Cognition and affect in early literacy development

Abstract

The research examines the effects of preschool children telling stories and dramatizing them at a group time on learning to read and write. Using Vygotsky's theory of development, the significance of storytelling and dramatization activities on the intellectual and emotional development of preschool children is explored. One hundred ninety‐five three‐, four‐ and five‐year‐old children from ten preschool, kindergarten and day care center classrooms were given the opportunity to dictate stories to a teacher over a twelve week period. In the five experimental classrooms, the children's narratives were dramatized at a teacher‐directed group time. As a result of including dramatization in the story writing process, stories from the experimental classrooms showed greater complexity and coherence than stories from the control group classrooms, the children in the experimental groups showed greater awareness of the writing process, and they participated in the composing process at a more sophisticated level. The importance of teaching “basic skills” in the context of “basic activities” where children participate in literacy activities as a whole and meaningful communication process is discussed.