BSc Education / Course details

This unit will present core concepts related to the emergence and development of literacy in early years and primary school aged children. The topics covered will relate to approaches to reading and writing, digital literacy, assessment in literacy, bi/multi-literacy in primary school contexts and socio-cultural influences in the development of literacy, such a social-economic status. All these topics will be looked at by taking both the UK and international contexts as examples and reading around the topics as well as the assessment will include both UK and international contexts. Students will do presentations as their first assessment, and the presentations will be uploaded to be marked once they have had a chance to do revision on their PPTs following feedback during their presentations. They will then be asked to write an assignment, making use of the feedback they have received for their presentations. 

• develop and build on knowledge and understanding relating to theories of literacy
• enable students to understand the underlying social and psychological complexities of the acquisition of written language
• develop an understanding of the principles underpinning the National Literacy Framework operating in UK schools.

The course will cover the following areas:

• the acquisition of literacy before starting school
• the relationship between home and school learning
• what makes a good reader
• approaches to teaching reading
• the assessment of reading performance
• the emergence of writing
• reflective writing
• the National Literacy Framework
• the assessment of writing performance
• bi-literacy: literacy in more than one language
• digital literacy

 The course will blend tutor-led input in lectures with group work which is largely student-led, and practical work outside the classroom.

• demonstrate an understanding of the ways in which children come to understand the relationships between signs and meaning
• demonstrate an understanding of the teaching methods used to develop children’s literacies
• demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between social context and acquisition of literacy

• develop critical analysis skills using primary and secondary data
• demonstrate the capacity to use and critically reflect on prior research in the field of literacy acquisition
• demonstrate an awareness of the debates surrounding children’s literacy acquisition

• demonstrate and develop academic writing skills
• demonstrate the capacity to use and debate with academic research on literacy acquisition
• develop and demonstrate communication skills with adults and children

• demonstrate report writing skills
• demonstrate communication and group work skills

The course will blend tutor-led input in lectures with group work which is largely student-led, and practical work outside the classroom.

Clark, C & Foster, A. (2005) Children and Young People’s Reading Habits and Preferences: The who, what, when and where. National Literacy Trust.
Duncan, L. G. and Seymour, P. H. (2000) Socio-economic differences in foundation-level literacy. British Journal of Psychology, Vol.91 (2), pp.145-66.
Gest, S. D., Freeman, N. R., Domitrovich, C. E., and Welsh, J. A. (2004) Shared Book Reading and Children's Language Comprehension Skills: The Moderating Role of Parental Discipline Practices. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Vol.19(2), pp.319-336.
Goswami, U. (2005) ‘Synthetic phonics and learning to read: A cross language perspective’, Educational Psychology in Practice, 21 (40): 273-82.
Hall, N. (1987) The Emergence of Literacy. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
Johnston, R. & Watson, J. (2005). The effects of synthetic phonics teaching on reading and spelling attainment. Edinburgh: Scottish Executive Education Department. https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20150219083038/http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2005/02/20688/52449
Kelly, Gregory & Williams (2002) Developing Literacy: Towards a New Understanding of Family Involvement. In G. Brooks & M. Lewis (eds) Raising Standards in Literacy. London: Routledge.
Riley, J. and Reedy, D (2000) Developing Writing for Different Purposes: teaching about genre in the early years. London: Paul Chapman.
Wade, B. and Moore, M. (2000) A Sure Start with Books. Early Years: An International Research Journal, 20(2), pp.39-46.
Whitehead, M. (2004) Language and Literacy in the Early Years (3rd Edition) London: Paul Chapman Publishing.
Wyse, D. & Styles (2007) Synthetic phonics and the teaching of reading: the debate surrounding England’s ‘Rose Report’. Literacy 41 (1), 35-42.