Author: Christie, J. & Roskos, K. (2001)
Source: Young Children, 56(3), 64-66
This brief article by James Christie and Kathleen Roskos is somewhat surprising considering that these two authors "wrote the book" (literally) on developing literacy skills in young children through play. Many literacy-rich preschools create their play centers based on the last decade of research completed by these two authors. In the current article, Christie and Roskos indicate that perhaps we have gone too far "filling play settings with literacy props." They worry that preschool teachers have become too rigid in their expectations for what children must learn and how they must demonstrate their learning through what should be freely creative and exploratory play. Readers are cautioned that we "may grow heavy-handed as expectations build around what play should offer in the way of literacy activity and what children should accomplish as literacy outcomes from playtime." The article describes appropriate, natural links of literacy and play, e.g., "post office" or "restaurant" pretend play, but warns against too much direct teacher intervention and/or assessment during child's play to increase emergent literacy skills. The article states that the guiding principle should be that "teacher involvement should extend the reach of children's literacy play and enrich them while ensuring that they remain within children's grasp." In other words, teachers, therapists, or any other adult working on skills such as emergent literacy concepts within the context of play, should remember a child's "zone of proximal development," or the child's comfort level. Children should not be tested and pushed to accomplish reading and writing activities that are too difficult or not of interest for them. This article concludes by saying that assessment while a child is playing should be limited to observation and collection of artifacts and not a "bully insertion of literacy assessment tasks."
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