The African Griot: Study Finds Storytelling Is the Key to the Literacy of Black Preschool Children

Submitted by David Rosen on Sun, 08/16/2015 - 04:53
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Colleagues,

I want to call your attention to a new study, The African Griot: Study Finds Storytelling Is the Key to the Literacy of Black Preschool Children, that may be relevant to family literacy for parents of African American children, http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/08/15/african-griot-storytelling-key-literacy-african-american-preschool-children/. I wonder if there are family literacy programs in the U.S. that already include oral storytelling as a part of children's reading readiness and, if so, what teachers' -- and parents' -- experience has been with including this practice in a family literacy curriculum.

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

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Please upload the actual journal article for us, so that we can take a more in-depth look at this study,.

Oral narrative skills: Explaining the language-emergent literacy link by race/ethnicity and SES.

By Gardner-Neblett, Nicole; Iruka, Iheoma U.

Developmental Psychology, Vol 51(7), Jul 2015, 889-904.

 

 

Abstract

Although children’s early language skills have been found to predict literacy outcomes, little is known about the role of preschool oral narrative skills in the pathway between language and emergent literacy or how these associations differ by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. The current study uses the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study to explore how language at age 2 is associated with narrative skills at age 4 and emergent literacy outcomes at age 5 for a nationally representative sample of children.

Findings demonstrate that early language is associated with narrative skills for most children.

Oral narrative skills were found to mediate the pathway between early language and kindergarten emergent literacy for poor and nonpoor African American children. Implications for children’s literacy development and future research are discussed.

(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)

Thanks!

Hello Edna,

Unfortunately the APA PsychNet rules prohibit distribution or re-publishing of articles in their database except to individuals who each pay for the article. For those who want the link where the article may be purchased and downloaded, it's http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/dev/51/7/889/  You could also check if your public or university library has an electronic or hard copy subscription to the online journal. (Sadly, my public library doesn't.)

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

Right on, Edna. Yet, there is plenty of research that supports phonemic development must occur before phonics. The former one makes sense; the other is artificially matched to meaning. In fact, I would say that oral narrative skills mediate the pathway between early language and kindergarten emergent literacy for everyone. We are story tellers by nature. How better to engage not only children but adults in reading and later writing?

I love these quotes:

“It has been said that next to hunger and thirst, our most basic human need is for storytelling.” -Khalil Gibran
“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” -Rudyard Kipling
“No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.” -Lewis Carroll
“People don’t want more information. They are up to their eyeballs in information. They want faith–faith in you, your goals, your success, in the story you tell.” -Annette Simmons
“When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story." -Stephen King

Leecy