Introduction to Literacy

Course description

The course starts with a general discussion on the nature and characteristics of literacy. It introduces students to the history of writing and writing systems, discusses the differences between oral and written language, the notion of ‘text’ (oral and written), and the theories of emergent literacy.  Students are urged to identify preschool children’s ideas about reading and writing and to understand the functions and the structure of various text types. 

 Furthermore, students are introduced to the development and evaluation of educational material for teaching/learning Greek language as a L1 in preschool settings. Good paradigms of language teaching for kindergarten children are presented during the course.  The course is linked to the students’ practice in kindergarten. The course aims at familiarising students with the fundamental principles and main concepts of literacy, especially the emergent literacy theory. It also introduces students to the development and evaluation of educational material for literacy in preschool education.

Learning outcome

During the course students are expected to:

• understand the subject and the theoretical underpinnings of literacy education in early years
• familiarize themselves with curricula for literacy
• comprehend the basic principles for designing literacy activities in kindergartens
• design and evaluate literacy activities for young children
• integrate literacy in the daily program of kindergartens

Assessment

A system of continuous assessment (small scale projects) plus final exam