Alexandra Wicks (26011565) 1

EDF1030 Assignment 2, Monday 11am Tutorial

with Denise Chapman
Portrait of a literacy learner: Observation and critical written analysis of an everyday
literacy scenario for a young child
Literacy learner chosen- Talia (Pseudonym)
Age- 3 years old
Class- Pre Kinder
How many days a week they attend the Centre- 4 days a week
How long has she been attending the Early Childhood Centre- Since 6 weeks old
What I discovered about the literacy learner I observed
During my placement I chose to observe a three-year-old girl, Talia. Talias favourite
colour is pink, she loves princesses and at the moment, her favourite movie is
Frozen. Talia dislikes dinosaurs as she says, They are for boys. This was ironic as
it was the theme in the class for the last month. Talia loves to dance anytime there is
music on. She also loves to draw her favourite picture to draw was herself and her big
sister. When colouring-in she always chose pictures with princesses or flowers on
them. Talia had a strong sense of identity within the classroom. She seemed
comfortable with her peers and her teachers. This showed in Talias oral language as
she was out spoken and shared her ideas and views with the rest of the class. Talia has
been at the centre since six weeks of age consequently she has built strong
relationships with the teachers and her peers, with relationships being the foundations
for the construction of identity who I am, how I belong and what is my
influence?(Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and
Council of Australian Governments [DEEWR and CAG], 2009).
How do these relate to the childs sociocultural context?
Sociocultural context refers to the idea that language, rather than existing in isolation,
is closely linked to the culture and society in which it is used. This means when
language is learnt, the socio-cultural context in which it is used needs to be taken into
consideration as well.(British Council, 2014) As Talia has been attending the centre
since she was six weeks old, she has been raised amongst the culture the teachers in
the centre have created. With the experience of being at a childcare centre since the
age of six weeks, Talia has been raised with other children and teachers, learning what
is acceptable in a classroom at an early age and learning to socialise with other
children, nearly since birth. This has created Talias sense of belonging (DEEWR &
CAG, 2009), Talia can communicate orally to get her point across to teachers and
other students and has the skills to express what she likes and dislikes in an
appropriate manner in the classroom. I observed Talia with the set view of girls versus
boys, with the ideas that pink and princesses are for girls and blue, dinosaurs and
superheros are for boys. This view wasnt shared throughout the classroom. She may
be gaining these beliefs from home or from another social setting.
Reading observationBook read- Finding Nemo
Book description- Nemo gets lost, his father Marlin, with the help of a few friends,
embarks on a huge adventure to find him (Marolsi, 2011)
Setting in which we read the book- We read the book in the reading area of the
classroom. (see appendix D to view the layout of the classroom)

EDF1030 Assignment 2, Monday 11am Tutorial with Denise

Chapman

Observation
points
Before starting to
read the book
Has the child read
the book
previously?

Reading plan
Questions asked Childs response
Have you read
Talia said I havent
this book before? read the book, but
Ive seen the movie!
I asked her if she Talia responded
liked the movie? YES! My favourite
character is Dory

Observation and
interpretation
Talia seemed excited and happy
to read Finding Nemo with
myself.
This may have been because she
felt special and singled out to
the rest of the students to read
one on one with myself.
Talia expressing that she had
seen the movie before
demonstrates her understanding
that texts can take many forms,
can be very short (for example,
an exit sign) or quite long (for
example, an information book
or a film) and that stories and
informative texts have different
purposes (Australian

CurriculumAssessmentAnd
ReportingAuthority
[ACARA],2014). This shows
that Talia is aware of the
differences between the two
texts of film and print.
Get the student to
guess what the
story is about just
by looking at the
heading and front
cover.

What do you
think the story
will be about?
I then asked her
what is it about
then?

Talia responded, I
know what its about.
I saw the movie.
She said, its about a
fish Nemo who gets
lost, and Dory helps
Marlin find Nemo.

While reading the

book
Did the child
answer the
questions about
the book when
you asked?

What do you
think will
happen next?
(See appendix B
for the page that
I asked this
question at)
How do you feel
about the
situation at this
point in the
book?

Talia confidently
responded with I
know what happens.
Nemo helps save
Dory to get out of the
net and then Nemo
sees his dad again.

Talia seemed very confident in

her responses and showed good
communication skills, with
quick responses to my
questions. This shows that her
oral language is well developed
and she can articulate
adequately.
Talias constant confidence
shows that she has a strong
sense of identity to express her
ideas. With a good
undertstanding of how to
interact with others, Talia is able
to Listen to and respond orally to
texts and to the communication of
others in informal and structured
classroom situations. (ACARA,
2014)

Alexandra Wicks (26011565) 3

EDF1030 Assignment 2, Monday 11am Tutorial
with Denise Chapman

Did the child

follow the text? /
Could they link the
oral text to the
visual text of the
images?

Can you see

Nemo, Dory, a
shark, a turtle, a
pelican and a
jellyfish?

Did the child ask

questions or make
statements?
Does the child read
any text alone?

Talias response to
these questions about
the visual images
were Yes! I know all
the characters from
the book, Ive seen
the movie.
Talia pointed out
every turtle in the
book, saying Look
there is a turtle!

Can you read me

this page?
(see Appendix C
for the page
Talia read)

Talias response
Yeah I can!

Talia may have read the images

provided to here with this
question and saw that Nemo,
Dory and Marlin are fine in the
corner of the page, after the
incident.
Talias prior memories of the
movie Finding Nemo may
have helped her in the
answering of the question.
Talia consistently pointed out
the characters as I was reading
the book to her. She was well
aware of whom each character
was and was always excited to
see Dory. Talia has the skills to
follow text and easily linked the
images to the storyline I was
reading to her.
Talia may have pointed out the
turtles in the book as the theme
in the classroom for the last
month has been reptiles and
dinosaurs
Talia is not at the stage yet were
she can read any written text by
herself, I did at one point, get
her to read a page and she read
the visual images reading her
own version of the story. This
is when the seagulls try and eat
Marlin and Dory for brekkie,
and all the birds say mine, mine,
mine. Talias version of the
book relates to the scene in the
movie were the seagulls do
actually say mine, mine, mine
but in the book version, this
isnt the case. Talias
referencing to the movie and
prior information of the book
from the multiliteracy in, the
movie she had read. I found the
referencing to the movie by
Talia was very interesting as it
showed she had been exposed to
all types of literacies and she
had used some of her
knowledge of literacies to

EDF1030 Assignment 2, Monday 11am Tutorial with Denise

Chapman

After finishing the

book
Get the child to
recall their
favourite parts of
the story

What was your

favourite part of
the story?

Talias favourite part

of the story was
when Nemos dad
found Nemo and they
were all back
together

Who was your

favourite
character?
Why?

Talias favourite
character in Finding
Nemo is Dory, She
said Because shes
funny.

answer the questions I asked

her. This is an important
observation as early literacy is
not simply a question of print
based versus electronic or
digital literacies, but a
consideration of the wider
multimodal context literacies
(Hill, 2006 p. 362, para. 1)
I found it interesting that Talias
favourite part of the story was
when Nemo and Marlin were
back together as a family as
Talia always had affectionately
spoke about her family of her
mum, dad and older. This shows
that her family are a big part of
her social views and make an
impact on her literacy
development, as Children learn
about literacy through
participating in a range of
different activities in their
family and community.
(Chapman, 2014)
Talia is able to respond to
literature through identifying
her favourite texts topic and
character (ACARA, 2014) she is
also able to express likes or
dislikes about characters and
events in a text (ACARA, 2014)

What I learnt about Talias literacy skills during my placement and her present
level of performance Reading literacy- Although Talia is at the stage of early-emergent book
reading, where she cannot yet read written texts of books, she is able to
attend to pictures- forming oral stories (Hill, 2006, p.168, para 4). This
involves looking at the visual images in the book and orally expressing a
story across the page.
Oral literacy- Talia showed a strong level of oral language. She was able to
communicate and articulate clearly. Talia had the ability to express her likes
and dislikes and could ask for something in the correct and polite manner.
Talia has developed the skill to communicate meaning from different
functions (Hill, 2006 p. 29 para 5) to tell someone what she wants, to give
information, to think, to entertain and to be imaginative. She has the
listening and speaking skills to interact with others and uses interaction

Alexandra Wicks (26011565) 5

EDF1030 Assignment 2, Monday 11am Tutorial
with Denise Chapman
skills, including listening while others speak, using appropriate voice
levels, articulation and body language, gestures and eye contact (ACARA,
2014)
Written literacy- Talias written literacy skills include writing a few letters
of the alphabet. She is also aware that her name starts with a T (see
appendix E for Talias attempt to write her name). She is able to copy and
write letters, symbols and numbers (ACARA, 2014). Talia has a pincer
grasp when holding a pencil or crayon and her scribbles show a direction of
understanding that we write using the linear principle (writing from left to
right).
Literacy Goal
Literacy Goal One- The alphabetic principles
Objective for literacy learner To be able to write the letters of the alphabet.
To be able to spell her name (Talia), both written and orally.
Literacy experience 1
(To be able to write the letters of the alphabet)
Grade level- Pre Kinder
Prior knowledge/ learning- Talia is able to say and identify the letters of the
alphabet; she is only able to write a few letters of the alphabet not all.
Learning intention/ outcomes- This lesson will aim to increase the number
of letters of the alphabet Talia can write. We are going to begin with writing a,
b, c, d, e in both upper and lower case.
Literacy planEngage- I will engage Talia by singing the alphabet with her. We will then
watch ABC Rap (see appendix F for the link) I will then write the five letters
I am gong to teach her a, b, c, d, e. While writing these letters I will say the
letters out loud.
Explain- I will then show Talia the five tracing work sheets (see appendix F)
she is going to complete. I will explain to Talia that I want her to say each
letter each time she traces the letter on the activity sheets (See appendix F).
This will help Talia link the sound of the letter to the written letters she is
creating.
Explore- Talia will fill out the five worksheets, saying each letter as she writes
them.
Elaborate- Talia will then draw a picture of something that starts with each of
the letters on the worksheets. We will then talk about how each of the pictures
start with the letter on the worksheet.
Evaluate- At the end of the lesson I will have Talia write down the five letters
free hand. We will finish with the lesson by watching The ABC song (see
appendix F for the link for the video).
Relevance of this literacy experience- This literacy experience is relevant for
Talia as it is the next step for her writing development. Because she is in the
early-emergent stage, she needs to learn to write the letter symbols. Talia
already displays an understanding of directionality and placement of text on a
page (Hill, 2006, p. 316, para 3). By learning to write the letters, Talias the
transition to primary school will be enhanced. The pictures of the word

EDF1030 Assignment 2, Monday 11am Tutorial with Denise

Chapman

starting with the letter in the activity sheet are all relevant to Talias interests.
This will help in the activity be more meaningful.
Literacy experience 2
(To be able to spell her name (Talia) both orally and written)
Grade level- Pre Kinder
Prior knowledge/ learning- Talia is able to say and identify the letters of the
alphabet; she is aware of the letter that her name starts with.
Learning intention/ outcomes- The aim of this lesson is to teach Talia to
spell her name. It will also introduce the use of lower and upper case letters.
Literacy planEngage- I will engage Talia through the use of an iPad. I will show Talia the
program called Princess- learn to write (see appendix g to view samples of
the program) in which I will choose the letters t,a,l,i,a for Talia to trace. We
will do this twice.
Explain- I will give Talia a name card of her name. She will then be given
tracing cards that have each letter of her name on the cards (see appendix g for
images of the cards). I will demonstrate to Talia that I want her to say the letter
of the card, trace the letter and spell her name while copying the name card
in front of her.
Explore- I will have Talia put the tracing cards in her name order, copying the
name card provided for assistance. She will then say each letter in name order
and trace the letters on the cards.
Elaborate- I will have Talia write her name on a blank piece of paper with
guidance from her name card. I will have her read out loud the letters once
again and decorate the piece of paper with her drawings.
Evaluate- I will ask Talia to spell her name out loud without guidance and
write her name again without guidance. This will identify whether the learning
objective has been met, if she completes these tasks correctly.
Relevance of this literacy experienceThe relevance of this literacy experience is that it provides Talia with the
essential skills to spell her name, both orally and written. This is an essential
skill used throughout our lives in society. I chose to use the program Princesslearn to write as Talia loves princesses and her favourite is colour pink.
References
British Council. (2014). Social-cultural context. Retrieved from
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/socio-cultural-context
Australian Curriculum Assessment And Reporting Authority. (2014). Australian
curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and Council of
Australian Governments. (2009). Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early
Years Learning Framework for Australia. Retrieved from
http://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/belonging_being_and_bec
oming_the _early_years_learning_framework_for_australia.pdf
Hill, S. (2006). Developing early literacy: Assessment and teaching. South Yarra,
Victoria: Eleanor Curtain Publishing.

Alexandra Wicks (26011565) 7

EDF1030 Assignment 2, Monday 11am Tutorial
with Denise Chapman
Redman. (2009). Letters of the alphabet. Retrieved from
http://www.handwritingforkids.com/handwrite/manuscript/alphabets/index.ht
m
Chapman, D (2014). Developing Early Literacy Connecting Home & School
[Prezi]. Retrieved from https://moodle.vle.monash.edu.au
Marsoli, L, A. (2011). Finding Nemo. Bath: Parragon.

Appendix
Appendix A- Finding Nemo book we read

EDF1030 Assignment 2, Monday 11am Tutorial with Denise

Chapman

Appendix B- What will happen next?

Appendix C- The page of Finding Nemo Talia read by herself

Appendix D- Classroom layout

Alexandra Wicks (26011565) 9

EDF1030 Assignment 2, Monday 11am Tutorial
with Denise Chapman

Appendix E- Talias attempt to write her name

You can see here that Talia knows her name has a
t in it but this is the only letter that is correct, the
rest of them seemed like a guess she had made
when I asked her to write her name.

Appendix F- Literacy experience 1

The ABC song video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75pN9YKqNo
ABC Rap- video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK99ZcVi0b4

EDF1030 Assignment 2, Monday 11am Tutorial with Denise

Chapman

ACTRESS

is for

is for

CANDY

is for

BEACH

To see the animation, move

your mouse over a letter.

To see the animation, move

your mouse over a letter.

To see the animation, move

your mouse over a letter.

is for

DRESS

To see the animation, move

your mouse over a letter.

E
is for

EARRINGS

Appendix
Literacy
experience

The Tracing
Cards

Name Card

To see the animation, move

your mouse over a letter.

G2

Alexandra Wicks (26011565) 11

EDF1030 Assignment 2, Monday 11am Tutorial
with Denise Chapman

Images of the program

Princess- learn to write