Literacy in the Early Years

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

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2. Conceptualising Literacy in the Early Childhood Setting

   • Claire J. McLachlan, Alison W. Arrow

   Pages 1-19

3. In Dialogue with Children: Exploring Children’s Views of Literacy Practices in Their Early Childhood Settings

   • Pauline Harris

   Pages 21-41

4. Linguistic Diversity and Literacy Practices in Early Childhood Education in Norway

   • Gunhild Tomter Alstad, Lise Iversen Kulbrandstad

   Pages 43-61

5. “You Guys Should Offer the Program more Often!”: Some Perspectives from Working Alongside Immigrant and Refugee Families in a Bilingual Family Literacy Program

   • Jim Anderson, Ann Anderson, Nicola Friedrich, Laura Teichert

   Pages 63-78

6. Predicting Early Writing: The Role of Parental Writing Mediation and Children’s Private Talk During Writing

   • Dorit Aram, Lili Elad-Orbach, Shimrit Abiri

   Pages 79-92

7. What Brings Children to Writing and Energises Their Early Writing Efforts?

   • Sue Lyle, Anna Bolt

   Pages 93-110

8. Child Shyness and Reading Ability in Encounters with Difficult Words During Shared Book Reading

   • Mary Ann Evans, Kailey Pearl Ennis

   Pages 111-132

9. The Hakalama: The ʻAha Pūnana Leo’s Syllabic Hawaiian Reading Program

   • William H. Wilson, Kauanoe Kamanā

   Pages 133-150

10. How Effective Is Morphological Awareness Instruction on Early Literacy Skills?

    • George Manolitsis

    Pages 151-174

11. Early Reading First as a Model for Improving Preschool Literacy Instruction and Outcomes

    • Barbara D. DeBaryshe, Kathleen Tran Gauci

    Pages 175-197

12. Promoting the Predictors of Literacy in Early Childhood Settings: An Analysis of Two Studies in Low SES Settings

    • Claire J. McLachlan, Alison W. Arrow

    Pages 199-220

13. Digital Technologies in the Literate Lives of Young Children

    • Brian Finch, Alison W. Arrow

    Pages 221-238

14. Literacy, Technology and Early Years Education: Building Sustainable Practice

    • Karen McLean

    Pages 239-257

15. The Future of Literacy Research in the Early Childhood Context

    • Alison W. Arrow, Claire J. McLachlan

    Pages 259-268

16. Back Matter

    Pages 269-279

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This edited collection provides an in-depth exploration of different aspects of contemporary early childhood literacy research and the implications for educational practice. Each chapter details how the research was conducted and any issues that researchers encountered in collecting data with very young children, as well as what the research findings mean for educational practice. It includes photographs of effective literacy practice, detailed explanations of research methods so the studies can be replicated or expanded upon, and key features for promoting effective literacy practice in early childhood settings. This book is an essential read for everyone who is interested in exploring the complexities and challenges of researching literacy acquisition in the youngest children.

• Childhood literacy
• Colorado Child Temperament Inventory
• Digital technology in early childhood
• Early childhood curriculum and education
• Emergent writing instruction
• Hakalama
• Hawaiian Syllabic Reading Program
• Literacy assessment
• Professional development or learning
• Research methods in early childhood and literacy
• Storytelling Curriculum
• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
• children’s views of literacy practices
• future of literacy research
• language diversity
• morphological awareness instruction
• participatory research approach
• sociocultural perspectives of literacy
• sociology of childhood
• ʻAha Pūnana Leo

• University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

  Claire J. McLachlan

• Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

  Alison W. Arrow

Claire McLachlan is a Professor of Education and Head of School for Te Hononga, School of Curriculum and Pedagogy in the Faculty of Education at the University of Waikato. She was formerly a Professor of Childhood Education at Massey University. She holds a B.A. in English and Education and M.A. (Hons, 1st class) and Ph.D in Education from Massey. Her primary research interests are in early literacy, early childhood curriculum, assessment and teachers’ beliefs about practice and she has produced five recent books on curriculum, literacy and assessment. Her current research concerns supporting teachers’ understandings of literacy in order to promote improved literacy outcomes for young children, the effectiveness of family literacy programmes and an intervention study on physical activity in early childhood settings. Claire’s contribution to early childhood research is reflected in her membership in the New Zealand Ministry of Education Early Childhood Research Policy Forum, membership in the UNESCO Panel on Early Reading and her being honored with an award from Massey University for excellence in educational research. She has also recently received an OMEP International research award.


Alison Arrow, PhD, is a senior lecturer in literacy at Massey University, having graduated from the University of Auckland in 2008. One of Alison’s research areas is professional development in literacy with early childhood education teachers. This research has included the assessment of literacy abilities with children as young as three years old. She has published on the nature of literacy in early childhood and her current research examines how young children use digital technology at home and school for their literacy learning. Dr. Arrow has won a number of internal Massey University research grants and in 2012 she was the Massey University College of Education Early Career Research Award Winner. More recently, Alison has been successful in obtainingresearch funding for longitudinal intervention research with children just beginning school.

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