Abstract
The development of literacy is vital in multilingual contexts, where children are exposed to different languages that they will have to use at all levels (productive and receptive). As regards the teaching of foreign languages in Spain, the different curricula have focused on linguistic aspects that are not related to literacy itself, but based on grammatical and notional aspects, vocabulary and structures, leaving aside relevant questions such as approaching comprehensive reading, creative and independent writing, and the cultural dimensions of the language. And this is even more notorious at the Pre-primary stage. Literacy instruction entails a holistic approach that a) builds solidly on students’ oral language and ensures its continued development, b) teaches both text processing and production strategies, c) develops decoding and encoding skills, and d) creates a print-rich environment. The starting point of literacy development in Pre-primary children learning English is the acquisition of phonological and phonemic awareness, which are considered the primary factors determining success in the future development of reading for a child. Phonological and phonemic awareness are a substantial part of the teaching of phonics, thanks to which very young learners learn how to decode and encode words by mapping sounds onto their corresponding graphemes or segmenting them into separate units in order to transcribe them into written text.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Álvarez-Cofiño Martínez, A. (2005). Introducción temprana del Inglés como Segunda Lengua en Clases Multinivel de Educación Infantil en un Colegio Rural Agrupado: Proyecto Curricular. En Premios Nacionales de Innovación Educativa 2003 (pp. 83–100). CIDE.
Álvarez-Cofiño Martínez, A. (2006). Introducción Temprana al Inglés. In Revista del CPR Nalón-Caudal “El Busgosu” (Vol. 5, pp. 46–49). CPR Nalón-Caudal.
Álvarez-Cofiño Martínez, A. (2009a). CLIL project work at early ages: A case study. In D. Marsh, P. Mehisto, R. Aliaga, T. Asikainen, M. J. Frigols, S. Hughes, & G. Langé (Eds.), CLIL practice: Perspectives from the field (pp. 62–67). CCN-University of Jyväskylä, Finland. E-book en http://icpj.eu/?id=contents
Álvarez-Cofiño Martínez, A. (2009b). The 6 F’s in teaching English to very young learners. In The Teacher. English language teaching (Vol. 4, No. 68, pp. 16–17). Polonia.
Álvarez-Cofiño Martínez, A. (2010). CLIL through collaborative projects at Infant stages. In Lend, lingua e nuova didattica (Vol. 2, pp. 32–43). Mediaprint.
Álvarez-Cofiño Martínez, A. (2019a). El Enfoque Metodológico CLIL en la Enseñanza Primaria. Estudio Comparativo de la Implementación de CLIL en un Colegio Bilingüe y en un Colegio con Sección Bilingüe. Editorial Académica Española.
Álvarez-Cofiño Martínez, A. (2019b). Archie’s world phonics teacher’s guide. Oxford University Press.
August, D., Carlo, M., Dressler, C., & Snow, C. (2005). The critical role of vocabulary development for English language learners. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 20, 50–57.
Barron-Hauwaert, S. (2011). Bilingual Siblings. Multilingual Matters.
Bialystok, E. (1996). Preparing to read: The foundations of literacy. In H. Reese (Ed.), Advances in child development and behaviour. Academic.
Bialystok, E. (2001). Bilingualism in development: Language, literacy and cognition. Cambridge University Press.
Blevins, W. (2017). A fresh look at phonics. Common causes of failure and 7 ingredients for success. Corwin Literacy.
Carroll, S. (2000). Input and evidence: The raw material of second language acquisition. John Benjamins.
Cenoz, J. (2003). The influence of age on the acquisition of English: General proficiency, attitudes and code mixing. In M. P. García Mayo & M. L. García Lecumberri (Eds.), Age and the acquisition of English as a foreign language. Multilingual Matters.
Cloud, N., Genesee, F., & Hamayan, E. (2000). Dual language instruction: A handbook for enriched education. Heinle & Heinle.
Coyle, D., Hood, P., & Marsh, D. (2010). CLIL, content and language integrated learning. Cambridge University Press.
Cummins, J. (1994). Knowledge, power and identity in teaching English as a second language. In F. Genesee (Ed.), Educating second language children: The whole child, the whole curriculum, the whole community. Cambridge University Press.
Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power and pedagogy: Bilingual children in the crossfire. Multilingual Matters.
Curtain, H. (2002a). Accountability to the child: Key concepts for success in early language learning. In Adquisición de Lenguas Extranjeras en Edades Tempranas. Actas del Congreso Internacional, Oviedo, Septiembre 2001 (pp. 39–44). MEC.
Curtain, H. (2002b). Constructing meaning in another language: The child’s perspective. In Adquisición de Lenguas Extranjeras en Edades Tempranas. Actas del Congreso Internacional, Oviedo, Septiembre 2001 (pp. 15–24). MEC.
Curtain, H., & Dahlberg, C. A. (2004). Languages and children – Making the match: New languages for young learners, grades K-8. Allyn and Bacon.
Department of Education and Skills (DES). (2011). Literacy and numeracy for learning and life: The national strategy to improve literacy and numeracy among children and young people 2011–2020. Government Publications.
Drew, I. (2009). Using the early years literacy programme in primary EFL Norwegian classrooms: Factors influencing young learners’ vocabulary acquisition. In M. Nikolov (Ed.), Early learning of foreign modern languages: Processes and outcomes. Multilingual Matters.
Ellis, R. (2012). Language teaching research and language pedagogy. Wiley-Blackwell.
Enever, J., Moon, J., & Raman, U. (Eds.). (2009). Young learner English language policy and implementation: International perspectives. Garnet Education/IATEFL.
Fleta, T. (2006). Aprendizaje y técnicas de enseñanza del inglés en la escuela. Encuentro, 16, 51–62.
Fleta, T. (2006b). Stepping stones for teaching “English L” in the early years. In Mitchell-Shuitevoerder & Mourao, S. (eds.). Teachers and young learners. Research in our classrooms. IATEFL.
Fleta, T. (2018). Scaffolding discourse skills in pre-primary L2 classrooms. In M. Schwartz (Ed.), Pre-school bilingual education. Springer.
FUSE. (2021). Victoria Education Government. Education and training website. Retrieved from http://fuse.education.vic.gov.au/EarlyChildhood
Gass, S. M., & Selinker, L. (2008). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. Routledge.
Grant, M. (2012). The effects of a systematic synthetic phonics programme on reading and spelling. Retrieved from https://syntheticphonics.net/pdf/2012-Report.pdf
Hakuta, K. (2001). A critical period for second language acquisition? In D. Bailey, J. Bruer, F. Symons, & J. Lichtman (Eds.), Critical thinking about critical periods. Paul H. Brookes.
Hakuta, K., Bialystok, E., & Wiley, E. (2003). Critical evidence: A test of the critical period hypothesis for second language acquisition. Psychological Science, 14, 31–38.
Halbach, A. (2018). A literacy approach to language teaching: A proposal for FL teaching in CLIL contexts. Pulso, 41, 205–223.
Huete, C., & Pérez, P. (2003). La Introducción Temprana de una Lengua Extranjera: Aportaciones para Emprender un Fascinante Camino. In Enseñanza-Aprendizaje de las Lenguas Extranjeras en Edades Tempranas. Consejería de Educación y Cultura.
Illeris, K. (2007). How we learn: Learning and non-learning in school and beyond. Routledge.
Johnston, R. S., & Watson, J. E. (2004). Accelerating the development of reading, spelling and phonemic awareness skills in initial readers. Reading and Writing, 17, 327–357.
Kennedy, E., Dunphy, E., Dwyer, B., Hayes, G., McPhilips, T., Marsh, J., O’Connor, M., & Shiel, G. (2012). Literacy in early childhood and primary education (3–8 years). National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA).
Kern, R. (2000). Literacy and language teaching. Oxford University Press.
Klein, W. (1986). Second language acquisition. Cambridge University Press.
Krashen, S. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Pergamon.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (1986). Techniques and principles in language teaching. Oxford University Press.
Larson-Hall, J. (2008). Weighing the benefits of studying a foreign language at a younger starting age in a minimal input situation. Second Language Research, 24(1), 35–63.
Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (2006). How languages are learned (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Lyster, R. (2007). Learning and teaching languages through content: A counterbalance approach. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Mihaljevic, J. (2010). Starting age and L1 and L2 interaction. International Journal of Bilingualism, 14(3), 303–314.
Mitchell, R., & Myles, F. (2004). Second language learning theories. Hodder Arnold.
Mourão, S. (2014). Taking play seriously in the pre-primary English classroom. ELT Journal, 68(3), 254–264. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccu018
Mourão, S. (2015). English in pre-primary: The challenge of getting it right. In J. Bland (Ed.), Teaching English to young learners. Critical issues in language teaching with 3–12 year olds. Bloomsbury.
Nation, I. S. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge University Press.
Navarro Romero, B. (2010). Adquisición de la primera y segunda lengua en aprendices en edad infantil y adulta. Philologica Urcitana, 2, 115–128.
Pfenninger, E., & Singleton, D. (2017). Beyond age effects in instructional L2 learning. Multilingual Matters.
Phillips, S. (1993). Young learners. Oxford University Press.
Ramsden, J., & Shaw, D. (2014). High five 4 (teacher’s book). Macmillan Publishers.
Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ritchie, W. C., & Bhatia, T. K. (Eds.). (1999). Handbook of child language acquisition. Academic.
Rose, J. (2006). Independent review of the teaching of early reading. DfES Publications.
Singleton, D. (2005). The critical period hypothesis: A coat of many colours. IRAL, 43(4), 259–268.
Strickland, D. S., & Riley-Ayers, S. (2006). Early literacy: Policy and practice in preschool years. In Preschool policy brief (No. 10). National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER).
Strickland, D. S., & Shanahan, T. (2004). Laying the groundwork for literacy. Educational Leadership, 61, 74–77.
Torgerson, C. J., Brooks, G., & Hall, J. (2006). A systematic review of the research literature on the use of phonics in the teaching of reading and spelling. Department for Education and Skills (DfES).
Whitehurst, G., & Lonigan, C. (1998). Child development and emergent literacy. Child Development, 69, 848–872.
Whittaker, R. (2018). Reading to learn in CLIL subjects: Working with content-language. CLIL Journal of Innovation and Research in Plurilingual and Pluricultural Education, 1(1), 19–27. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/clil.4
Wright, A. (1995). Storytelling with children. Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Álvarez-Cofiño, Á. (2023). Early Literacy Development and Pre-primary CLIL. In: Otto, A., Cortina-Pérez, B. (eds) Handbook of CLIL in Pre-primary Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04768-8_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04768-8_20
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-04767-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-04768-8
eBook Packages: EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education