CREATIVE APPROACH TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY LITERACY: EXPERIENCES FROM CROATIA

Authors

  • Lorena` Lazarić Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Croatia
  • Kristina Riman Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Croatia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35120/kij5505863l

Keywords:

early literacy, picture book, research, creativity, reading

Abstract

Literacy is one of the basic skills that represent an important cultural aspect. It is necessary to acquire
information about different areas of human activity and is essential for education and the acquisition of new content.
The development of early literacy is significantly influenced by three factors: adult encouragement, adult reading
role models, and exposure to appropriate reading materials. As a result, the role and importance of reading and
talking with the child are cited as important activities that adults engage in with children in the early literacy field,
and numerous campaigns targeting reading aloud and reading with children speak to this. Parents are increasingly
receiving training in early literacy, while early childhood educators, who are trained to promote children's reading
skills during their training, are increasingly using numerous early literacy activities in their work. The number of
educators who use picture books in their groups as a stimulus to promote early literacy is growing, using picture
books not only as a means but also as a goal in developing creativity and pre-reading skills.
This paper presents real-world examples of approaches to promoting early literacy in Croatian educational
institutions, based on research conducted as part of the project "Picture Gallery in Kindergarten and Primary
School", sponsored by the Faculty of Teacher Education University of Rijeka and the partner Faculty for
Educational Sciences of Jurja Dobrila University in Pula. The project investigated the use of picture books as a
stimulus for a creative approach to the development of early reading skills. 363 teachers from all over the Republic
of Croatia participated in the research. The research was conducted online in the form of a questionnaire. The paper
highlights and analyzes the results in relation to the use of picture books as a stimulus for a creative approach to
early literacy development. It also gives examples of good practice selected in the implementation of the
institutional project "Let us read fun - a creative approach to reading in early and preschool age", conducted at the
Faculty of Educational Sciences of Jurja Dobrila University in Pula.
The main goals for which educators use picture books in pedagogical work with children are familiarization with
books, development of a reading culture, love for books and reading, development of reading preparation skills,
active listening and communication. The benefits that educators see in using picture books are also mentioned.
Challenges cited by educators include the fact that a lot of effort and work must be put into creating a reading ritual
and getting an individual child interested in reading and listening to stories, or the unwillingness of some parents to
use picture books at home in the family setting. Some of the educators mentioned creating their own picture book
with the children as a challenge. Therefore, the paper includes examples of best practices related to the creation of
picture books in different early childhood and preschool education settings, as well as presentations of long-term
project activities that involve both parents and the local community in the creative process. It also presents the
process of creating a picture book as an activity that can be done in a shorter period of time just within an
educational group or as a short activity in one day.

References

Apel, K., & Masterson, J. J. (2004). Jezik i govor od rođenja do šeste godine. Ostvarenje

Bertolini, C. (2012). Senza parole. Edizioni Junior.

Buckley, S. (2003). Literacy and Language. In J. Rondal & S. Buckley (Eds.), Speech and language intervention in Down syndrome, pp. 132-153. Whurr Publishers.

Chiantera, A., & Rosetti, A. (1986). L'adulto e il linguaggio del bambino. La Nuova Italia.

Čitaj mi!. Preuzeto https://www.citajmi.info (2.12.2022.).

Čudina-Obradović, M. (2002). Čitanje prije škole: priručnik za roditelje i odgojitelje. Školska knjiga.

Đuraković, M., Klasnić, I., & Matešić, I. (2020). Poticanje kreativnosti u predškolskim ustanovama. Školski Vjesnik, 69(1): 89-110.

Farrant, B., & Zubrick, S. (2012). Early vocabulary development: The importance of joint attention and parent-child book reading. First Language, 32(3), 343-364.

Fenson, L. et. al. (2007). MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories. The CDI Advisory Bord. Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co..

Ivić, I. (2010). Vaspitanja dece ranog uzrasta. Zavod za udžbenike.

Kadum, S., Drandić, D., & Lazarić, L. (2021). Spremnost djece za školu iz perspektive učitelja,

Nova prisutnost : časopis za intelektualna i duhovna pitanja, 19(3), 583-596.

Konvencija o pravima djeteta. Preuzeto https://www.unicef.hr/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ Konvencija_20o_20pravima_20djeteta_full.pdf (25.11.2022.).

Kožljan Škabić, D. (2022). Pjesništvo kao poticaj za aktivnosti u dječjem vrtiću (Završni rad). Sveučilište Jurja Dobrile u Puli. Preuzeto https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:137:018870 (20.11.2022).

Kurtović, N. (2022). Načini poticanja rane pismenosti izradom slikovnice (Završni rad). Sveučilište Jurja Dobrile u Puli.

Martinović, I., & Stričević, I. (2011). Slikovnica: prvi strukturirani čitateljski materijal namijenjen djetetu. Libellarium, IV(1), 39-63.

Mitrović, M. (2010). Koncepcije pismenosti u bukvarima i početnicama. Pedagogija, 65(2), 183–193.

Mohorovičić Srdoč, H. (2020). Slikovnica kao poticaj za očuvanje zavičajnog identiteta (Završni rad). Sveučilište Jurja Dobrile u Puli. Preuzeto https://urn.nsk.hr/urn:nbn:hr:137:655938 (20.11.2022).

Nati per leggere. Preuzeto https://www.natiperleggere.it (2.12.2022.)

Pergar, M., & Hadela, J. (2020). Raising Awareness of the Importance of Reading to Early Childhood and Preschool Age Children through Lifelong Education of Parents. Hrvatski časopis za odgoj i obrazovanje, 22(3), 101-113.

Popov, D. (2010). Enciklopedija razvojnih igara za djecu od 3 do 7 godina. Planet Zoe.

Prosokhova, I. (2017). 200 logopedskih igara. Planet Zoe.

Pravilnik o sadržaju i trajanju programa predškole, Ministarstvo znanosti, obrazovanja i sporta Republike Hrvatske, (2014). Preuzeto https://narodnenovine.nn.hr/clanci/sluzbeni/2014091072081.html (01.12.2022).

Storch, S. A., & Whitehurst, G. J. (2002). Oral language and code-related precursors to reading: evidence from a longitudinal structural model. Developmental Psychology, 38(6), 934-947.

Stričević, I., & Jelušić, S. (2011). Informacijske potrebe i čitateljski interesi građana Hrvatske. In Elli Pecotić et al (eds.) Međunarodni interdisciplinarni stručni skup Knjiga i slobodno vrijeme : zbornik radova. Gradska knjižnica Marka Marulića, 16-31.

Taylor, D. (1983). Family literacy: Young children learning to read and write. Heinemann.

Taylor, C. L., Zubrick, S. R., & Christensen, D. (2016). Barriers to parent-child book reading in early childhood. Internation Journal of Early Childhood, 48, 295-309.

The Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Years Education (2006). Preuzeto https://education.gov.scot/improvement/documents/elc/elc35_reggioemilia/elc35_reggioaug06.pdf (2.12.2022)

Tomasello, M. (2003). Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition. Harvard University Press.

Tomasello, M., & Bates, E., (Eds.). (2001). Language development: The essential readings. Basil Blackwell.

Velički, V. (2013). Pričanje priča – stvaranje priča: povratak izgubljenom govoru. Alfa.

Vignjević, J., Velički, V. & Velički, D. (2014). Understanding L1 instructional texts by pre-school children. Language, Individual & Society: Journal of International Scientific Publications, 8, 80-91.

Zalar, D. (2002). Poezija u zrcalu nastave. Mozaik knjiga.

Downloads

Published

2022-12-16

How to Cite

Lazarić, L., & Riman, K. (2022). CREATIVE APPROACH TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY LITERACY: EXPERIENCES FROM CROATIA. KNOWLEDGE - International Journal , 55(5), 863–870. https://doi.org/10.35120/kij5505863l