Reading readiness

Getting him/her ready for school ………..

Readiness :

Readiness of many kind happen in many

stages in our life. It simply means a

state where we undertake a new task

with ease and profitably. It has many

dimensions and it is a never ending

process (Morrison, 1995).

Aspects of Readiness

1. Psychomotor Readiness

• refers to the mastery of skills and techniques that involve body movements.

• Psychomotor readiness becomes optimum when physical maturation is parallel to appropriate training.

• It involves the development of sensory-perceptual skills; muscles become strong, flexible and coordinated; followed by the development of fine motor strength and skills.

• The development of psychomotor readiness will influence other aspects of a child’s development.

2. Affective Readiness

• refers to students’ attitudes, needs, feelings and interests to accept the things being taught.

• composes of students’ attitudes as well as values when doing learning task

• positive affective readiness determines students’ academic achievement and performance

• Qualities needed to cultivate affective readiness:Ø      confidenceØ      independenceØ      curiosityØ      persistenceØ      self-control

3. Social Readiness

• refers to the growing ability to relate to others and to become productive members of society.

• The development of social readiness is interrelated and influenced by the kinds of experiences and social relationships that children have with their families and others and also by their level of cognitive development.

4. Cognitive Readiness

• refers to the mental readiness to learn something.

• language develops fast between infancy and the ages of 3 or 4. By the year 8-9, a child’s language system more or less completely formed.

• The rate of thinking and problem solving also increased but not as rapid as language acquisition.

• Understanding the cognitive development of the young child can help avoid pressuring him to learn something before he is ready or missing the golden moment when he is ready.

Readiness for learninng :

• Readiness for learning refers to the

stage when the child can learn easily

and without emotional strain and can

learn profitably

(Downing & Thackray, 1975).

Readiness for school :

• refers to the condition of children as they

enter school i.e a state of physical,

intellectual and social development that

enable a child to assimilate the school's

curriculum and fulfill school fixed

standard requirements.

• It is always equated with reading

readiness.

Readiness to participate :

Readiness to participate in reading /learning experience depends on:

• The information and skills basic to the new learning

• Level of intelligence and his possession of appropriate special abilities and aptitudes

• The desire to learn the new material

Reading Readiness skills in kindergarten:

• Cognitive:

-- visual discrimination-- phonological awareness

-- alphabetic principle -- vocabulary: listening, speaking, reading, writing • Psychological-environmental:

-- emotional maturity -- social development -- behavior -- interest in reading -- environment

reading readiness

• Hildreth, 1968: interrelated factors

• Harrison & Inglis: physiological, intellectual &

personal readiness

• Rubin, 1991: educational & non-educational

factors

Factors affecting RR

Factors Affecting Reading Readiness

• Downing & Thackray (1975) - 6 factors:

Physiological

Environmental

Emotional

Motivation

Personality

Intellectual

• educational & non-educational factors

Factors affecting RR

• McGinnis & Smith (1982) - 4 factors:

physical

cognitive

environment

Emotional

Psychological Factors :

• Learning to read is a cognitive process• Cognitive factors:

i. Intelligence

ii. Mental content (experiential background) : comes from

environment• Intellectual abilities are influenced by many factors operate on

an individual (McGinnis & Smith, 1982): personality factors,

motivation, interest in a subject, etc• Piaget: intelligence has its origin through process of adaptation

to the environment• The quantity of the environment and the nature of children’s

experiences play a major role in the development of

intelligence

Psychological factors

• Emotional difficulties may affect learning: some

are developmentally appropriate but need to be

aware by teachers

• McGinnis & Smith (1982): successful learning

relates to confidence, ability to concentrate and to

face difficult task, to cope with stressful situations,

patience, tension and anxiety

emotional-soc-beh

• Failure to read results in:

-- frustration

-- lack of interest

-- inattention

-- discouragement

-- poor self-concept

-- maladjustment

• lack of success and feelings of inadequacy may contribute to emotional, social & behavioral

maladjustments

emotional-soc-beh

Environmental Factors :

• Home, school, community - contribute to

child’s attitudes,

points of view, language, learning skills

environmental

• Home environment - Parents influence:

-- how much experience children have with books & other reading materials

-- familiarity with letters & sounds

-- the vocabulary they develop

-- reading & writing habits

-- opportunities and experiences they have in and out of school once they begin school

environmental

• Children from poor families:

-- more dependent on school experiences for

their academic literacy development

(Snow et al., 1991)

-- come to school with fewer literacy

experiences (Clark, 1993; Teale, 1986)

-- optimal care & education for children:

formidable challenges

environmental

• School environment : teacher’s attitude and

expectation, instructional materias, classroom

physical setting

• Teachers: critical source of stimulation to children’s

cognitive, language & social-emotional

development (Landry, 2002)

• Carter (1970): teacher expectations affect

students’ level of confidence

environmental

MATURATIONIST THEORY

• Maturationists believe that development is a biological

process that occurs automatically in predictable,

sequential stages over time.  

• This perspective assume that young children will acquire

knowledge naturally and automatically as they grow

physically and become older, provided that they are healthy.

Arnold Gessell (1880-1961)

ENVIRONMENTALIST THEORY

• Environmentalists believe the child's environment shapes learning and behavior. Thus, human behavior, development and learning are thought of as reactions to the environment.

Watson (1878-1958)

Skinner (1904-1990)

Bandura (1925- )

• Optimal language development depends on

interactions with the best possible language models

(Morrison, 1995) – content of language differ

according to environmental factors

• Children’s environment shapes learning and

behaviour

• Human behaviour, development, and learning are

reactions to the environment

Theories: environmentalis

CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY

• Constructivists believe that learning and development occur when young children interact with the environment and people around them

Piaget (1896-1980)

Montessori (1870-1952)

Vygotsky (1896-1934)