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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 18, Issue 2, Article 15 (Dec., 2017) |
So, where does this leave the development of other literacy especially, scientific literacy! Fiji curriculum in the lower primary can capitalize on the thematic teaching that is currently practiced in order to nurture in the little minds the skill of not only “learning to read” but the value of “reading to learn” through authentic reading materials. For instance, in science education, using both fiction and non-fiction children’s literature to promote inquiry science lessons is highly recommended (Martin, 2009). In the context of science education, informational non-fiction texts have been observed to advance scientific literacy development of children. Exposure to a range of informational text have been seen to promote dialogue, comprehension, reading and writing in different genres (Moss, 2008).
Additionally, reading and obtaining information from informative texts is a literacy need of adults in today’s technological and scientifically driven society (Bernhardt, Destino, & Kamil, 1995; Duke, Bennett-Armistead, & Roberts, 2003). As children advance their education from primary to secondary, through to tertiary education they will be required to read, interpret, write and engage in conversations about pertinent issues affecting their field of studies from expository written materials. It is therefore imperative that informative texts be used in primary schools to lay a good foundation of literacy development especially scientific literacy.
Conversely, the debate about which informational text type is most beneficial (narrative and non-narrative informational text) seems unresolved in the development of literacy in primary schools. Some scholars (Jackson, Allen, & Dickinson, 2008) argue that non- narrative informational texts are better for the development of specific subject related skills such as interpretation of graphs, writing of reports, comprehension of jargons specific to the subjects, and writing styles. However, others argue that it is more essential to expose children to a variety of informational texts (both fiction and non-fiction- narrative and non-narrative) for students to develop facility with the different kinds of genre (Dreher & Voelker, 2004) which will be useful as students advance their education to higher levels. The authors support the latter view, because it is more important to give students a variety of experiences at early stages of schooling in order for students to develop a preference for particular type of information genre. It is important to note that all texts are not the same. As long as;
books provide accurate science content embedded in an engaging story vicariously expose students to science facts, introduce new concepts, and expand vocabulary. Stories that include problems that need solutions, use science-process skills to inform character decisions, making observations, collecting data, and asking questions are common themes found in stories that maximize science learning.
(Jackson et al., 2008: p.28)
Thus, informational narrative and non-narrative texts are both useful resource to encourage students to think and engage scientifically (Eshach, 2006). However, literature cautions that it is important to select texts that have correct information and suggest a set of criteria in academia that could be used when selecting information books (Jackson et al., 2008; Moss, 2008). Discussion of the criteria however, is beyond the purview of this paper.
According to Martin (2009), children’s literature irrespective of content and genre has potential benefits for setting the platform for inquiry learning in science. Even fiction books with fairy tales can be used to stimulate student inquiry of science content. For example a common fiction story book, “Jack and the bean stalk” can be used to generate learning on importance of plants in mitigating climate change, or to investigate conditions of plant growth. Inquiry skill is an important characteristic of a scientifically literate person (Choi, Lee, Shin, Kim, & Krajcik, 2011; Dani, 2009; Dawson & Venville, 2007). The authors argue that since in many Pacific Island Developing nations like Fiji where access to quality information text may be problematic, fiction texts such as fairy tales can be used to stimulate scientific thinking which is important to scientific literacy development. It is the intentional use of text to promote scientific inquiry and scientific thinking by classrooms practitioners that is desired.
In the same vein, scarcity of informative text in classrooms is a reality all over the world. Scholars such as (Duke, 2000; Duke et al., 2003; Moss, 2008) raise concern that there is a dearth of quality text available to children in primary schools. This impedes the development of critical thinking, reasoning and literacy of other disciplines that are important as students advance their education. Duke (2000) conducted a descriptive, observational study of 20 first grade classrooms in 10 school districts in the greater Boston metropolitan area on informational text experiences offered to children in first grade and found that there was a paucity of informational text available in the classroom for children to read.
Furthermore, a comparison of informational text availability between economically advantaged and disadvantaged community showed that the latter have significantly less informational texts. In such schools the only text available to children are the basal readers from the curriculum which have very less information text. It is inferred that this may be the scenario in Fiji and many Pacific Island Country classrooms especially in remote rural schools owing to their geographical disadvantage. Moreover, this problem probably escalates as Pacific Islands Countries are dependent on aids from developed countries. Many texts find their way to our classrooms that may have been obsolete elsewhere.
Many scholars have asserted that less informational texts leads to underachievement in other disciplines, particularly, lower achievement in science (Bernhardt et al., 1995). This is because achievement in science education is correlated with informational reading ability (Bernhardt et al., 1995, p. 5). In the context of second language learners, to which Fiji and many Pacific Island nations belong, all discipline of studies become a language learning site which increases the complexity of the situation.
In such a scenario, content and language integrated learning (Lorenzo, Casal, & Moore, 2009) should be the focus of literacy development especially in the lower primary, which is the foundation of literacy development for children. Research by Bernhardt, et al.(1995) emphasize that reading and writing activities are critical to the learning of science content, which is an important component of scientific literacy especially to English as second language learners.
In addition, studies such as (Donovan, 1996; Korkeamaki, Tiainen, & Dreher, 1998; Moss, 2008) suggest that exposure to informational text has benefits for children. This includes development of children’s’ ability to read other research and write about information, engage in rich discussion around this text type, and provide motivation for reading depending on children’s preference type. Furthermore, observational studies on the benefits of information text in early years of schooling reinforces that such engagement has vocabulary building potential and improving comprehension skills (Duke & Bennett-Armistead, 2003; Yopp & Yopp, 2000). These findings indicate the benefit that integrating content in language development has to the development of literacy, in particular scientific literacy. As an afterthought, language development in primary schools should therefore be embedded in all disciplines along with content development.
Moreover, Duke & Bennett-Armistead (2003, pp. 2-3) in their paper titled :Filling the Great Void Why we should bring Nonfiction into the Early-Grade Classroom, discussed three myths that stakeholders have about the use of informational text in early years of schooling. These myths were: 1. young children cannot handle informational text; 2. young children do not like informational text, or at least prefer other forms of text; and 3. young children should first learn to read and then (at about fourth grade) read to learn. A cluster of arguments for inclusion of information non fictional reading text in early years of schooling appears to push these myths to the backstage on literacy development as studies have found that greater attention to informational text buttress literacy development (Duke & Bennett-Armistead, 2003).
For instance, research involving third grade children whose science unit contained both firsthand observation and informational texts showed they learned more than those children whose science unit contained only firsthand observation (Guthrie & Anderson, 1999). This suggests that combining interesting texts in classroom science inquiry contributes to conceptual understanding which is essential to the development of scientific literacy.
The datum frequently cited in literature in support for informational text in lower primary is the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). It showed that fourth-grade children who reported reading storybooks, magazines, and nonfiction texts had, on average, higher reading achievement than those that read only one or two genre (O'Sullivan, 1997). However, the basis of judgment of higher reading ability does not reflect the true essence of literacy and therefore the result has generalizability limitation to development of literacy because literacy is more than the ability to read.
Moreover, other studies clearly show that informational texts help students to read, write and talk about science concepts. For example, in a read aloud scenario, after examining children’s journals, it was found that children reflected on and extended their background knowledge, vocabulary and comprehension skills on science ideas after read aloud incidences created in the classroom by the teacher. A child who had heard about earthworms, drew the earthworm and wrote about its segmented body structure and adaptations, similarly after hearing about ocean animals, drew and wrote information and features of different types of ocean animals (Moss, 2008).
The examples above, point to another important element of literacy, which is listening and speaking. Similar, results have been shown in the study by Jackson et al. (2008) where book talk was used to encourage children to think critically and initiate inquiry in grade five science class. The above shows that apart from reading and writing, listening and talking about stories influence literacy development.
Reading aloud to young children in engaging ways, particularly in the second language context, promotes literacy and develops a love for reading (Duursma, Augustyn, & Zuckerman, 2008; Kumar, 2016). Additionally, a case study on the effect of reading aloud to young children conducted in Fiji, confirms the advantage that reading aloud has for literacy development (Kumar, 2016).
In the same vein, since Fiji is a cultured nation rooted to traditional beliefs and practices, oral language in particular story telling has a special place in the learning process (Moore, 1986). It appears that the value of oral communication in this materialistic 21st century world where norm referenced evidence about learning, de- values oral forms of communication as evidence of learning in the classroom, which could authentically engage and develop transferable scientific literacy skills in children. Or perhaps an over-emphasis on reading and writing in literacy definitions and assessment practices overshadows the value of storytelling (by teachers to students or students to students) in the development of literacy in children. For instance, the increasing awareness and concern over literacy and numeracy levels is taking the content area learning to the back stage (Moss, 2008). Literacy and numeracy is an important area of development in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2002) and perhaps is diverting attention of curriculum leaders, teachers and even teacher educators towards assessments geared towards English language and numeracy competencies. Research studies on time spent on different subject areas show that seventy-one percent of districts in California have reduced time spent on subjects other than reading and mathematics due to assessment pressures (Jennings & Rentner, 2006) . Additionally, in a case study of Californian schools many schools were found to get little or no social science and science instruction due to assessment priorities (Wineburg, 2006).
The same may be happening in Fiji as Fiji Primary schools have literacy and numeracy assessments (LANA) in years five and seven and external examinations in years six and eight. It is possible that the present examination driven curriculum is driving instruction towards preparation for assessment and not for the development of literacy, particularly scientific literacy.
Compounding this problem is the negligible effort by teachers in the upper primary on content area literacy education. Studies show that content area literacy instruction is shadowed by concerns about teaching content resulting in students experiencing little text book reading (Wade & Moje, 2001). This is also due to the pressure to prepare students for examinations where ‘reading to learn’ will take time away from teaching to prepare students for assessments, hence the lack of emphasis on reading science subject text books which is an important source of information text in the classroom.
