Handbook of psychology volume 7 educational psychology

Learning and Teaching in Early Childhood Education: Art, Literacy, Music, and Play

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Questions were also raised about the presumed similarity

between oral language development and literacy learning.

For many researchers (i.e., Holdaway, 1979), literacy devel-

opment was portrayed as a natural process that paralleled the

development of language acquisition. A number of critiques

attempted to refute this notion by pointing out the ways in

which literacy acquisition was fundamentally different from

first-language acquisition (i.e., Luke, Baty, & Stehbens,

1989); in particular, other research showed that in contrast to

natural language development, some children did benefit

from direct instruction in literacy (e.g., Adams, 1990).

Increasingly, researchers have begun to address questions

of social, cultural, and linguistic diversity. When many of the

original studies on emergent literacy were replicated with di-

verse populations, the initial positive findings on the effects

of whole language–emergent literacy approaches were not

replicated. For example, Anderson and Matthews (1999) and

Elster (1994) found that children from working-class homes

did not always follow the developmental trajectory of story-

book reading that Sulzby (1985) found with the children from

middle-class homes in her study. Other researchers have

found that parents from diverse cultural groups support their

young children’s literacy development differently (i.e.,

Anderson, 1995; Reyes, 1992). For example, many of the

Chinese-Canadian parents in Anderson’s study expressed

very strong opposition to many of the literacy practices con-

sidered sacrosanct within an emergent literacy paradigm.

These practices included accepting the use of invented

spelling and children’s pretend reading behaviors. The initial

position paper by the National Association for the Education

of Young Children on developmentally appropriate practices

in literacy reflected a more or less homogenous prescription

for a universal application of the principles of emergent liter-

acy; it was later revised in recognition of cultural diversity in

literacy learning (Bredekamp, 1997).

Related to questions of culture, researchers and practition-

ers have also raised questions about the relative importance

of storybook reading in the early years. Because some of the

earlier research with precocious readers (i.e., Clark, 1976;

Durkin, 1966; Wells, 1985) found that storybook reading was

often a part of their daily literacy routine, the general assump-

tion was drawn that this activity was a necessary prerequisite

that applied to all children (Pellegrini, 1991). This sweeping

assumption tended to prevail even though in some cultures

where storybook reading to children is practically nonexis-

tent, most children in that culture still can achieve literate

competence (Mason, 1992). Further, a major meta-analysis

has suggested that storybook reading accounts for only about

8% of the variance in reading (Scarborough & Dobrich,

1994).

Despite these issues and concerns, the concept of emer-

gent literacy has fundamentally altered the way that literacy

learning in early childhood is conceived (Adams, 1990). Con-

sistent with the basic premises of emergent literacy, for ex-

ample, it is now widely acknowledged that literacy learning

should be meaningful, functional, and contextualized and that

a great deal of literacy learning occurs before children enter

school. Research on literacy continues to focus both on some

traditional areas of debate (e.g., the relative importance of

phonics instruction) as well as on some emerging areas of in-

terest (e.g., family literacy). It is to these two perspectives on

literacy in early childhood education that we now turn.

The Role of Phonological Awareness

Perhaps no other single issue in early literacy has received as

much attention over the decades than has phonological

awareness or the ability to segment the speech stream into

its constituent parts (e.g., phonemes). For example, many

literacy researchers and educators see phonemic awareness as

a prerequisite to learning to read and write (Bradley &

Bryant, 1983; Stanovich, 1986). In contrast, other researchers

(Malicky & Norman, 1999) acknowledge that while a certain

level of phonemic awareness is needed to learn to decode

print, children can become more phonemically aware through

the process of learning to read and write. Mustafa (1997) and

others argue that phonemic awareness is but one component

of a more general competency in language and that it relates,

for example, to vocabulary size. The debate continues

whether phonological development is best achieved through

direct instruction or through more informal, meaningful, and

contextualized activities such as word play, rhymes, games,

and songs.

Perhaps the most contentious issue in early literacy over

the past half century has been the role of systematic instruc-

tion in the alphabetic code, commonly known as phonics

(Chall, 1967). Although the debate still rages, especially in

the United States, a more moderate position or middle ground

is evolving. Recent reports have called for direct instruction

in the phonics code but in contextualized ways with ample

opportunity for children to apply the skill being learned in

meaningful situations (Pressley et al., 1998; Snow, Burns, &

Griffin, 1998). 

The relationship between phonemic awareness in writing

as well as in reading has been the focus of much research in

recent decades. For example, whereas proponents of whole

language once argued that children learned to spell through

writing and “invented” spelling, researchers have shown that

structured word study could also help young children become

more proficient spellers (Templeton & Morris, 1999). These

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researchers have also shown that although it was once

thought that learning to spell essentially consisted of memo-

rizing lists of isolated words, efficient spellers use layers of

information to help them learn the orthography. During the

heyday of the process writing movement (e.g., Graves,

1983), personal writing such as journals, diaries, and so forth

was heavily promoted. An underlying assumption of the writ-

ing process movement was that writing skills are generic and

transferable from one context to another. However, re-

searchers are now beginning to find that such is not the case

and that each particular genre requires specialized knowledge

and forms. Chapman’s (1995) research has shown that chil-

dren who are exposed to a variety of genres in their daily ex-

periences will also incorporate the specific features of

different genres into their writing at a young age.

The debate on the relative importance of phonemic aware-

ness in children and of phonics instruction with young chil-

dren manifests itself in a variety of curriculum debates as

well. There has been a general trend away from the use of

programs based on behavioristic psychology (e.g., DISTAR)

and toward approaches that are based more on principles of

cognitive psychology. One widely known and widely applied

curriculum program, Reading Recovery, was developed by

Marie Clay in New Zealand. In Reading Recovery the chil-

dren who have the most difficulty in reading and writing re-

ceive one half hour of individualized tutoring per day with

teachers specially trained in Reading Recovery techniques.

Despite the ubiquity of this program and even though gener-

ally favorable research reports on its effectiveness, it has

received criticism on a number of points, including the fol-

lowing: The program is overly structured and inflexible

(Dudley-Marling & Murphy, 1997); it does include a specific

phonological awareness component (Chapman, Tumner, &

Prochnow, 1998); it does not remediate the needs of those

children most in need of support (Santa & Hoien, 1999); its

initial gains wash out after children have attained expected

grade-level proficiency in reading and, in the terminology of

the program, are discontinued (Chapman et al., 1998); it does

not lead to the staff development that its originator and pro-

ponents argue would happen (Center, Whedall, Freeman,

Outhred, & McNaught, 1995); and it expends scarce re-

sources without being any more effective than alternate,

small-group tutoring (Santa & Hoien, 1999). Whereas the

concept of multiple literacies (the notion that meaning is en-

coded in myriad ways other than print) has been around for

some time, Luke and Luke (2001) argued that mainstream

thinking in the early literacy field still privileges print

literacy. That is, despite the advances in technology that

allow for new ways of constructing and communicating

meaning, the focus in early literacy still seems to be on

decoding print. This fact is evidenced by recent trends in

some parts of the United States to prescribe decodable texts

for early reading instruction and to emphasize basic reading

and writing skills. Decodable texts are texts written specifi-

cally for beginning reading instruction. They have a very

high level of grapheme-phoneme agreement, which propo-

nents argue helps children learn to crack the code. Critics

argue that such texts use contrived, unnatural language that

will not engender a desire to read in children. Thus, at this

point in time it appears unlikely that curricula and instruction

in early literacy will begin to reflect in any significant way a

multiple-literacies perspective in the near future. 

Family Literacy 

Another trend that will deserve increasing attention in the

coming years is the proliferation of family literacy programs.

Taylor (1983) initially coined the term family literacy to de-

scribe the myriad ways in which the middle-class families

with whom she worked embedded literacy in their daily lives.

Taylor’s portrayal of the family as a site where considerable

literacy learning takes place generated substantial interest in

this phenomenon. Educators have subsequently been involved

in developing family literacy programs that are intended to

help parents support their young children’s literacy develop-

ment. Critics of family literacy programs contend that under-

lying many such programs are some very troubling deficit

assumptions about families that are poor where relatively little

literacy is observed. There appears to be some kind of causal

or predictive relationship between a family’s poverty and their

lower levels of literacy practices in the home. Further, the ar-

gument has been that the literacy that does occur in these

homes is not the “right” kind of literacy that will adequately

prepare the children for school. The criticism has also been

raised that many of these programs are gender-biased in that

they are targeted specifically at children’s mothers. Mace

(1998) has argued that

[t]he evidence of a literacy “problem” in industrialized countries

with mass schooling systems has revealed that schools alone

cannot meet this need. Families must be recruited to do their bit

too. This is where the spotlight falls on the mother. She it is who

must ensure that the young child arrives at school ready for

school literacy and preferably already literate. (p. 5)

Whereas play has traditionally been seen within the early

childhood community as the medium through which children

learn (see also the section on the role of play in early childhood

Learning and Teaching in Early Childhood Education: Art, Literacy, Music, and Play

293

education), it is only recently that researchers have begun

to investigate the role of play in young children’s literacy

learning. For example, using an ethnographic research ap-

proach, Anderson (1995) documented the many ways in which

one child incorporated various forms of workplace literacy

into her play. In their work in day care settings, Neuman and

Roskos (1993) found that children’s interest in literacy and

their interaction with literacy materials were enhanced when

appropriate literacy materials were placed in different play

centers. They also suggested that “more challenging and com-

plex language use may be produced in play environments that

are literacy based” (p. 221). These authors cautioned that the

literacy knowledge that children develop through play may

not be sufficient for literacy acquisition. However, they argue

that children’s “comprehension of the act of literacy” is devel-

oped through play (p. 221). Purcell-Gates (1996) proposed

that this comprehension is crucial to children’s literacy devel-

opment. She commented, “Grasping the signifying nature of

print and the many ways it can function in peoples lives has

been called the big picture . . . and is basic to any further

knowledge about the forms and conventions of written lan-

guage” (p. 422). However, the importance of play in literacy

development is not universally embraced, as the pendulum ap-

pears to be swinging back—at least in some quarters in the

United States—toward formal instruction in phonics. Thus,

the zeitgeist of literacy theory continues to include simultane-

ously both advocates of child-centered, emergent literacy ap-

proaches and those who focus on the importance of phonemic

segmentation and code breaking that can only be acquired

through direct formal instruction.

Concluding Thoughts on Literacy in Early

Childhood Education

Increasing trends of globalization are beginning to raise

important policy issues in the area of early literacy. For ex-

ample, in Vancouver, Canada, over 50% of the children en-

tering kindergarten speak English as a second language, and

there are over 50 different foreign languages that these chil-

dren collectively bring to school. In a landmark report,

Snow et al. (1998) proposed that initial literacy instruction

should be in the child’s first language. Although this might

be possible where there are concentrations of families and

children with a common language, it would not be possible

for the 50% of children entering Vancouver kindergartens

every year who speak English as a second language as well

as for countless others such as those in the schools in

Canada alluded to earlier. The issue of literacy in one’s own

first language in addition to literacy in English will continue

to grow in complexity as society becomes increasingly

diverse.

Music in Early Childhood Education

All children are born with some degree of music ability. A

major challenge that confronts ECE music educators and

researchers alike is to determine the relative importance of

(a) a child’s innate music aptitude, (b) the music environ-

ments that contextualize the child’s life, and (c) the roles of

indirect and direct instruction in music in the early years.

This discussion briefly addresses each of these issues from

theoretical, empirical, and applied perspectives.

It is widely understood that a child’s music aptitude has an

ideal chance for optimal development if parents, caregivers,

and teachers provide a varied and rich music environment for

a child early in life (Brand, 1982, 1985, 1986; Gordon, 1990;

Pond, 1981; Simons, 1986). In fact, some researchers have hy-

pothesized that children can suffer severe music developmen-

tal delays when music is not a frequent part of their home and

school environments. Beyond enhancing the development of a

child’s music abilities, Doxey and Wright (1990) also reported

significant positive relationships between music and mathe-

matics abilities in their study of music cognition and general

intelligence. Subsequent research conducted over the past

decade has also reported findings of enhanced cognitive devel-

opment and spatial-temporal reasoning as the result of rich,

stimulating preschool music activities (Rauscher et al., 1997;

Shaw, 1999). The research evidence strongly suggests that an

enriched music environment—a combination of quality, quan-

tity, and a variety of music experiences—in the first several

years of a child’s life can impact strongly on a child’s success

in and enjoyment of music, as well as in other areas of cogni-

tive development.

Innate Audiation and Learned Music Skill Development 

Although environmental factors can contribute to a child’s

success in music, the most important factor for potential

growth in music is the child’s innate music aptitude, an abil-

ity that can now be evaluated by a reliable, standardized test

(Gordon, 1978, 1979, 1986a, 1986b, 1989). In contemporary

terms, standardized music aptitude tests measure a child’s

ability to audiate music. Audiation is the innate human abil-

ity to create and recreate music, to conceptualize and com-

prehend and to compare music that has been heard in the past

with music being heard in the present, and to music that may

be heard in the future (Gouzouasis, 1992). Humans sing,

chant, move, play instruments, and respond to music that

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Early Childhood Education

they audiate. Humans audiate when they listen to music,

recall music, read music, improvise music, and compose

music (Gordon, 1986b). 

In all of these ways and more, children, adolescents, and

adults play music and play with music. Music play may occur

consciously or unconsciously, spontaneously or planned, in

unstructured or structured environments, and in informal or

formal contexts, and may either be child initiated or adult ini-

tiated. Fundamental to all of these forms of music compre-

hension, production, and enjoyment is the child’s ability to

audiate. A child’s ability to audiate may greatly influence the

way in which he or she organizes the physical aspect of music

(i.e., sound) in terms of melody, harmony, form, texture, and

timbre and may greatly influence the way a child produces

music through singing, chanting, moving, and performing on

instruments. Of the many different elements of music, the

tonal and rhythmic aspects can be most reliably measured in

young children (Gordon, 1979). 

Research has shown that children’s audiation abilities

fluctuate during the early childhood years (Flohr, 1981;

Gouzouasis, 1987, 1991; Jessup, 1984; Levinowitz, 1985;

Zimmerman, 1986). It is widely accepted that children by

the age of 9 years can learn to play an instrument, to dance, to

sing, to read, to improvise, and to compose music. Although

music achievement can certainly continue to develop in and

beyond middle childhood, after age 9 the degree of music

achievement a child may attain is seriously attenuated by his

or her stabilized level of audiation ability. Indeed, there

is ample evidence to support the notion that even young

adults can be taught music listening strategies and instrumen-

tal performance that enable them to maximize their basic au-

diation ability in a variety of music contexts (Gouzouasis,

2000). Ultimately, however, their success in those music ac-

tivities will be restricted by their ability to make connections

between a broad range of acquired music skills and their in-

nate audiation ability.

Central to developing a child’s music ability is the impor-

tance of objectively assessing each child’s music aptitude

level. This allows the child’s teacher to teach to the child’s

music strengths, thereby facilitating the child’s level of music

achievement. In the early 1980s a number of researchers

began to scrutinize traditional music-teaching practices in an

attempt to observe how very young children acquire music

in natural and noninstructional settings. This research repre-

sented a sharp departure from earlier top-down curriculum

approaches that had been generated primarily by Western

European composers and practitioners (Andress, 1986, 1989;

Boswell, 1986; Goetze, Cooper, & Brown, 1990). This was in

stark contrast to traditional, historical recapitulation models

of music teaching and learning. Within this body of work four

specific areas of focus (discussed later) are (a) the develop-

ment of a child’s singing voice, (b) the relationship between

music and movement, (c) the implications of “hot” and

“cool” music media on children, and (d) children’s singing

songs with and without words.

The research on singing voice has revealed that two- and

three-pitch diatonic stepwise patterns are easier to sing than

are arpeggiated patterns (Gordon, 1990; Gouzouasis, 1991;

Guilmartin & Levinowitz, 1989–2000; Jersild & Bienstock,

1931, 1934). Because pitched vocal glides are easily produced

by children as young as 1 month of age, stepwise patterns are

a natural feature in the developmental sequence of pitched vo-

calization. In contrast, arpeggiated patterns require more

vocal precision. The research demonstrated that when young

children move their bodies to music, it is important that they

experience the free exploration of weight, flow, space, and

time with the whole body and various body parts without the

expectation that they attempt to coordinate their movements

with an externally imposed steady beat (Gouzoausis, 1991).

Because singing is in many ways a movement activity, the ac-

quisition of a sense of steady beat is fundamental to all aspects

of music learning, and it needs to be nurtured in a variety of

play activities, with and without music accompaniment.

Gouzouasis (1987) drew metaphoric allusions between

McLuhan’s idea of “cool” and “hot” media and the effects of

two types of music accompaniment and nonaccompaniment

on the singing achievement of 5-year-old children. There is

evidence that nonaccompaniment facilitates the learning of

songs, especially for children who possess low tonal audia-

tion ability. Ironically, because of the prevalence of heavily

textured, hot music learning contexts in contemporary music,

twenty-first-century culture may be depriving young children

of informal exposure to music experiences presented in de-

velopmentally appropriate learning contexts, or cool music

media. Further, children who possess high tonal audiation

ability can be expected to acquire a singing voice and sing

songs consistently better than children who possess low tonal

audiation ability, regardless of style and accompaniment tex-

ture. Thus, children who have inherently lower levels of au-

diation may have their music potential additionally

compromised by the intensity and texture of much of the hot

music media to which they are exposed.

A related application of that line of research led to the

practice of singing songs without words with very young

children (Gordon, 1990; Gouzouasis, 1987; Levinowitz,

1987). Very young children who possess few linguistic skills

tend to respond very positively to singing activities with a

neutral syllable such as “bah” or “too” than to songs with

many words, sentences, and lyrics. Many young children

sing the songs with which they are most familiar in tune, and