Supporting African Heritage Children’s School Success through Oral Stories in the Classroom

• In Event: 1-024 - Promoting Cultural Responsiveness of Early Childhood Curriculum and Professional Development: Funds of Knowledge Approaches

Integrative Statement

All children enter school with a wealth of cultural resources intended to help them participate – and succeed – in the classroom environment (McNaughton, 2001). Although building on these funds of knowledge is critical to children’s school success in the preschool years and beyond (Moll et al., 1992), all too often, educators are unaware of these resources, missing out on the opportunities to draw upon children’s foundational knowledge by making meaningful connections between school and home. One particular resource common in African-heritage homes are oral traditions, including personal narratives, tall tales, and freedom tales (Grace et al., 2004), with lessons often transmitted through riddles, proverbs, and poems (Scheub, 1985). These oral traditions transmit cultural identity, as well as cultural values, beliefs, and practices (Banks-Wallace, 2002; Grace et al., 2004). In this way, African oral traditions are seen as more than stories; they are performances that activate the imagination of the audience as they connect the past with the present, turning lived experiences into images imprinted in the collective memory (Banks-Wallace, 2002; Champion, 2003; Scheub, 1985). Past research has suggested that educating teachers about oral traditions and scaffolding their inclusion of these oral traditions in the classroom is a critical first step in supporting children’s academic readiness (Gardner-Neblett et al., 2012; Heath, 1983; Moll et al., 1992). As such, the current study explored the effectiveness of R-SUCCESS, a classroom oral storytelling program (originally developed and tested with Latino-heritage children, families, and their Head Start teachers) in supporting African heritage preschoolers’ and kindergarteners’ language, literacy, and self-regulation skills.

Participants included 103 English-dominant, low-income preschoolers (n = 54; 52% male) and kindergarteners (n = 49; 54% girls), 51% in R-SUCCESS classrooms and 49% in waitlist control classrooms. Teachers in intervention classrooms (n = 17) were trained in R-SUCCESS during the early months of the school year, and then implemented the program for the duration of the year. Teachers in control classrooms (n = 15) did not participate in any intervention. Children’s language, literacy, and self-regulation skills were assessed at two time points (fall and late spring) using a combination of three measures: subtests from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF Preschool-2 and the CELF- 4th Edition; Semel, Wiig, & Secord, 2003; Wiig, Secord, & Semel, 2004), the Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey - Revised (WMLS-R; Woodcock, Muñoz-Sandoval, Ruef, & Alvarado, 2005), as well as the Head Toes Knees and Shoulders (HTKS; Ponitz et al., 2008) direct assessment.

Analysis of data is ongoing. However, preliminary findings suggest that children in R-SUCCESS classrooms demonstrated greater growth in their story recall, as measured by the Woodcock Muñoz, and in their reading comprehension, as measured by the CELF. Children in R-SUCCESS classrooms also exhibited more advanced self-regulatory skills at the end of the year. Results are discussed in relation to the importance of adopting a strengths-based approach to supporting African-heritage children’s language, literacy, and self-regulation skills, as well as implications for both practice and policy.

Authors

• Adina Schick, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Gigliana Melzi, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Cassie Wuest, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author