Using the Environment to Promote Literacy Skills

Article Critique

Using the Environment to Promote Literacy Skills

By: Ruth A. Wilson Ph.D

Date of Article: 2003

Using the Environment to Promote Literacy Skills by Ruth Wilson, Ph.D, a professor of Special Education at Bowling Green State University, is an article that addresses the importance of students learning environments. Wilson compares two educators, Jody and Krista, who have different classroom environments for their students. Wilson focuses on how in both classroom settings the preschoolers behavior are different and ties this back to how both classrooms are set up different. Wilson starts off the article by noting ‘It’s the end of the day and the preschoolers in Krista’s classroom are eagerly writing their parents a letter about their day. In the room across the hall the preschoolers in Jody’s class are more interested in playing. Wilson addresses the fact that although both educators believe students should be introduced to reading in kindergarten, preschool should be more about play, both have set up their classroom environments completely different. Krista’s class room offers a richer learning environment, whereas Jody’s classroom has only a limited amount of print and print materials and little attention is devoted to promoting literacy behaviors.’ The nature of the student’s environment has a significant influence on how eager children are to learn, and both social and physical dimensions of the environment should be addressed.

Wilson continues by stating a literacy-rich environment does more than provide visual exposure to print, it also provides opportunities for meaningful interaction with it. A well prepared literacy environment invites children’s active engagement in at least two different modalities. This approach matches the way children learn. Related research and theory is provided to support Wilson’s views that the deliberate redesign and enrichment of an early childhood classroom ‘significantly influenced the literacy...