NARRATIVE PRACTICES AND EMERGENT LITERACY: A LABORATORY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT

Teachers begin activities on the written language already in the years when the children attend the kindergarten, in advance of planned systematic intervention in the first year of primary school. Study of the construction of the written language has highlighted how children want to penetrate the secrets that lie behind the written words and master the operating techniques.

The first linguistic, symbolic and pragmatic experiences of a child play a decisive role in the following learning of reading and writing skills, influencing significantly the first textual competences and the motivation to the written code, the rate at which children learn the code and use it in the proper way.

Research, including the educational neuroscience, has highlighted the close relationship between emerging literacy and subsequent learning of reading and writing. Two interrelated problems arise: detecting the successful acquisition in children and the level of development of the skills involved in the process; stimulating, developing and enhancing the functional skills in the activities of reading and writing.

Early verification of phonological and linguistic skills is essential to support the development, and recovery strategies are to be prepared in case of early signs of difficulty.

In some kindergarten sections in the Palermo area we carried out a laboratory of the last 40 hours focused on oral narration, with a dual aim:
a) developing the emerging areas of literacy in preschool,
b) providing teachers with an objective approach to detect in children reading and writing readiness.

The study investigated phonological, lexical and pragmatic skills. An integrated curriculum based on storytelling improved listening skills, comprehension and production of stories, linguistic expression, and phonological awareness in children five years of age.

The results showed the following a prepared educational programme produced an appreciable increasing of the individual performances; also, preschoolers showed necessary expertise in different areas of development, but had difficulties in phonological and symbolic skills.

Although the findings concern only one experimental situation that cannot be generalized, the actions taken confirmed the implementation of the interventions allowed to indicate the efficacy of the procedures used.