Learning Standards Inventory

Please read each of the following statements about young children’s behavior and learning. Make a judgment as to whether the behavior—right now—is one that you rarely or never see in this individual child (mark ‘Never’), sometimes see in this child (mark ‘Some’), or something that you see often or all the time in her/him (mark ‘Always’).

Approaches to Learning

• AL1. Initiative and Curiosity

  • AL1.1 Participates in a variety of activities

  • AL1.2 Makes choices on her/his own

  • AL1.3 Is eager and enjoys learning and talking about different topics and ideas

  • AL1.4 Explores and learns from environment using different strategies (e.g., play, movement, manipulation)

• AL2. Engagement and Persistence

  • AL2.1 Persists to finish tasks, activities, projects and experiences

  • AL2.2 Able to set goals, develop plans and follow through (e.g., plan, develop, complete construction activity)

  • AL2.3 Maintains concentration on a task, question, set of directions, or interactions

• AL3. Reasoning and Problem-solving Skills

  • AL3.1 Able to predict an effect from its cause (e.g., predicts outcomes in stories or “what if” questions)

  • AL3.2 Finds more than one solution to a question, task or problem

  • AL3.3 Looks for and/or accepts help when encountering problem

  • AL3.4 Solves problems through observing, exploring, trial and error, or interacting with peers or adults

  • AL3.5 Classifies, compares and contrasts objects, events and experiences (e.g., piles similar cars together and separate from other vehicles, like trucks)

• AL4. Flexibility, Risk-taking and Responsibility

  • AL4.1 Can tell the difference between safe and dangerous behaviors or situations

  • AL4.2 Tries both familiar and new experiences.

  • AL4.3 Participates actively (verbally/nonverbally) in her/his learning experiences (e.g., initiates own learning and play activities)

• AL5. Imagination and Invention

  • AL5.1 Approaches tasks and activities with flexibility, imagination and inventiveness (e.g., uses different types of materials, creates unusual props, etc.)

  • AL5.2 Solves problems by using materials or strategies in unusual ways

  • AL5.3 Shows imagination and creativity in play (e.g., makes up new roles, constructs something never seen before)

Creative Arts

• CA1. Visual Art Forms for Creative Expression and Representation

  • CA1.1 Curious about and explores visual materials (e.g., chalk, paints, etc.) and activities (e.g., painting, drawing, weaving)

  • CA1.2 Expresses thoughts, ideas, emotions and experiences through visual forms (e.g., using different colors for different feelings)

• CA2. Expression through Music and Movement

  • CA2.1 Expresses self through movement (e.g., follows teacher-guided movement activity)

  • CA2.2 Beginning to understand movement elements and techniques (e.g., tempo, rhythm)

  • CA2.3 Listens and responds to different forms of music (e.g., hip-hop, jazz, folk tunes, popular)

  • CA2.4 Demonstrates ability to use movement and music (e.g., sings songs, chants, hops to music)

• CA3. Dramatic Play Experiences

  • CA3.1 Represents fantasy and real-life experiences through pretend play

  • CA3.2 Participates in teacher-guided dramatic activities

  • CA3.3 Expresses own ideas through dramatic play

  • CA3.4 Engages in cooperative pretend play with another child/other children

• CA4. Appreciation of Art Forms

  • CA4.1 Understands and shares opinions about artwork and art experiences

  • CA4.2 Uses oral language to describe/explain art (e.g., answers questions about own artwork)

  • CA4.3 Uses different elements of creative art

  • CA4.4 Recognizes and names a variety of art forms (e.g., drawing, photos, music performance)

Language and Literacy

• LL1. Listening and Understanding Skills

  • LL1.1 Listens attentively to stories and conversations

  • LL1.2 Follows multi-step directions

  • LL1.3 Understands new vocabulary introduced in stories, books, activities, or conversations

  • LL1.4 Recognizes facial expressions, gestures, and body language cues

  • LL1.5 Responds to questions

• LL2. Communicates Ideas, Experiences and Feelings

  • LL2.1 Speaks clearly enough to be understood by most listeners

  • LL2.2 Recites rhymes, songs and familiar text

  • LL2.3 Uses varied vocabulary, sentence structures, and sentence lengths

  • LL2.4 Talks about her/his own experiences individually or in groups

  • LL2.5 Begins conversations with adults or children, and responds appropriately

• LL3. Comprehends Written and Oral Information

  • LL3.1 Retells simple story in sequence with or without using illustrations/storybook props

  • LL3.2 Draws connections between story content and personal experiences or other stories

  • LL3.3 Recognizes different “tones” of stories (e.g., happy, sad, excited)

  • LL3.4 Identifies facts in a story

  • LL3.5 Predicts what will happen in a story based on what is read, discussed, or seen in illustrations

• LL4. Phonological Awareness

  • LL4.1 Recognizes similarities and differences in environmental and speech sounds

  • LL4.2 Matches sounds/rhymes in familiar words, games, songs, finger plays, stories and poems

  • LL4.3 Recognizes that 2 (or more) words begin with same sound

  • LL4.4 Identifies initial sounds in words (e.g., plays with repetitive sounds, like ‘snakes slither slowly’)

  • LL4.5 Understands speech sounds are represented in print by letter sounds (e.g., attends to books that focus on specific sounds, like Fox in Socks)

• LL5. Concepts of Print

  • LL5.1 Recognizes environmental print (e.g., logos, signs)

  • LL5.2 Identifies a few familiar words in print (e.g., exit, stop, on-off)

  • LL5.3 Understands that text contains information

  • LL5.4 Understands that print moves from top to bottom, and left to right

  • LL5.5 Understands letters form words and words form sentences, and that spaces separate words

  • LL5.6 Recognizes some conventions of print (e.g., upper/lower case letters, punctuation marks)

• LL6. Book Knowledge and Appreciation

  • LL6.1 Is interested in books, stories read aloud, and other reading-related activities

  • LL6.2 Has book-handling skills (e.g., holds book upright, flips pages)

• LL7. Letter Knowledge

  • LL7.1 Associates names of letters with their shapes and sounds (e.g., listens to/sings along with ‘ABC’ books or recordings)

  • LL7.2 Identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in own name

  • LL7.3 Notices the beginning letters in familiar words (e.g., names of classmates)

• LL8. Writing Forms

  • LL8.1 Uses scribbles to communicate in writing

  • LL8.2 Uses letters or letter-like forms to express thoughts, feelings and ideas

  • LL8.3 Writes own name or other meaningful words

  • LL8.4 Explores letter-sound associations while writing (e.g., produces common signs/logos)

  • LL8.5 Understands writing serves a variety of purposes (e.g., stories, letter, cards, lists)