Papers by Elizabeth Sulzby
Emergent Reading Ability Judgements for Favourite Storybooks
PsycTESTS Dataset, 1981
VThis document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. O ... more VThis document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. O Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality.
Emergent literacy : writing and reading : manuscript with editors' corrections
Ablex Pub. Corp. eBooks, 1986
This book is about young children and their writing and reading development during their first fe... more This book is about young children and their writing and reading development during their first few years of life. It stops at the point where most books on beginning writing and reading start: when the child is 5-6 years old and is able to write and read in ways recognized as actually being writing and reading. The chapters are authored by many of the leading researchers of written language development in very young children.
This study describes the use of word recognition strategies by Spanish-English bilingual first gr... more This study describes the use of word recognition strategies by Spanish-English bilingual first graders in their non-instructed language. The behaviors of 35 first graders are described when they were asked to read in the language in which they had not received systematic reading instruction. Seven word recognition strategies used by children when reading in their non-instructed language were identified. The analysis of frequencies of each strategy revealed differences between the two language groups, which can be attributed to differences in the children's language knowledge and different language orthographies. One of the most important conclusions of Y.:Lis study is the finding that children have spontaneous approaches to reading in a language in which they have not been instructed. The study of prior conceptions is a common activity in other educational fields, such as science education, but it is rare in the area of second language acquisition. Following the logic of the emergent literacy field, understanding these preconceptions, whatever their source, is relevant for instruction, either to build on them when they are correct, or to explicitly correct them when they are wrong. (Contains 35 references.) (KFT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Transfer of Word Recognition Strategies Strasser & Sulzby Transfer of Word Recognition Strategies from Instructed to Non-Instructed language in Spanish-English Bilingual First-Graders
Assessment of Emergent Literacy: Storybook Reading (Assessment)
The Reading Teacher, 1991
Linguistics and Education, 1994
This article discusses narrative styles of 48 African American low-income urban kindergartners. T... more This article discusses narrative styles of 48 African American low-income urban kindergartners. The starting point for this study was the work of Michaels (1981,1986, 1991) who found that during a classroom activity known as "sharing time," African American first-graders tended to produce narratives that did not cohere around single topics but around a series of loosely and often unclearly related episodes, a style Michaels called topic associating. This was in contrast to the Caucasian firstgraders who tended to use a topic centered style. The results of the study presented here, however, reveal that of the 48 kindergarten children, 16 told topic associating stories and 28 told topic centered stories. Although storybook and fairy tale themes and structures were present across the two narrative styles, they were found most clearly in 9 of the topic centered narratives. Results show that although the patterns that Michaels reported were indeed found with these younger, urban, African American children in an uninterrupted storytelling context, these patterns were not the dominant ones. Examples of the styles are discussed, paying particular attention to the thematic and structural characteristics in the topic associating style. Issues concerning contexts for speech and literacy in the classrooms of these and other U.S. students are discussed. In the past decade, much of the research in linguistics and language study has focused on the narrative patterns found in different communities. Researchers Earlier versions of this article were presented at the 1992 meeting of the American Educational Research Association and the 1991 meeting of the Michigan Linguistics Society. We thank the children, teachers, and administration of the School District of the City of Pontiac, MI, for welcoming us for longitudinal research. This research was funded in part by the Spencer Foundation in a grant to Elizabeth Sulzby, Combined Program in Education and Psychology. and to Marilyn Shatz, Developmental Psychology, both of the University of Michigan. We appreciate Professor John Swales of Linguistics for his comments on various drafts, as well as the editors and anonymous reviewers of Liquistics and Educarion.
A study reqiiired children to tell and to dictate stories that-were real and make believe, all ab... more A study reqiiired children to tell and to dictate stories that-were real and make believe, all about the same basic topic, as part qf things people do when they "writa a story.".A further purpose was to explore the reading *nowledge of children who are just begisning to read. Children's reading attempts for these stories were usid to evaluate their emergent reading ability in order * * frowthe original document. *
Using Children's Dictated Stories to Aid Comprehension
The Reading Teacher, Apr 1, 1980
Kindergarten children differ in how close they are to becoming readers and writers. A study inves... more Kindergarten children differ in how close they are to becoming readers and writers. A study investigated the dictated and handwritten materials of 24 kindergarten children. In each of two sessions, three language productions were obtained: a told story, a dictated story, and a handwritten story. Additionally, samples of rereading and editing were gathered for each of the two written versions. Samples were scored on a seven-point scale based upon the nature of the written productions and the degree of matching eyes and voice to print. Adaptations to modes were scored in three ways: intonation patterns were marked, fluency was described, and the telling and dictating were described holistically with a descriptive narrative. Results indicated that a large number of five-year-old children showed the ability to sound as if they were dictating: that children were able to sound as if they were telling a story and to actually maintain an oral monologue: that children who were high in reading abilities adapted dictation toward writing: and that children who were low in reading abilities moved their telling more toward the conversational mode. (HOD)
This study of the narratives of 48 black, low-income, urban kindergartners examined the frequency... more This study of the narratives of 48 black, low-income, urban kindergartners examined the frequency of topic-centered style (a discourse centering on a single topic) and topic-associating style (a discourse of personal anecdotes or episodes whose connections are never overtly stated). The children were from four classrooms in two schools in Pontiac, Michigan, a lower working class suburb of Detroit. The storytelling task was conducted between the child and a familiar adult interviewer. Results revealed that 16 children told topic-associating stories and 28 told topic-centered stories. Of the topic-centered narratives, 10 were retellings of familiar storybooks. Results appeared to refute earlier studies that concluded that black children show a preference for a topic-associating style. Story transcripts, and a list of 27 references, are included. (MM)
In order to describe the developmental patterns of writing and rereading from writing of kinderga... more In order to describe the developmental patterns of writing and rereading from writing of kindergarten children across group and individual contexts, a study asked 123 kindergarten children in Palatine, Illinois, to write and reread stories of their own composition over a school year. Children were asked to write in group classroom conditions at monthly intervals and to write in individual interviews once in the fall, winter, and spring. In the first session, five common forms of writing (scribble, drawing, non-phonetic letterstrings, phonetic or invented spelling, and conventional orthography) were elicited and modelled. In this session and all subsequent sessions, children were encouraged to "write your own way." Sessions were audiotaped; notes about the order of composition and non-verbal behaviors were recorded by the examiner; and writing samples were collected. Scoring was done both on the spot and also rechecked at leisure by two researchers. Primary forms of writing in the fall were scribble, drawing, and letter strings. The primary form of rereading was the "written monologue," in which both wording and intonation are like written language. Two surprising results were explored: the endurance of scribble as a form of writing, particularly with advanced forms of composition and rereading behavior; and the late and tentative appearance of invented spelling. Findings suggest that children were building a repertoire of linguistic tools, all of which would be useful in a mature model of conventional literacy. (One table of data and six figures of childrens' writing are included; an appendix contains an example list IC forms of writing and rereading.) (SR) CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF READING A READING RESEARCH AND EDUCATION CENTER REPORT
American Journal of Speech-language Pathology, Feb 1, 1998
Research suggests that storybook read ing facilitates language d evelopment and plays an importan... more Research suggests that storybook read ing facilitates language d evelopment and plays an important role in preparing child ren for success in school. Child ren who have early language d elays are at risk for read ing d ifficulties in the elementary years. Consequently, speech-language pathologists may want to incorporate one important aspect of early literacy d evelopmentparent-child storybook read ing-into their remed ial programs for some young child ren with language impairment. T his article presents the Kad eravek-Sulzby Bookread ing Observational Protocol (KSBOP) as a tool to organize parent-child storybook observations. T o facilitate use of this protocol, the authors present the following: (a) background information on the research project from which the KSBOP was d eveloped , (b) found ation knowled ge about pertinent emergent literacy theory, and (c) a method for observing parent-child read ing interactions with examples of how the protocol was used with a child who was language d elayed. An annotated append ix is includ ed .
Children's Emergent Reading of Favorite Storybooks: A Developmental Study
Reading Research Quarterly, 1985
Children's emergent reading of favorite storybooks: A developmental study ELIZAB... more Children's emergent reading of favorite storybooks: A developmental study ELIZABETH SULZBY Northwestern University children in literate societies have been found to have knowledge about written language long before reading conventionally from print. It is suggested that they ...
Text' as an object of metalinguistic knowledge: a study in literacy development
First language, Oct 1, 1982
... DOI: 10.1177/014272378200300902 1982; 3; 181 First Language Elizabeth Sulzby and Beverly Otto... more ... DOI: 10.1177/014272378200300902 1982; 3; 181 First Language Elizabeth Sulzby and Beverly Otto development 'Text' as an object of metalinguistic knowledge: a study in literacy ... ELIZABETHSULZBY, Northwestern University BEVERLY OTTO, Northwestern University ...
Narrative Production by Children With and Without Specific Language Impairment
Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, Feb 1, 2000
Oral and Written Language Mode Adaptations in Stories by Kindergarten Children
Journal of reading behavior, Mar 1, 1982
The study describes differences between two kinds of oral production, told and dictated stories, ... more The study describes differences between two kinds of oral production, told and dictated stories, by kindergarten children who vary in emergent reading ability. Two replications of told, dictated, and handwritten story sets were elicited from 24 kindergarten children who were not being instructed in reading and writing. Re-reading attempts were collected and used to derive Judgments of Emergent Reading Abilities for Dictated and Handwritten Stories. The Judgments and scores from a traditional readiness test were significantly correlated. Results from examination of story characteristics indicated that children's oral productions signalled differences between told and dictated stories; that children adapted told stories toward the related language mode of conversation and adapted dictated stories toward the related mode of handwritten composition; and that these adaptations were related to degree of reading-related abilities for children at extremes of the distribution.
In 1981, a scale, the Emergent Reading Ability Judgments fox/ Dictated and Handwr,itten Storie , ... more In 1981, a scale, the Emergent Reading Ability Judgments fox/ Dictated and Handwr,itten Storie , as developed fot use in assessing h w close a child was to reading ndependently based upon the nature of t e child's.:attempts to read from dictated and handwritten stories. A study was conducted to apply the scale to stories from a new s ple of Children whose overall emergent reading abilities were ascert ed by,other techniques. The question, addressed was whether the scale covers the reading attempts of these children. Subjects4.for the study were nine kindergarten children who fell into hi44114 moderate, or low emergenX.reading ability groupings. The children's own dicfated and handwritten stories comprised the materfais used for reading attempts. Findings showed that the scale
Evidence of Planning in Dialogue and Monologue by Five-Year-Old Emergent Readers
Product vs. Process: The Relevance of Methodology in the Elicitation of Storybook Re-enactments from Young Children
In order to describe the developmental patterns of writing and rereading from writing of kinderga... more In order to describe the developmental patterns of writing and rereading from writing of kindergarten children across group and individual contexts, a study asked 123 kindergarten children in Palatine, Illinois, to write and reread stories of their own composition over a school year. Children were asked to write in group classroom conditions at monthly intervals and to write in individual interviews once in the fall, winter, and spring. In the first session, five common forms of writing (scribble, drawing, non-phonetic letterstrings, phonetic or invented spelling, and conventional orthography) were elicited and modelled. In this session and all subsequent sessions, children were encouraged to "write your own way." Sessions were audiotaped; notes about the order of composition and non-verbal behaviors were recorded by the examiner; and writing samples were collected. Scoring was done both on the spot and also rechecked at leisure by two researchers. Primary forms of writing in the fall were scribble, drawing, and letter strings. The primary form of rereading was the "written monologue," in which both wording and intonation are like written language. Two surprising results were explored: the endurance of scribble as a form of writing, particularly with advanced forms of composition and rereading behavior; and the late and tentative appearance of invented spelling. Findings suggest that children were building a repertoire of linguistic tools, all of which would be useful in a mature model of conventional literacy. (One table of data and six figures of childrens' writing are included; an appendix contains an example list IC forms of writing and rereading.) (SR) CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF READING A READING RESEARCH AND EDUCATION CENTER REPORT
Uploads
Papers by Elizabeth Sulzby