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The quest for early intervention
All over Europe there is a spreading awareness that very young children, below the age of formal schooling, are capable oflearning complex literacy lessons (Dombey, 1995:95). Scarcely more than a decade ago, it was widely agreed that children could not and should not learn to read before the age of six. In most ofthe countries ofEurope this is the age fixed for entry into formal school, and the age at which formal literacy teaching begins. However, this last decade has shown us that the acquisition ofliteracy is not a straightforward rite ofpassage into the institutional world of schooL
Instead it is a long and complex process that begins early, when very young children, who are far more capable than we used to believe, begin, in the world of the family and the environment, to understand and express themselves through the written word. This process continues to develop and to playa significant role throughout the long duration ofeducation.
Becoming literate is not simply a matter ofacquiring a value-free technology. Learning to read and write is now most fruitfully seen as the construction oflinguistic meaning and the initiation into social practices. In the earliest stages oftheir entry into the written word children encounter more forms of language and new orders ofmeaning. As our views ofliteracy and literacy learning have become more complex, so we have seen the need for more complex and subtle forms ofassessment. Although the educational systems in different countries vary, there are fundamental similarities underneath this variety. Many examples exist, that descn »be, not isolated successes, but fruits ofshared strategies that really respond to the needs ofall children, whatever their nationalities, their languages or their socioeconomic background (see par 4.5 for a detailed description).
South Africa: The current situation
A study carried out by Kriegler et al (1993) in Venda revealed that ofcaregivers in disadvantaged societies, 53% had no formal schooling. 70% indicated that they never talk to their children about schoolwork, and 59% admitted that they never tell a story. These findings were disconcerting because the predictors ofchildrents ability to benefit from formal education are primarily dependent upon the quality and quantity of infonnal education at home, which should be able to do much to alleviate factors such as ‘cultural differences’ and ‘socio-economic status’ (Kriegler, 1993; Heath, 1982; Sternberg, 1987; Sulzby, 1988; Wells, 1986).
Kriegler (1993:76) states that children in disadvantaged and illiterate communities need better-thanaverage literacy instruction; they need an introduction to literacy that is so rich in story, language, print and books that their early disadvantage may be erased.
Kriegler (1993:77) further states that while the rest ofthe world is focussing on the importance of early literacy programmes (Cambourne, 1989; Clay, 1987; Heath & Branscombe, 1986; Strickland & Morrow, 1989) there is an ominous silence in this regard in the South African pre-school field.
There are eight million pre-school children in South Africa who need early childhood educare, most ofthem poor, and half ofthem living in rural areas (Grassroots, 1991). As described in par 3.3.1, the disadvantaged are doomed to a life of illiteracy, unless they can be helped to break the cycle of illiteracy by means ofmediation. In order to address the special educational needs ofthe disadvantaged, it would be purposeful to first address literacy acquisition in its normal state and the mediating practices related thereto.
MEDIATING LITERACY ACQUISITION
Two contrasting theoretical explanations dominate the discussion on where a child’s control of his native language, as well as literacy come from. Chomsky (1976) argued that it is the innate structure ofthe learner operating upon the specific organisation ofwhichever human language he is exposed to. An input of primary linguistic data is necessary, but, provided it contains a proportion of wellformed sentences appropriate to their situational context, the precise form of input does not significantly affect the course that learning takes.
The second explanation, by contrast, emphasises the role ofthe environment (also refer Feuerstein 1980). Observation across a wide range oflanguage communities shows that adults, when speaking to young language learners modify their speech in the direction ofsyntactic simplicity and semantic and pragmatic redundancy in context. These features provide the child with what is, effectively, graded instruction concerning the formal structure of the language and the way in which form is related to intended meaning. Some degree of structural pre-adaptation to the task on the part ofthe learner is assumed, ofcourse, but in this account the main burden ofexplanation for the course taken in acquisition falls on the input (Wells, 1986: 17).
These theoretical accounts are mutually exclusive alternatives, with acceptance ofeither one requiring the rejection of the other. It is, however, important to notice that language is both system and resource. Language learning should be seen as a resulting form ofinteraction between an organism pre-adapted to the learning task and an environment that to varying degrees facilitates the task by providing evidence that the organism requires. However, learning is also dependent on interaction in another sense, for it is participation in conversation that provides learners with opportunities to construct and test their representation oflanguage, both as a system and as resource. As educators we are concerned with the characteristics ofboth learners and their environments. But most particularly we are concerned with the way in which learners and their environments interact, for it is in that interaction that we, as parents and teachers, can best help children to realise their linguisticlliterate and intellectual potential by adopting an interactional style that maximises opportunities for learning.
CHAPTER l GENERAL ORIENTATION, PROBLEM FORMULATION, RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND PLAN OF STUDY
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 THE QUEST FOR EARLY INTERVENTION
1.3 SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS
1.4 PROVISION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
1.5 RATIONALE FOR THE RESEARCH
1.6 RESEARCH PROBLEM
1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.8 CLARIFICATION OF CONCEPTS
1.9 PROGRAMME OF STUDY
CHAPTER 2 THE NATIJRE AND EXTENT OF SPECIAL NEEDS IN A SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 DEFINING THE TERM ‘SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS’
2.3 THE CONTEXT OF SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS
2.4 THE ORIGINS OF SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS
2.5 RETHINKING SPECIAL NEEDS IN A SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT
2.6 PROVISION FOR SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS IN SOUTH AFRICA
2.7 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 3 MEDIATION AND LITERACY ACQUISITION IN A SOUTH AFRICAN CULTIJRE
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 MEDIATION
3.3 LITERACY AS A SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ACT
3.4 ‘CULTURAL LITERACY’ – WHY IT HAS TO CHANGE
3.5 EARL Y EDUCATION AND LITERACY ACQUISITION
3.6 MEDIATING LITERACY ACQUISITION
3.7 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 4 BREAKING THE CYCLE OF ILLITERACY THROUGH ACCELERATING THE ACQUISITION OF INFORMAL LITERACY SKILLS IN DISADVANTAGED LEARNERS AT RISK OF HAVING SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS.
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 BREAKING THE CYCLE OF ILLITERACY
4.3 READING ACQUISITION
4.4 THE VYGOTSKIAN PERSPECTIVE ON LITERACY ACQUISITION
4.5 EFFECTIVE EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAMMES FOR LEARNERS AT RISK
4.6 INSIGHTS GAINED FROM PROGRAMMES
4.7 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 5 EMPIRICAL RESEARCH, DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS AND A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF INTERVENTION
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 THF, RESEARCH IMPLEMENTATION
5.3 INFORMATION GAINED FROM THE ASSESSMENTS
5.4 DESCRIPTION OF INTERVENTION
5.5 INFORMATION GAINED FROM POST-TESTING
5.6 A PROPOSED CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR INTERVENTION
5.7 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 6 SUMMARY. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1 INTRODUCTION
6.2 SUMMARIES
6.3 CONTRIBUTING CONCLUSIONS
6.4 RECOMMENDATIONS
6.5 CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF DIAGRAMS
LIST OF APPENDIXES
