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LANguage,
Literacy
second
edition

early
Childhood
EduC tion
Janet Fellowes
Grace Oakley
vi Contents

4 Early Childhood Settings and Oral Language Learning and

Development 69
Introduction 70
Language development and the home setting 71
Language development and the childcare setting 73
Language development and the preschool setting 76
Language development and the early years of the primary school setting 79

5 Key Early Childhood Learning Contexts for Oral Language 84

Play and oral language 85
Reading aloud to children 90
Storytelling 93
Conversations and discussions 97
Investigations 105

6 Learning Experiences and Activities for Speaking

and Listening 109
Introduction: Important considerations 110
Speaking and listening activities 111
Activities with a listening focus 124
Drama as a medium for speaking and listening development 127

7 Language, Thinking and Learning 134

Cognition and language 135
Language use and brain development 135
The relationship between language and cognition 136
Inner speech and thinking 138
Language and learning 138
Questioning for cognition and learning 145

8 Assessing Speaking and Listening 156

Assessment issues in Early Childhood 157
What needs to be assessed? 158
The components of language 159
Collecting data about children’s oral language 161
Documentation of oral language learning 169
Interpreting the information gathered about oral language 179
 Contents vii

Part 2
young children and reading 182

9 Understanding Reading 184

Defining reading 185
Foundational knowledge for reading 185
Knowledge about text purposes 193
Phonological awareness 193
Knowledge about letters and sounds 195
Letter–sound relationships 198
Word recognition: Phases of development 198
Sight words 200
Reading development 200
Perspectives on how to teach reading 203
Child-initiated or educator-initiated literacy learning? 205

10 Phonological Awareness, Letters, Sounds and Sight Words 208

Phonological awareness 209
Teaching phonological awareness 210
Principles for teaching phonological awareness 224
Assessment of phonological awareness 224
Teaching about letter–sound relationships 226
What do children need to know about letter–sound relationships? 229
Suggested sequences for teaching phonics 232
Principles of phonics teaching 235
Strategies and games for teaching phonics 235
Working with letters and sounds 237
Assessment of letter–sound knowledge 240
Teaching sight words 242
Strategies for teaching sight words 243
Assessment of sight-word knowledge 245

11 Vocabulary for Reading and Writing 247

What do we mean by vocabulary? 248
Why is vocabulary important in reading and writing? 248
How does vocabulary develop? 249
Levels of vocabulary knowledge 250
How can vocabulary learning be facilitated in the early years? 252
Indirect instruction 253
Explicit vocabulary instruction 255
Word study 256
Word sorts/classifications 262
Purposeful strategic conversations 262
Using dictionaries 263
viii Contents

Using contextual cues 263

Teaching word consciousness 264
Some principles for vocabulary teaching 265
Assessment of vocabulary knowledge 266
Toolbox of Vocabulary Strategies 268

12 Strategies for Teaching Reading 271

Pedagogical strategies for supporting reading 272
Reading aloud to children 272
Shared reading 276
Guided reading 282
Language Experience Approach 288
Buddy reading 288
Independent reading 289
Reciprocal teaching 289
Literature circles 290
Matching texts to children 290
Finding out about children’s reading interests 292

13 Reading for Comprehension 294

Introduction 295
How can reading comprehension be defined? 296
What does a child need to know and do to comprehend a text? 297
Reading comprehension: Suggested developmental pathway 298
‘Levels’ of comprehension 300
Strategic processes for comprehension 302
Teaching comprehension processes and strategies 311
Comprehension of informational texts 312
Providing appropriate texts 314
Vocabulary for reading 315
Comprehension of multimodal texts 315
Good practice recommendations 315
Assessment of reading comprehension 316
Toolbox of Comprehension Strategies 323

14 Developing Reading Fluency 332

What is reading fluency? 333
Elements of reading fluency 334
Why is reading fluency important? 335
Fluency development 335
Key practices for fostering reading fluency 337
Improving the elements of fluency 341
Improving expressiveness 342
Using ICTs to teach reading fluency 343
Pulling it all together 344
Assisting struggling readers 345
 Contents ix

Assessment of reading fluency 345

What not to do 347
Toolbox of Fluency Strategies 350

Part 3
young children and writing 354

15 Introduction to Writing 356

Written communication 357
Four components of writing 358
The physical aspect of writing 361
Writing traits 361
The writing process 362
Children’s growth in written communication 367
Using the phases of writing development 372

16 Writing Purpose and Text Organisation 375

Introduction 376
Writing purpose 376
Audience 377
Written texts 378
Types of texts 379
Teaching about texts: Beginning and emergent 387
Teaching about texts in the early years of school 388

17 The Writing Conventions: Grammar and Punctuation 394

Writing conventions 395
What is grammar? 395
Oral language and grammar as a prelude to writing 396
Understanding English grammar 397
Punctuation 406
Teaching about the writing conventions 410

18 Spelling and Handwriting 415

The importance of good spelling 416
The English orthographic system 416
Spelling knowledge 418
Spelling strategies 421
Children’s spelling development 422
Invented spelling 425
Teaching spelling 426
Spelling activities 427
x Contents

Spelling journals 435

Spelling lessons 436
Spelling and editing 438
Handwriting 438

19 Key Strategies for Teaching Writing 445

Introduction 446
Modelled writing 448
Shared writing 452
Working with texts produced in modelled or shared writing 454
Interactive writing 456
Language Experience Approach 457
Guided writing 459
Independent writing 461
The teaching strategies in use 462

20 Writing Experiences and Activities 468

The emergence of writing 469
Supporting the emergence of writing 470
Supporting children’s further progress as writers 479
Developing writing lessons for children in the early years of school 480
Establishing the stimulus for writing activities 481

21 Assessing and Evaluating Writing 492

What to assess? 493
Collecting information about children’s writing 495
Spelling 502
Assessment of writing interest and motivation 507

Part 4
framing language and literacy learning 510

22 Children’s Literature by Helen Adam 512

What is children’s literature? 513
The place of literature in the curriculum 514
Laying the foundations 516
Response to literature 516
Creating a positive environment for dynamic literary response 518

23 Visual and Critical Literacy 534

Introduction 535
Defining critical literacy 535
 Contents xi

Visual literacy and its importance in the 21st century 541

Defining viewing or visual literacy 541
Broad approaches to teaching viewing 548
Suggested themes for critical and visual literacy 549
Assessment of visual literacy 553

24 Language, Literacy and Information and Communication

Technologies 556
Young children and ICTs 557
SAMR and TPACK 561
Using ICTs to further young children’s literacy learning 562
ICTs to help children learn sight words, comprehension and fluency 567
Writing using ICTs 572
ICT-based concept mapping for reading and writing 577
Using the web 578
Interactive whiteboards 581
ICTs and safety concerns 583

25 Connecting with Families 585

Family literacy practices 586
Family literacy practices and emerging literacy 586
Oral language as a component of family literacy 586
Family literacy and emergent literacy 587
Family literacy diversity 588
Family literacy initiatives 589
Parent–educator partnerships 590
The benefits of parent–educator partnerships 592
Partnership practices 593
Working with families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds 599

26 Planning for Language and Literacy 605

The learning program 606
The literacy-enriched environment 608
Language and literacy programs for the different early childhood settings 611
The informed early childhood professional 619

Appendix A: Compendium of Teaching Strategies and Activities for

Language and Literacy 622
Appendix B: Test Your Language and Literacy Knowledge 625
Bibliography 632
Index 658
xii

Professional Insights
Professional practices
Educator: Preparing to tell a story 94
Action rhymes  115
Listening experiences for toddlers 127
Recording observations 170
Important assessment practices 179
Rhyme generation game: Roll-a-rhyme 213
Rhyming riddles  213
Game: Syllable walk 215
Riddles264
Questions an educator might ask during a picture walk 279
Reading strategies for children to practise during guided reading sessions 284
Prompts for educators to use during guided reading 285
Lesson plan  286
Example of an interest inventory 292
Little Red Riding Hood 301
Writing in response to literature 381
Sentence variety 398
Structuring a modelled writing lesson 450
Structuring a shared writing lesson 453
The format of a guided writing lesson 460
The take-home literacy bag 598
Example of a preschool timetable 614

Professional knowledge
Our definition of a ‘literate person’ 3
Identifying children who have reduced hearing 37
Understanding conductive hearing loss 38
Standard English 40
Language teaching and learning principles 70
Websites for how to make children’s musical instruments 124
ESL learners and comprehensible input 125
Constructing Knowledge 139
Questioning using Blank’s Levels of Talk framework 148
Five question categories 150
Slack’s core questions 151
 professional Insights  xiii

Slack’s processing questions 152

Books to help teach the alphabet 197
Development of word recognition 199
Sequence of phonological awareness development 209
Marking long and short vowels 219
Children’s books with rhyme or alliteration 220
What does explicit and systematic phonics mean? 228
Letters and sounds phases 234
Levels of vocabulary knowledge 251
Ideas for teaching about compound words 257
Reading to infants (0–18 months) 273
Reading to toddlers (18–36 months) 274
Expressive engagement 275
A cumulative story 276
Assessing text difficulty 290
Calculating percentage oral reading accuracy 318
Calculating the self-correction rate 319
Texts for choral reading 338
Readers’ theatre scripts online 340
Calculating words correct per minute (WCPM) 341
Elements of prosody 343
Talking e-books online 344
NAEP’S oral reading fluency scale 346
Children who speak English as an additional language (EAL) learning to write 372
Word classes: Quick reference 405
The paragraph 410
Example of a modelled writing lesson 462
Example of a shared writing lesson 464
Assessment of handwriting 506
Choosing books for babies and toddlers 521
Critical literacy 536
Clever cloze example 540
Colours545
Texts for teaching viewing 546
Developmentally appropriate technology 560
Examples of WebQuests for children K–2 579
Example of an information card for parent involvement 594
Program considerations for culturally and linguistically diverse learners 609

Vignettes
Peter’s story: In the morning 27
The conversation of a group of five- and six-year-old children 100
Dialogue: Year 1 children 153
Communication styles 602
xiv 

About the Authors

Janet Fellowes is a Senior Lecturer at Edith Cowan University, Western Australia where she
teaches Early Childhood Language and Literacy. She spent fifteen years before this working
as a classroom teacher in a range of locations and across early childhood and primary classes.
Janet continues to work closely with schools and classroom teachers and is regularly called upon
to conduct staff professional development sessions in early childhood language and literacy.
Her research work is closely linked to the early childhood classroom and has comprised such
projects as Small Group Literacy Teaching in the Early Years, Teacher Efficacy and the Teaching
of English as a Second Language, The Oral Language Development of Preschool Children,
Boys and Literacy, Focused Intervention for Effective Literacy Development and Writing
in the Preschool Years. Janet is passionate about ensuring that early childhood teachers are
knowledgeable about, and inspired by, language and literacy teaching and learning, and that
they are reflective, resourceful and adaptable practitioners.

Grace Oakley is an Associate Professor at the University of Western Australia and teaches
primarily in Language and Literacy. Grace has lectured in this area for over ten years, in early
childhood and primary teaching programs, both undergraduate and postgraduate. She has had
classroom experience in K–7 classrooms, including LOTE teaching. Grace’s research interests
focus on the role of ICTs in early literacy learning, helping children who struggle in literacy, literacy
assessment, literacy motivation and metacognition in literacy learning. She has been involved in
several research projects involving literacy in the early years, one of which investigated teachers’
methods of assessing reading. She is also interested in home literacy practices and was involved
in the Better Beginnings project.

Helen Adam wrote Chapter 22 on children’s literature. Helen is a lecturer at Edith Cowan
University, Western Australia. She has lectured and written on the subject of children’s literature
for the past seven years. Helen’s writing and research addresses the role and importance of quality
literature in the social and emotional wellbeing of the child. Helen’s lecturing and writing highlight
the potential and importance of quality literature in developing critical and creative thinking,
ethical understandings, personal and social capabilities and intercultural understandings—all
of which are highlighted in the Australian Curriculum and The Early Year Learning Framework
and are important to all children. She is currently undertaking her Doctor of Philosophy studies
on the topic: Investigating the use of children’s literature to support principles of diversity in the
kindergarten rooms of long day care centres.
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  xv

Preface to the Second Edition

We are very excited to have been given the opportunity to write a second edition of Language,
Literacy and Early Childhood Education, which focuses on the literacy learning of children from
birth to the age of eight, with an emphasis on four to eight year olds. Since the first edition was
written, there have been several important changes in the early childhood education and care
(ECEC) landscape internationally and in Australia, which we attempt to address in this book.
In Australia, the Australian Curriculum (ACARA, 2014) has been introduced, which lays out
the learning expected of students from the Foundation Year (five year olds) onwards. In this
second edition of the book, we pay particular attention to the English curriculum but also, where
appropriate, we make references to the ‘general capability’, Literacy. Alongside the Australian
Curriculum, the National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), a national
testing regime that commenced in 2008, appears to be having an effect on literacy education in
the early years, since educators are charged with the responsibility of preparing young children
for the Year 3 literacy tests. We wish to mention that, while it is important for early childhood
educators to build children’s skills, understandings and dispositions to help them achieve success
with reference to the Australian Curriculum and national assessments, it is just as important
to keep in sight children’s need for meaningful curriculum and appropriate, child-centred
pedagogies.
Another important change to the ECEC landscape in Australia has been Belonging, being and
becoming: An Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (DEEWR, 2009), which is now being
embedded into early years education and care settings. This framework, along with the National
Quality Standard (ACECQA, 2013), attempts to bridge any disconnections that may have existed
between home, early childcare, and education. The importance of transitions ‘including from
home to early childhood settings, between settings, and from early childhood settings to school’
are highlighted (DEEWR, 2009, p. 16). The framework also recommends that educators make
use of play-based learning but also employ ‘intentional teaching’, which ‘involves educators being
deliberate, purposeful and thoughtful in their decisions and actions. Intentional teaching is the
opposite of teaching by rote or continuing with traditions simply because things have “always”
been done that way’ (DEEWR, 2009, p. 15). In this book, we attempt to describe pedagogical
practices that allow educators to plan for play-based learning and also employ other approaches
such as explicit teaching, collaborative learning and learning though exploration and discovery.
The principles, practices and learning outcomes contained in Belonging, being and becoming, which
is often referred to as the EYLF or ‘the framework’, focus on ensuring that children from birth
to the age of five have access to care and education that enables them to build the foundations
for future success in learning. The ‘children are effective communicators’ outcome receives
special attention in this book, although this outcome is very much intertwined with the other
four: children have a strong sense of identity; children are connected with and contribute to their
world; children have a strong sense of wellbeing; children are confident and involved learners.
xvi preface to the second edition

Thirdly, the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL, 2012) have been introduced.
These are intended to make clear the knowledge, practices and professional engagement required
across educators’ careers. Educators are required to: know students and how they learn; know
the content and how to teach it; plan for and implement effective teaching and learning; create
and maintain supportive and safe learning environments; assess, provide feedback and report
on student learning; engage in professional learning; and engage professionally with colleagues,
parents/educators and the community. Much of the content in this book will assist educators in
meeting these standards, particularly at the graduate level, although more experienced educators
should also find the content useful since it draws on recent research.
In this second edition of Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education, we have made
links to curriculum documents in Australia, where appropriate. It should be noted that, because
language and literacy are complex and multilayered, it would be impossible to list all possible
links to curriculum documents. Also, our intention in providing links is to provide examples,
not to diminish educators’ professional judgment, creativity and innovation in making their
own links and in planning learning experiences that best suit their own settings. As well, good
research-based pedagogies, which form the bulk of this book, can be applied to any curriculum
framework.
In this second edition, we have updated all chapters with new references to current
international research. We have also built in more information about children from diverse
linguistic and cultural backgrounds, although it is beyond the scope of this general text to go into
great detail in this area or to discuss children with special needs. All chapters have been updated
and the chapter on ICTs and literacy in the early years (Chapter 24) has been extensively updated.
As in the previous edition of the book, some of the chapters have a ‘toolbox’ of strategies, but in
other cases these are not provided because the strategies concerned needed more explanation
with reference to the broader chapter content. Likewise, oral language and writing have separate
chapters on assessment. However, assessment of reading and its elements is dealt with in the
relevant chapters—comprehension, vocabulary, letters and sounds, and so on.
As will be explained in Chapter 1, in which we discuss definitions of literacy, there is scope
for some confusion among educators because in the English curriculum area of the Australian
Curriculum, the term ‘literacy’ is not used in the same expansive way that it is used in much of
the international literature. Please read Chapter 1 to ascertain what we mean by literacy, what
terms are used in the international literature, and how curriculum documents in Australia define
language and literacy.
We would also like to make clear that, in this text, we use the term ‘educator’ to refer to
teachers and early childhood educators and carers working within early childhood settings such
as childcare, preschool and the early school years (Foundation to Year 2).
We would like to draw attention to the excellent chapter on children’s literature by Helen
Adam from Edith Cowan University. We are very grateful to Helen for writing this chapter—she
has a great deal of expertise in this area, through many years of classroom teaching and teaching
pre-service educators, as well as presenting at conferences. The Australian Curriculum has
highlighted the importance of children’s literature through the inclusion of the Literature strand.
We hope that the updates we have made to the book will better meet the needs of pre-service
educators, teacher educators, practising educators and others interested in language, literacy
and early childhood education, both in Australia and internationally.
 preface to the second edition xvii

References
Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) (2013b).
The national quality standard. Retrieved from <www.acecqa.gov.au/
national-quality-framework/the-national-quality-standard>

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) (2014). Australian

Curriculum. Retrieved from <www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/>

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) (2012). Australian
professional standards for teaching. Retrieved from <www.teacherstandards.aitsl.
edu.au/>

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) (2009).

Belonging, being and becoming: The early years learning framework for Australia.
Retrieved from <http://docs.education.gov.au/node/2632>
xviii

Guided Tour
16

Chapter objectives:
A bulleted list of chapter
2 UNDERSTANDING ORAL
LANGUAGE
learning objectives outlines
the main concepts and
ideas that readers will
encounter in each chapter.
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
This chapter will increase your understanding of:

• language and communication

• the different properties and features of the English language system
• the functional nature of language and the need to adapt language use to suit different
speaking and listening situations
• listening (receptive language) and learning to listen
• the link between language, culture and identity and the need to acknowledge and respect
children’s home language or English dialect
• varieties of a language.

Key terms: Listed at the start

Key terms
of each chapter. These are also child directed speech (CDS) recasting
highlighted where they are first 598 classical
Partconditioning
4 Framing Language and Literacy Learning scaffolding

holophrastic speech sequential second language learning

explained in the text, and a
language acquisition device (LAD) telegraphic speech
concise definition appears in the children. They are a way in which children and families can participate in enjoyable language
language
and acquisition support
literacy activities systemthe
that support (LASS)
experiencestheory of mind and learning goals of the
and development

margin notes. care

operant and education setting. Resources might include
conditioning storybooks,
universal writing materials, games, tapes
grammar
of songs and rhymes, or recipes and other texts. To maximise involvement and success, each
readiness
pack should contain a letter to parents, explaining the purpose of the pack and the ways in which
children should be engaged with the activities and resources.
• Literacy bags contain different books, book audio tapes and other literacy resources that
promote enjoyable and relevant reading and writing experiences for children to undertake
Pause and reflect: Short
with their families. There might be a set of different bags, each of which contains different
Pause and reflect books, resources and activities. Different bags might be suitable for children at different
Early childhood learning principles questions to prompt
development levels. Children and families borrow the bags to take home for a week or so at
a time.
Review the ‘Language teaching and learning principles’ (above). Identify three that you
• A lending library can be set up for parents toreaders
borrow books,to think
puppets about
and recorded stories and
feel are most important and consider the practical applications of each.
other language and literacy learning resources for their children’s use at home. There should
chapter content.
be materials that cater for the different interests of children, books that parents can read
aloud and those that are appropriate to the group of children involved.

Professional insights: This feature

PRofessional PRactices
is categorised into Professional THE TAkE-HOME LITERACY BAG
practices, Professional knowledge The bag consists of such items as:
• sets of books (fiction and non-fiction) on a theme of interest to the children
and Vignettes. These provide • related activities/materials—link to books or topic

readers with further research, • activities for developing literacy knowledge, language and literacy skills and a positive attitude
to storybooks and interest in literacy
and useful resources, case studies • games, craft and play activities (suited to the age group)
Families borrow the bags and keep them for a period of time.
and teaching ideas that extend They read the books with their children and choose and carry out some of the games and activities.

and support the chapter content. ExAMPLE

Topic: ducks
Literacy level: emergent/early
Texts: Duckling, Six little ducks, Do like a duck does.
ACTIvITIES:
After reading the Duckling book, the parent/child:
• writes one thing they learnt about ducks in the record book provided
• records (draws or writes) in the diary provided the things Oliver Duck does with the family
• uses the pictures provided to sequence and retell the events from the story
• uses the letter cards to experiment with making words.
 Guided Tour xix

276 Part 2 Young Children and Reading

Summary margin notes: Read-alouds are an important component of a balanced literacy program and should not
See Chapter 5
be seen as something that only very young children need; they are beneficial throughout
Further information on for information
about read- the preschool and school years, although it can be increasingly difficult to select texts that
alouds and are of interest to every child in the group. In many cases, small group read-alouds should be
a specific subject or to Chapter
how they 2 Understanding
implemented.
oral Language 43
benefit oral

reinforce a key point; also language

development. SHARED READING
used as a link
recognised between
ESL/ESD techniques to support children shared
in understanding
reading
Sharedthereading
spokenwas originally
English of introduced by New Zealander Don Holdaway (1979) and is
a teaching sometimes referred to as Shared Book Experience (SBE). There are variations of shared reading
the learning environment.
related chapters of the text. strategy but all involve the educator reading aloud while children follow along and join in where possible.
Reference: National Association for the Education of Young Children (2009);
that involves The Victorian
rationale Department of reading is that, since young children love to sit on parents’
behind shared
educators
Education and Early Childhood Development (2012); Western Australialaps
reading aloud
and listen to
Department of stories being
Education read aloud, it should be possible for educators to read aloud to
and
several children at once through the use of enlarged or big books, thus extending the benefits
to children Training (2009)
and pointing of ‘lap reading’ beyond the home. The idea is to mimic the ways in which parents read to their
out features of children—with warmth, intimacy, enthusiasm and gestures. The use of big books also enables
the text while educators to point at words as they go along, using a special pointer, and in the process help
Pause and reflect doing so. The
educator may
children learn concepts about print such as directionality, one-to-one correspondence between
spoken and written words, and simple punctuation like full stops, commas and speech marks.
Cultural and linguistic diversity also ‘think
Also, shared reading helps children develop listening comprehension, learn sight words through
aloud’ to
Choose three of the suggested practices (above)model workingrepeated
for reading exposure, and
with culturally also learn some letter–sound correspondences, either through problem-
and
strategies. solving approaches or a degree of explicit teaching.
linguistically diverse children. Consider specific approaches you might take as an early
childhood educator in order to realise these important practices.

Australian Curriculum
and Early Years Learning
The Early Years Learning Framework emphasises the need for educators to implement a
curriculum that acknowledges and values all children’s cultures, identities, abilities and Framework: Connect chapter
strengths and that responds to the uniqueness of their family lives.
content with these two key
documents.

The Australian Curriculum emphasises the need for children to learn about variations in the
use of English in Australia. At Foundation Level, the requirement is that children understand
that English is one of many languages spoken in Australia and that different languages may
be spoken by family, classmates and community.

266 Part 2 Young Children and Reading

268 Part 2 Young Children and Reading
Educators need to build an awareness of how cultural, social and economic differences
can impact upon how children speak, listen and make meaning. If educators are to encourage
children to build on their strengths, it is necessary to understand the ‘funds of knowledge’ (Moll,
Toolboxes: A selection
assessment of
of voCabulary
Amanti, niff & Gonzales, 1992) or different ways of knowing and doing things that children bring
useful teaching
knoWledge strategies, TOOLBOX OF VOCABULARY
from the home. For example, eye contact is important in most English-speaking cultures but
children from other cultures may feel a sense of discomfort if asked to display such behaviour.
ideas and classroom STRATEGIES
An important question to ask in assessing vocabulary is: Which words do children need to know?
Some cultures think it is rude to ask direct questions so will instead make oblique enquiries and
The usefulness and importance of a word to a child should certainly be a factor in the teaching
activities.
sometimes, as in some Aboriginal groups, it is not compulsory to respond to questions or other
and assessment of vocabulary (Harmon et al., 2007). once it has been decided what to assess
statements. SEMANTIC FEATURE ANALYSIS
in vocabulary, decisions about how and when to assess need to be made. According to Harmon
et al. (2007), three effective ways of assessing vocabulary are:
Materials
•
Summary
asking children to provide synonyms and antonyms of the word
Whiteboard and marker (or IWB) or chart paper.
• asking children to categorise words under headings
• Language
observing is useduse
children’s forofwritten and
words in spoken
oral communication.
and written contexts. As a system of communication
Receptive vocabulary (listening and reading) has traditionally Description
it has many significant properties and components, and understanding these is important
been assessed through
to knowing
questioning what children
and asking is involved in children
to provide acquiring
definitions and own
in their developing language.this
words. However, Oralmay
The semantic feature analysis involves children filling in or creating a grid that pertains to a
language
give limited is used about
knowledge in different
whetherways depending
or not children on
havethea communicative
‘deep’ concept ofpurpose
a word. and the
Asking
particular category. For example, it might be about Australian animals. This activity helps to
features
children of the context
to categorise words orin sort
which oralaccording
them communication
to meaningis clarify
taking place.
can and
often Children
provide a require
clearer
deepen children’s understanding of word meanings.
picture of children’s understandings.
Picture vocabulary assessments can also be used to assess Procedure
receptive vocabulary. Here,
children are shown pictures and are asked to point at the picture that matches the stimulus word
• Choose some category names—for example, Australian animals.
that is pronounced by the educator. A formal test of this type is the Peabody Picture Vocabulary
Test—Revised (Dunn & Dunn, 1997). However, this assessment •is from The children
the USAbrainstorm:
and may not ‘What words fit into the chosen category?’ For Australian animals,
always be culturally appropriate for all Australian children, especiallywe might expect
culturally diversequokka, kangaroo, possum and wombat.
children.
The 43
02_FEL_LIT2_21177_TXT_3pp.indd PAT-R(Australian Council of Educational Research, 2008) also has some
• List a receptive
of the vocabulary
features of the items in the category.
21/07/14 For
9:51 example,
AM features of Australian
test, which is in the multiple choice format. These formal assessments would
animals not be
might used with
include: pouch, four legs, vegetarian and nocturnal.
most children; rather, methods of informal, continual assessment•would be used.
Create a grid and complete this as a group. When children become more proficient at
The assessment of expressive vocabulary (speaking and writing) can be feature
semantic achieved throughthe educator may step back and allow them to take on more
analysis,
the analysis of texts, both spoken and written, produced by the children. Educatorsfor
responsibility can also use the task.
completing
informal assessments, such as picture cards that children are asked to name (label) orally. They
• After having created the grid, discuss this and the features of the words/items being
can also ask children to think of synonyms and antonyms for words.
analysed.
Formal tests include the Expressive Vocabulary Test (Williams, 1997), which is for children who
Example
are five years of age or more. In this test, the student responds with a one-word answer to two
types of items: they must label items (pictures) and provide synonyms.
table 11.4 australian animals

Summary Chapter summary:

marsupial (has nocturnal herbivore (eats lives on the
pouch)
In this chapter we have discussed the importance of teaching vocabulary to children Highlightsvegetables
the significance
only) ground
in the early years, through the use of implicit and explicit strategies. Children who ✓
kangaroo
do not have a wide listening or receptive vocabulary will inevitably find it difficult to
of✓ issues
(mostly) discussed
✓ in ✓
Quokka supported by ✓ (mostly)
comprehend texts. In the early childhood years, hands-on experiences,
✓ lots the text. ✓ ✓
of talk between adults and children, will play a large part in vocabulary
koala learning. ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗

tasmanian devil ✓ ✓ ✗ ✓
Review question
SEMANTIC MAPPING
1. What issues might children for whom English is a second or additional language face in
learning vocabulary?
Materials
Whiteboard and whiteboard markers or paper/card and marker pens. The software Kidspiration
xx Guided Tour

206 Part 2 Young Children and Reading

Review questions and Review

Review questions
1. What is foundational knowledge for literacy and why is it important?
348 Part 2
activities: Encourage readers to
Young Children and Reading

2. How do children acquire or learn foundational knowledge? How do home experiences

impact on this?
apply their learning and stimulate
3. Can you see any possible disadvantages of a ‘balanced’ approach to teaching reading?
What are they?
critical thinking.
Review questions
1. What are prosody, pitch and pace? How might you assess them?
2. How can educators help children who do not have word recognition difficulties improve
Review activities their fluency?

1. Go into a childcare centre or preschool classroom and observe the environment. Think
about how its richness in print and talk might facilitate the development of foundational
Review activities
skills for reading and writing. What kinds of toys, resources and manipulatives do you 1. Select a short children’s story and convert it into a readers’ theatre script.
see that might assist in this? 2. Practise reading a children’s poem with expression. How might you use pace, phrasing,
stress, pitch and volume to improve expression? Read the poem to some peers and seek
2. Think about how you as an educator might facilitate children’s learning. For each phase
their feedback on how it sounded.
of reading development (see Table 9.2), what could you provide in the classroom or
3. Listen to a child read and assess their reading in terms of smoothness, pace, prosody
centre environment (for example, picture books, posters, labels, toys, blocks)? What and accuracy. What feedback might you give them and how will you help them improve
could you do on a day-to-day basis to assist the children’s learning (for example, talk, their fluency?
reading aloud)?
Key references and Websites: Are
3. As you work through the following chapters, keep returning to Table 9.2 and reflect on key references
included at the end of each chapter to
how the strategies, principles and learning activities discussed might relate to children’s
accomplishments in the right-hand column of the table. How do Australian Curriculum Hasbrouck, J. & Tindal, g. A. (2006). Oral reading fluency norms: A valuable assessment
tool for reading. The Reading Educator, 59(7), 636–44.
help broaden understanding of the topics
documents align to the NAEYC phases of early reading development?
Oakley, g. (2005). Reading fluency as an outcome of a repertoire of interactive reading

covered and to extend learning.

Key references
competencies: How to teach it to different types of dysfluent readers (and how ICT
can help). New England Reading Association Journal, 41(1), 13–21.

Clay, M., M. (2002). An observation survey of early literacy (2nd edn). Auckland: Heinemann. Samuels, S. J., Ediger, k. & Fautsch-Partridge, T. (2005). The importance of reading
fluency. New England Reading Association Journal, 41(1), 1–9.
Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2007). Letters and sounds: Principles and
Stahl, S. A., Heubach, k. & Holcomb, A. (1995). Fluency-oriented reading instruction.
practice of high quality phonics. Norwich: DfES. Journal of Literacy Research, 37, 25–60.
Ehri, L. C. (1995). Stages of development in learning to read by sight. Journal of Research in Zutell, J., Donelson, R., Bevans, J. & Todt, P. (2006). Building a focus on oral reading
Reading, 18, 116–25. fluency into individual instruction for struggling readers. In T. Rasinski, C. L. Z.
Blachowicz & k. Lems (eds), Fluency instruction: Research-based best practices (pp.
Hiebert, E. H., Pearson, P. D., Taylor, B. M., Richardson, V. & Paris, S. G. (1998). Every child
265–78). New York: guilford Press.
a reader. Michigan: CIERA.

Johnston, R. S. & Watson, J. E. (2005). A seven year study of the effects of synthetic Websites
phonics teaching on reading and spelling attainment. Insight, 17, 1–9.
Busy Teachers’ Café: Building reading fluency in young readers:
National Early Literacy Panel (NELP). (2008). Developing early literacy: report of the national <www.busyteacherscafe.com/literacy/fluency.html>
early literacy panel. Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy. This website provides a range of information about reading fluency as well as an
Torgeson, J. K. & Mathes, P. G. (2000). A basic guide to understanding, assessing and teaching overview of classroom strategies that can be used to develop children’s reading
fluency. Additionally, it offers links to other websites that can be accessed
phonological awareness. Austin, Tx: Pro-ed.
about the teaching and assessment of reading fluency.
Reading First OHIO: <www.readingfirstohio.org/page/
teaching-fluency-instructor-s-guide-tool-literacy-coaches>

Oxford Education Hub: Literacy and Language

09_FEL_LIT2_21177_TXT_3pp.indd 206
www.oup.com.au/higher_education/oxford_education_hub/language_and_literacy
14_FEL_LIT2_21177_TXT_3pp.indd 348
21/07/14 12:30 PM
21/07/14 12:53 PM

Here you will find a diverse selection of activities, additional material,

and interactive revision tools to help you get the most from your study.
Open to both students and lecturers, the OEH aids both teaching and
learning with accessible, high quality digital resources.
There are more literacy resources at oup.com.au
 xxi

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank our family and friends and our literacy and early childhood colleagues
for their support and encouragement as we wrote this book. We would also like to thank the
publishing and editorial staff from Oxford University Press who have worked with us to ensure
the book’s quality and completion, particularly Debra James, Victoria Kerr, Jennifer Butler and
Geraldine Corridon. We dedicate this book to six beautiful children—Niamh, Charis, Bayley,
Kiaya, William and QiQi—who inspire us in our commitment to language, literacy and early
childhood education.
The author and the publisher wish to thank the following copyright holders for reproduction
of their material.
Allen & Unwin for cover of Magic Beach, Table 20.3; Clean Slate Press for cover and text
from To Town, p. 485; Evans Publishing Group for cover of Eating Fruit and Vegetables (Start-Up
Design and Technology S.) by Claire Llewellyn; Photographer: Liz Price, Table 20.4; istockphoto/
Ma_co (dog) /johavel (carrot) /kristijanh (brother), p. 122; NAEYC (National Association for
the Education of Young Children, Table 9.2; National Institute for Literacy, www.nifl.gov, for
extract on p. 186; North-South Books Inc for cover of The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister,
©1992 North-South Books Inc., New York, an imprint of NordSüd Verlag AG, CH-8005 Zurich/
Switzerland in Table 20.3; Pearson Australia/New Zealand, cover reproduced with permission
from Jill Eggleton, Sailor Sam (c) 1999 Pearson Australia/New Zealand, p. 286; Penguin Group
for covers of Belinda by Pamella Allen (Penguin Australia) in Table 20.3, cover and text from
Boo to a goose by Mem Fox, Puffin, New York, 2001, p. 81, cover & text from Brown Bear by Bill
Martin and Eric Carle (1984), p. 485, cover of Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell (Penguin UK) in Table
20.3, Elephants, Chatterbox series by Edel Wignall, in Table 20.4, cover of Who Sank the Boat
by Pamela Allen (Penguin Australia - Picture Puffin), in Table 20.3, cover of Why is the sky blue?
by Geraldine Taylor and Amy Schimler in Table 20.4; Phonics Alive! for the screenshot, p. 566;
RAND Corporation for permission to use the RAND model of reading comprehension, Figure
13.1; Reprinted by permission, California Department of Education, CDE Press, 1430 N Street,
Suite 3207, Sacramento, CA 95814, Table 8.12; Shutterstock/Adam Borkowski, p. 71 /Celek,
p. 22 /Diego Cervo, p. 18 /Herjua, p. 21 /Morgan Lane Photography, p. 37 /Pavel Losevsky,
p. 617 /Pavlov Mikhail, p. 357 centre /Poznyakov, p. 74 /StockLite, p. 135; Walker Books page
for Let’s get a pup!, p. 551, cover of The Hidden Forest in Table 20.3.
Every effort has been made to trace the original source of copyright material contained in
this book. The publisher will be pleased to hear from copyright holders to rectify any errors or
omissions.
 1

Introduction to Literacy:
Definitions and Theoretical
Perspectives
1
Chapter objectives
This chapter will increase your understanding of:

• definitions of literacy
• multiliteracies
• theoretical perspectives on literacy learning
• affective factors in literacy learning.

In this first chapter of Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education, you will be introduced
to various definitions of literacy, including the concept of ‘multiliteracies’. You will discover
that literacy is a dynamic social practice that is used in different ways for different purposes
by diverse groups. It is highly influenced by context, so with rapid advances in technology
and increasing globalisation, literacy has changed significantly since the beginning of the
21st century. In this chapter, we also present the major theoretical perspectives on how children
learn literacy, and outline how these perspectives have shaped pedagogical approaches. Finally,
affective factors such as children’s motivation and engagement in literacy learning will briefly
be discussed—including the observation that to be successful literacy learners, young children
need positive, supportive environments and relationships, as well as texts and experiences that
are relevant and of interest to them.

Key terms
affective multiliteracies
cognitive developmental perspective multimodal
emergent perspective socio-cultural perspective
evidence-based whole language
maturational perspective
Other documents randomly have
different content
[21] Here must be some mistake in my notes; for Lady Cobham’s
might have been a family picture, if the term were applied to Lord
Chatham’s residence; but how could it be so, as belonging to the
Wiltshire estate? However, I let it stand as it was written at the
time.
[22] Much has been written in prose and verse on the advantages
and mischief of smoking tobacco. Tissot, among others, filled a
volume to prove that half the maladies of mankind may be traced
to the use of tobacco. But when some millions of people, male
and female, as in Turkey, smoke from morning till night, and live,
florid and robust, to a good old age, it may be questioned whether
Tissot showed the same sagacity in his nosological researches on
this as on other subjects. All I can say is that Lady Hester gave
her sanction to the practice by the habitual use of the long oriental
pipe, which use dated from the year 1817, or thereabouts.
As she had now kept her bed for many weeks, we will describe
her there, when, lying with her pipe in her mouth, talking on
politics, philosophy, morality, religion, or on any other theme, with
her accustomed eloquence, and closing her periods with a whiff
that would have made the Duchess of Rutland stare with
astonishment, could she have risen from her tomb to have seen
her quondam friend, the brilliant ornament of a London drawing-
room, clouded in fumes so that her features were sometimes
invisible. Now, this altered individual had not a covering to her
bed that was not burnt into twenty holes by the sparks and ashes
that had fallen from her pipe; and, had not these coverings been
all woollen, it is certain that, on some unlucky night, she must
have been consumed, bed and all.
Her bed-room, at the end of every twenty-four hours, was strewed
with tobacco and ashes, to be swept away and again strewed as
before; and it was always strongly impregnated with the fumes.
The finest tobacco the country could produce, and the cleanest
pipes (for she had a new one almost as often as a fop puts on
new gloves), could hardly satisfy her fastidiousness; and I have
known her footman get as many scoldings as there were days in
the week on that score. From curiosity, I once counted a bundle of
pipes, thrown by after a day or two’s use, any one of which would
have fetched five or ten shillings in London, and there were one
hundred and two. The woods she most preferred were jessamine,
rose, and cork. She never smoked cherry-wood pipes, from their
weight, and because she liked cheaper ones, which she could
renew oftener. She never arrived at that perfectability, which is
seen in many smokers, of swallowing the fumes, or of making
them pass out at her nostrils. The pipe was to her what a fan was
or is in a lady’s hand—a means of having something to do. She
forgot it when she had a letter to write, or any serious occupation.
It is not so with the studious and literary man, who fancies it helps
reflection or promotes inspiration.
[23] About the time of the Duke of York’s affair with Mrs. Clarke,
Lady Hester went into Wales, and, in an inn at Builth, she got
round her the exciseman, the apothecary, the landlord, and some
of the village farmers. “Pray, Mr. Innkeeper,” she said, “how
should you like a painted wife, with half-a-dozen fine gentlemen
about her, shaking the hair-powder on her face? Or is it
agreeable, Mr. M., to have the window opened at dinner-time, in a
cold November day, to let out the smells of a parcel of dogs? I
suppose, if you had an uncomfortable home, you would think
yourself at liberty to take a little pleasure elsewhere.” With
speeches of that sort she won them all over to the duke’s side. To
hear her relate the story herself, with her mimickry of the men and
the landlady, to each of whom she addressed some question,
which brought the case home to their own feelings, was infinitely
amusing: it was one of the best scenes I ever heard her act.
 chapter vii.
Journey to Beyrout—Death of Mrs. K—— —Mr. George Robinson and M. Guys
—The River Damoor—Khaldy—Letter from Lady Hester to Mr. K.—Lord Prudhoe
—Mrs. Moore—Lady Hester’s dislike to be the subject of occasional poetry—
Striking a Turk—Lady Hester’s opinion of Lord Byron—Arrival of Maximilian Duke
of Bavaria—Letter to the Baron de Busech—Letter to H.R.H. the Duke Maximilian
—Adventures of the Duke—Illness of the Duke’s negro, Wellington—Vexation of
His Royal Highness—Letter to Mr. K., merchant at Beyrout—Letter to Lord
Brougham—Professional visit to Sulyman Pasha’s child—League between the
maids and receivers of stolen goods—Black doses for the Prince’s suite—Letter
from Lady Hester to the Duke of Bavaria on his intended visit—The Duke leaves
Syria.

Tuesday, May 15.—I had been to Sayda to-day, and was within a
mile of Jôon, on my return, when I saw a servant making towards me
in breathless haste. A letter had arrived for me from Beyrout, which
Lady Hester had immediately forwarded to me on the road by this
man, charging him to deliver it with all possible speed, so that it
should reach me before the close of daylight. The reason of all this
extraordinary haste was that I might be enabled to communicate at
once with her, if necessary, concerning its contents; as the vigil of
Wednesday commenced at sunset on Tuesday, from which hour till
the following sunset she could neither see me, nor admit of any
message from me. The reader will remember that on every
Wednesday, from sunset to sunset, her ladyship was invisible.
There was indeed occasion, as it happened, for all this haste. The
letter was from Mr. K., an English merchant at Beyrout, informing me
of the alarming illness of his wife, and begging, in the most pressing
terms, that I would use all expedition to come (as he was pleased to
express himself) and save her.
As the sun was now setting, I desired the servant to tell Lady
Hester that there would not be time in the interval for me to see her,
and that I should be obliged to set off that night to Beyrout. I made
my arrangements accordingly, and started at three o’clock in the
morning, about two hours before daylight, accompanied by a
servant. The horses were all at grass some miles from the house, so
that I was compelled to perform the journey on an ass. It took me
eleven hours; and, on my arrival, I found that Mrs. K. had died in the
morning.
There was a very decent inn at Beyrout, kept by one Guiseppe
Paraschivà, a Greek, who gave the most copious repasts that a
hungry traveller can desire to find. Having ordered my dinner, I went
to the French consul’s house, thinking there to meet with the
physician who attended Mrs. K. In the quadrangle of his residence I
saw a number of persons assembled, and an auction going on. I had
not made three steps towards the circle, when a gentleman who
knew me advanced in a hurried manner towards me. “Touch
nobody,” said he; “the plague is in the town: it has taken us by
surprise; three persons have died to-day in the blacksmiths’
street.”[24] I thanked my friend, and, having seen Monsieur Guys,
who confirmed the bad news of the plague and of Mrs. K.’s death, I
hastened away, and went to the English consul’s, Mr. Moore. He was
already in quarantine, and received me at the doorway of his house,
where it happened Lord Prudhoe was then sitting, in the same
predicament.
The funeral of Mrs. K. took place in the evening. Her case had
been a melancholy one: her sufferings must have been excruciating;
and the affection of the husband, anxious to save the life of a wife he
loved to distraction, induced him to allow of certain unskilful efforts
for her relief, no doubt well intended, but assuredly baneful to the
patient. The lady was a German, a model of domestic purity and
affection, and idolized by her husband.
I saw Mr. K. the following day, and condoled with him on his loss.
He was like a distracted man, and lay prostrate on his sofa, vowing
vengeance against the French doctor, whom he denounced as his
wife’s murderer.
Saturday, May 19.—As the Franks had now begun to shut up their
houses, and the report of fresh cases of plague had created some
consternation, I returned to Jôon. The preceding evening, whilst
paying a visit to Monsieur and Madame Guys, he put into my hands
a file of newspapers, a packet of letters, and a parcel, just arrived by
a French merchant-vessel from Marseilles. The parcel contained Mr.
George Robinson’s “Three Years’ Residence in the East,” which the
author himself had kindly forwarded to me from Paris. I had the
pleasure of opening it at the thirty-sixth page of his volume on Syria,
and of reading to my friends, Monsieur and Madame Guys, the well-
deserved tribute paid to their hospitality and distinguished merits,
which excited in them a lively emotion. “We do our best,” said
Monsieur Guys, “to make Beyrout agreeable to such travellers as we
are fortunate enough to become acquainted with; but it is not always
that we meet with such grateful acknowledgments.” Mr. Robinson, in
his Arab dress, was the exact similitude of Burckhardt, alias Shaykh
Ibrahim. He also spoke Arabic with a degree of fluency that made it
probable, had he spent as many years in the East as Mr. Burckhardt,
he would have been able, like him, almost to have passed for a
native.
Being long familiar with the road from Beyrout to Sayda, it would
be difficult for me to conjure up such a picture of its rocky and
solitary horrors as that which has been drawn by M. Lamartine.
Features so romantic could have been portrayed only under the
sudden inspiration of novelty and surprise. First impressions are
strongly contrasted with the hackneyed indifference of one who has
traversed the same ground over and over again, and is become
familiar with its peculiarities. Instead, therefore, of describing what
would strike the eye of the new-comer, let us substitute a sketch or
two of the actual manners of the people in the khans or on the high
road, as they are presented to the habitual observer.
I left Beyrout on my return as soon as the city gates were open,
which was before sunrise. The mulberry grounds and olive groves
through which the road lies extend in this direction for four or five
miles. Then the sandy soil ceases, the spurs of Mount Lebanon
come down to within a few hundred yards of the seashore, and
sometimes meet the waves. I was overtaken hereabout by three
horsemen, all Christians—for Christians and Turks are seldom seen
riding in company—and one of this goodly trio was, thus early in the
morning, singing with all the force of his lungs. Osman Chaôosh,
who was with me, said, “That man, who is so merry, is reputed to
have the best voice in all Sayda; he goes very often into the
Mountain to the different Emirs’ palaces, where he remains a
fortnight together, and diverts them by his songs. They say the
princes are so fond of him that he sometimes brings away bags full
of money. Then he is invited to weddings, and to merchants’ and
agas’ parties, and wherever gaiety or amusement of any kind is
going forward.” By this time they had come up with us, and were
questioning Osman, in a low voice, where I had been, &c. They then
kissed their hands, touched their turbans, and, passing a-head,
being well mounted on good mares, they soon outstripped us, and
left us behind. Osman resumed the conversation—“Did you observe
that rider, with a full face, on the chestnut mare, with a saddle
covered with brocade? well, that is one of the best penmen we have
in all the pashalik. He was a government secretary at Acre, and vast
sums of money passed through his hands; but some stuck to his
fingers, and, being found out, he was bastinadoed and sent by the
Pasha to the Lemàn,” (place for convicts) “where he remained some
months. He was not badly off, however, as he did nothing except
smoking his pipe all day. He has now been out a good bit, but is
employed again.”—“And is he well received in society after such an
exposure?” I asked.—“Why not?” replied Osman; “he was not quite
clever enough, and he suffered for it—that’s all.”
We soon after came to a khan, called El Khaldy, where we found
the three horsemen dismounted, and seated under the shed,
drinking arrack and smoking. I made a halt likewise to get something
for breakfast. The khankeeper spread a clean mat on the floor of the
estrade, and on this I sat down. A brown earthenware dish of leben,
or curdled milk, was served up with a wooden spoon, and about half
a dozen bread-cakes, in size and substance like pancakes, were
placed before me. When I had eaten this, a pipe and a finjàn of
coffee, with a lump of sugar out of a little provision which Osman had
in his saddle-bags (a precaution necessary in these public-houses,
where no such luxury is found), finished my temperate meal. The ex-
convict and the singer were treated as great gentry, which I could
easily observe by the attention the master paid them. Whilst I was
smoking my pipe, another horseman arrived with a groom on foot.
The groom tied up the horse in front of the khan, took off the saddle-
bags, and, from a napkin, which he spread on the mat where his
master had been littered down like myself, he pulled out bread,
cheese, and a paper of halâwy or nougat, as the French call it. Then,
having unstrapped the nosebag of corn, he tied it over the horse’s
head, and came and seated himself opposite his master, and both
began to eat with sharp appetites, master and servant without any
distinction. The landlord brought a small bottle with a spout to it, full
of arrack, and a tumbler, which were set down without a word being
spoken, showing he was well acquainted with his guests’ taste. The
gentleman—as persons always do in the East—invited me to join
him; and, on my thanking him, he did the same to a poor peasant
who was seated near us. Good breeding among them requires that,
when they eat, they should ask those present to do the same; but
nobody ever thinks of accepting the invitation, unless pressed upon
him in a manner which is understood to preclude a refusal. I however
accepted a bit of halâwy, not to appear uncivil, upon which the
traveller asked me if we had any such sweetmeat in my country. I
declared we had none more to my taste, although our confectioners’
shops possessed a great variety. He remarked that it was an
excellent thing on the road wherewith to stay the appetite, and
assured me that Haroun el Raschid himself, if I had ever heard of
that caliph, did not disdain it. “Oh!” replied I, “we have many stories
of the Caliph Haroun.”—“Have you?” cried he: “then, if you will give
me leave, I will add one more to your store.[25]
“Hakem was one of the familiar friends of the Commander of the
Faithful, Haroun el Raschid. The caliph said to him one day, ‘Hakem,
I mean to hunt to-morrow, thou must go with me.’—‘Most willingly,’
answered Hakem. He went home and said to his wife, ‘The caliph
has ordered me to go a hunting with him to-morrow, but really I
cannot; I am accustomed to dine early, and the caliph never takes
his dinner before noon: I shall die of hunger. Faith, I will not
go.’—‘God forbid!’ said the wife: ‘you do not mean to say you will
disobey the caliph’s order?’—‘But what am I to do?’ said Hakem;
‘must I die of hunger?’—‘No,’ quoth the wife; ‘you have nothing to do
but to buy a paper of halâwy, which you can put in the folds of your
turban, and so eat a bit every now and then whilst you are waiting for
the caliph’s dinner time, and then you will dine with him.’—‘Upon my
word,’ said Hakem, ‘that’s an excellent idea.’ The next day Hakem
bought a paper of halâwy, stuck it into his turban, and went to join
the caliph. As they were riding along, Haroun turned round, and
looking at Hakem, spied out in the folds of his turban, rolled round
his head, the paper in which the halâwy was wrapped. He called to
his Vizir Giaffer. ‘What is your pleasure, Commander of the Faithful?’
said the Vizir.—‘Do you see,’ said the caliph, ‘the paper of halâwy
that Hakem has stuck in his turban? By the Prophet, I’ll have some
fun with him: he shall not eat a bit of it.’ They went on for a while
talking, until the caliph, pretending that he saw some game, spurred
on his mule as if to pursue it. Hakem raised his hand up to his
turban, took a bit of halâwy out of it, and put it into his mouth. The
same moment, the caliph, turning back to him, cried out, ‘Hakem!’
Hakem spit out the halâwy, and replied:—‘Please your
Highness!’—‘The mule,’ said Haroun, ‘goes very badly; I can’t think
what is the matter with her.’—‘I dare say the groom has fed her too
much,’ replied Hakem submissively; ‘her guts are grumbling.’ They
went on again, and the caliph again took the lead. Hakem thought
the opportunity favourable, took out another bit of halâwy, and
whipped it slily into his mouth, when Haroun suddenly turned round,
crying ‘Hakem! Hakem!’—‘What is your Highness’s will?’ said
Hakem, again dropping the halâwy. ‘I tell you,’ rejoined the caliph,
‘that this mule is a vile beast: I wonder what the devil it is that
troubles her!’—‘Commander of the Faithful,’ said Hakem, ‘to-morrow
the farrier shall look at her, and see what ails her. I dare say it is
nothing.’ A few moments elapsed, and Hakem said to himself, ‘Am I
a farrier, that that fool should bore me with his questions every
moment? mule! mule! I wish to God the mule’s four feet were in the
master’s belly!’
“Shortly after, the caliph pushed forward again. Hakem cautiously
carried his hand to the halâwy, and made another trial; but, before he
had time to put it into his mouth, the caliph rode up to him, crying
out, ‘Hakem! Hakem! Hakem!’—‘Oh Lord,’ said Hakem, ‘what a
wretched day for me! nothing but Hakem, Hakem! What folly is
this!’—‘I think the farrier must have pricked the mule’s foot,’ said
Haroun: ‘don’t you see that she is lame?’—‘My lord,’ said Hakem,
‘to-morrow we will take her shoe off; the farrier shall give her another
shoe, and, please God, we shall cure her.’
“Just then a caravan came along the road on its way from Persia.
One of the merchants approached the caliph, prostrated himself
before him, and presented him with several objects of value, as also
with a young slave of incomparable beauty and of a lovely figure,
remarkable for the charms of her person, with taper waist and
swelling hips, eyes like an antelope’s, and a mouth like Solomon’s
seal. She had cost the merchant a hundred thousand denàrs. When
Haroun saw her, he was charmed at her aspect, and became at
once passionately enamoured of her. He immediately gave orders to
turn back to Bagdad, and said to Hakem, ‘Take that young creature
with you, and make haste with her to the city. Get down at the palace
—go up to the Pavilion—put it in order—uncover the furniture, set
out the table—fill the bottles—and look that nothing is wanting.’
Hakem hastened on, and executed his commission. The caliph soon
after arrived, surrounded by his cortège of vizirs, emirs, and
courtiers. He entered the Pavilion, and dismissed his suite. Going
into the saloon, where the young slave awaited him, he said to
Hakem, ‘Remain outside the door of the saloon; stir not a single step
from it; and see that the Princess Zobëide does not surprise us.’—‘I
understand,’ said Hakem. ‘A thousand times obedience to the orders
of God and to the Commander of the Faithful.’
“The caliph sat down to table with the young slave: they ate, and
then went into another room, where wines and dessert were
prepared. Haroun had just taken a seat, had filled his glass, and had
got it to his mouth, when there was a knock at the door. ‘As sure as
fate,’ said the caliph, ‘here is the Princess Zobëide.’ He rose in a
hurry, put away the wine and everything that was on the table, hid
the young lady in a closet, and opened the door of the pavilion,
where he finds Hakem. ‘Is the Princess Zobëide coming?’ said he to
him. ‘No, my lord,’ said Hakem: ‘but I fancied you might be uneasy
about your mule. I have questioned the groom, and, true enough, he
had overfed her: the beast’s stomach was crammed. To-morrow we
will have her bled, and all will be right again.’—‘Don’t trouble thyself
about the mule,’ said the caliph; ‘I want none of thy impertinent
stories now. Remain at thy post, and, if thou hearest the Princess
Zobëide coming, let me know.’—‘Your highness shall be obeyed,’
replied Hakem.
“Haroun re-entered the apartment, fetched the beautiful slave out
of the closet, and placed everything on the table as before. He had
hardly done, when another knock was heard. ‘A curse on it! there is
Zobëide,’ cries the caliph. He hides the slave in the closet, shuffles
off the wine and dessert, and runs to the door. There he sees
Hakem. ‘Well,’ says he, ‘what did you knock for?’—‘Indeed,
Commander of the Faithful,’ replied Hakem, ‘I can’t help thinking
about that mule. I have again interrogated the farrier, and he
pretends there is nothing the matter with her, but that she has stood
too long without work in the stable, and that’s the reason why she
was a little lazy when you rode her to-day: otherwise she is very
well?—‘To the devil with ye both—thee and the mule!’ said Haroun;
‘didn’t I tell thee I would have none of thy impertinence? Stand where
I told thee to remain, and take care that Zobëide does not catch us;
for, if she did, this day would be a bad one for thee.’—‘May my head
answer for my vigilance,’ said Hakem.
“Again the caliph goes in, and a third time lets out the young
slave, replenishes the table, fills a goblet with wine, and carries it to
his lips. Suddenly he hears a clatter on the terrace: ‘This time,’ said
he, ‘there is Zobëide, sure enough.’ He pushes the slave into her
hiding-place, removes the fruit and the wine, and burns some pastils
to drive away the smell. He hastens up to the terrace of the pavilion,
finds nobody but Hakem there, and says to him ‘Was that Zobëide?
—where is she?—is she coming?’—‘No, no, Commander of the
Faithful,’ said Hakem; ‘the princess is not here; but I saw the mule
making a clatter with her feet, just as I did myself, and I am really
quite uncomfortable about her; I was afraid she had the colic, and I
feel quite alarmed.’—‘I wish to God thou may’st have the colic all thy
life, cursed fool that thou art! Out with thee, and let me never see thy
face again! If thou ever presumest to come into my presence again, I
will have thee hanged.’ Hakem went home and told his wife that the
caliph had dismissed him, and had forbidden him ever to show his
face at court again. He remained some time in his house, until he
thought that the caliph’s anger had subsided. He then said to his
wife, ‘Go to the palace, kiss Zobëide’s hand; tell her that the caliph is
angry with me, and beg her to intercede with him for me.’ The wife
fulfilled his commission. The Princess Zobëide interceded for
Hakem, and the caliph pardoned him.”
My narrator, after receiving my thanks for his entertaining story,
took his leave, mounted his horse, and rode off. The conversation
now became general, and turned on the river Damôor, which
empties itself into the sea midway between Beyrout and Sayda, and
often swells, from the rains and the melting of the snows in the
mountain, so as to become exceedingly dangerous to ford, as there
is no bridge over it. “What a fool the Jew was,” cried one, “to lose his
life for a few piasters! The guides offered to take him across for a
khyréah—four of them, two at the head and two at the flanks of his
mule; but he must needs haggle, and would give no more than ten
piasters; and, seeing one of the Pasha’s estafettes get across safe,
he fancied he could do the same: but they know the ford as well as
the guides; for they traverse it daily. So the Jew was carried off, and
neither he nor his mule were ever seen afterwards.”—“It was just the
same,” said a second speaker, “with the peasant from Medjdeloony
who was going to buy wheat at Beyrout: for you know, gentlemen, a
Greek vessel had arrived from Tarsûs with very good corn, at four
and a half piasters the roop. Well, he too was rash enough to
suppose he could get across alone, and they only asked him five
piasters—only a fourth of what they wanted of the Jew. But the
waters were up to his armpits; and, his foot slipping just in the
deepest part, he fell, and, after a few struggles, was carried out to
sea. All the peasants of the village, which, you know, is close by
where the English queen lives, came down to watch if the body was
cast ashore: for they say he had above a thousand piasters in his
girdle from different poor families who had commissioned him to buy
for them: and the poor creatures were naturally anxious to recover
it.”
 Having smoked my pipe, I mounted my ass, crossed the Damôor
in safety, and halted again at Nebby Yuness, a santon’s, where there
are two comfortable rooms for travellers, attached to the shrine. Here
I smoked another pipe, heard a long string of compliments and
grateful expressions from the imàm (who lived there to show the
shrine to pilgrims), in return for the donations which Lady Hester sent
occasionally to the shrine, and which he pocketed. I remounted,
struck off at Rumelly from the high road into the mountain by a cross
country path, and at about five o’clock reached Jôon.
Khaldy, of which mention was made above, is a spot which has
been too much neglected by travellers; and it would be well if some
one, who had leisure and ability for such researches, would pass a
day or two there, to make an accurate examination, and to take
drawings of the numberless sarcophagi which lie about on the
ground, or are hewn in the solid rock. Many of them have bas-reliefs
on them; and, as such a mass of tombs must necessarily imply the
former vicinity of some ancient city, diligent research might lead to
the discovery of historical antiquities in the neighbourhood.
There is a day in the year, in the month of June or July, I now
forget which, when hundreds of Christians resort to this spot from
Beyrout, Sayda, and the villages of Mount Lebanon, for the
celebration of a saint’s festival; and a part of the holiday consists in
washing themselves in the sea. The craniologist might have a fine
field for study in beholding a hundred bare heads at the same time
around him. I happened once to ride through Khaldy on that very
saint’s day, and never was I so struck with anything as with the sight
of countless shaved heads, almost all having a conical shape, quite
unlike European heads. But, besides this, a stranger would see
much merry-making, dancing, drinking, and many mountain female
dresses united here, which he would have to seek for through twenty
districts at any other time. Monsieur Las Cases has a painting of this
spot, which may, or might once, be seen at the Gobelins
manufactory at Paris, of which establishment he was director some
years ago, or else in Monsieur Denon’s collection. It is one of those
exaggerated fancy paintings which artists are never pardonable for
making, when they are intended to be shown as faithful copies;
because, like certain historical novels, they lend a false colouring to
facts and realities. There are other untruths besides those which are
spoken or written; and these undoubtedly may be classed amongst
the most reprehensible. I often regretted that my numerous
occupations prevented me from wandering over this interesting field
of inquiry.
Sunday, May 20.—I gave Lady Hester an account of the tragical
end of poor Mrs. K., which induced her to write a letter of consolation
to the afflicted widower, of whom, though she had never seen him,
she was a sincere well-wisher. This is a copy of it:—

To Mr. K., merchant at Beyrout.

Jôon, May 20, 1838.
Sir,
Nearly a year ago I had commissioned Mohadýn—Mr.
Lancaster’s idle and talkative ci-devant young servant—to
felicitate you upon your marriage: but now the task of
administering consolation for the late sad event devolves
upon me. Mrs. K.’s conduct, from the first, had made a strong
impression upon my mind. Young and handsome, as she was,
to have left her country to follow you, argued her to be of no
common mould. Avoiding to be detrimental to your interests,
and giving up the empty homage, which vanity would have
demanded with most women, that you should have left your
affairs to accompany her—above considering what scandal
might set afloat in the world—she followed the dictates of her
own heart, and relied upon your honour: a circumstance,
which, in the annals of your life, ought not to be forgotten.
That you should be in despair at the loss of such a woman
is but too natural: but you should consider, at the same time,
that you have enjoyed perhaps in this one year more
happiness than falls to the share of many, even during the
course of their lives. Thank God for it! and do not, by
despondency, displease the Omnipotent who has thus
 favoured you, or allow that amiable creature in other regions,
from which she is perhaps still watching over you, to witness
your despair. I have heard from one who knows you that you
are of a manly character. Without making any sacrifice of
those feelings which belong to energetic people only, make
use of that energy and good sense to palliate your griefs; and
bow with resignation to the will of the Almighty. I am quite
against persons endeavouring to drive away sorrow by hurry
or dissipation: cool reflection can alone bring some balm to
the soul.
I remain, sir, &c.
Hester Lucy Stanhope.
PS.—In the present state of your mind, I will not allow you
to give me any answer. But I shall keep my eye upon you;
and, if you are unheeding of my advice, I shall put myself into
one of my great passions, which even exceed those which I
understand you sometimes fall into, but which enhance your
character in my estimation. For the cold-heartedness of men
of the present generation is nearly death to me.

After this letter was written, Lady Hester talked about Lord
Prudhoe and Colonel Davidson, who was also staying at the inn at
Beyrout, and whose father, Lady Hester said, was a man of some
note in her time. “Did you make acquaintance with them?” she
asked: I replied, “No; for according to English custom, Englishmen,
even in lands so remote from home, maintain their strange reserve,
and carry their looks of distrust with them wherever they go. The
‘Who are you, I wonder?—‘shall I degrade myself in speaking to
you?’ seems to be ever uppermost in their thoughts.” She then
spoke of Mrs. Moore, the lady of the British consul, whom she
eulogized greatly. “That is one of the few women I must like,” said
Lady Hester; “indeed it is my duty to do so, and, when next you go to
Beyrout, you must tell her so: but you don’t know the reason, nor
does she. What do you think of her, doctor?” I answered, “It appears
to me that M. Lamartine, had he known her, would have felt the
inspiration which he caught so readily in the poetic land of the East:
—he has celebrated beauty less remarkable than hers.”
“And so I dare say you have supplied the omission,” observed
Lady Hester. “I have attempted to do so in a very bungling way,”
replied I. “Well,” said she, “never mind; let me hear what you have
written.” So I drew out a few verses, which I had pencilled at the inn
at Beyrout immediately after I had the honour of seeing that lady,
and read them.
“They are not so bad,” observed Lady Hester; “but that was not
what you went to Beyrout for.”
The subject carried her back to past times, and she said—“I have
made it a rule all my life, from the moment I came into the great
world, never to suffer verses to be written about me by anybody. If I
had liked the thing, I might have had thousands of poets to celebrate
my praises in all manner of ways; but there is nothing I think so
ridiculous. Look at the Duchess of Devonshire, with every day ‘A
copy of verses on her taking a walk’—‘An impromptu on her having a
headache’—and all such nonsense: I detest it.”
This brought to my mind a circumstance which occurred in the
early part of our travels. I had written a small poem, in which a few
lines, eulogistic of herself, were introduced; and one day I read it to
her. After I had finished, she said, “You know, doctor, this will only do
to show people in private; and, if ever you dare to put my name to
any published poetry, I’ll take measures to make you heartily repent
of it.”
Lady Hester, however, was not insensible to that species of praise
which rests on the application of a passage of some classic author,
to illustrate one character by its resemblance to that of another
already stamped with celebrity. Thus she was greatly pleased when
Mr. Pitt, in reading Gray’s fragment of the tragedy of Agrippina aloud,
and in coming to some lines in which he recognized a great similarity
to her language, cried out—“Why, Hester, that’s you; here you are—
just like you!” then, reading on a little farther—“Here you are again
scolding him!” meaning, as Lady Hester told me at the time, that it
was just like her, scolding Lord Mahon.
Tuesday, May 22.—I had struck a Turk, one of the servants, with
a stick over his shoulders; but, in so doing, I forgot the penalty
attached to striking a Mussulman. Formerly such an act, done by a
Christian hand, was punished with death, or the alternative of
becoming a renegado of one’s faith. Even now the old Mussulman
servants muttered threats against me, as I was told, and I really think
would have done me harm, if they could. For all Lady Hester’s power
hardly went farther than to have her people punished by the
instrumentality of another Turk; but the moment I thought proper to
chastise a fellow’s insolence with my own hand, she did not hesitate
to tell me that I must be wary how I repeated it again; assuring me
that a blow from a Christian never could be pardoned by them.
Thursday, May 24.—In reading the newspapers, Lord Byron’s
name occurred. “I think,” said Lady Hester, “he was a strange
character: his generosity was for a motive, his avarice for a motive:
one time he was mopish, and nobody was to speak to him; another,
he was for being jocular with everybody. Then he was a sort of Don
Quixote fighting with the police for a woman of the town; and then he
wanted to make himself something great. But when he allowed
himself to be bullied by the Albanians, it was all over with him; you
must not show any fear with them. At Athens, I saw nothing in him
but a well-bred man, like many others: for, as for poetry, it is easy
enough to write verses; and as for the thoughts, who knows where
he got them? Many a one picks up some old book that nobody
knows anything about, and gets his ideas out of it. He had a great
deal of vice in his looks—his eyes set close together, and a
contracted brow, so”—(imitating it). “Oh, Lord! I am sure he was not
a liberal man, whatever else he might be. The only good thing about
his looks was this part,” (drawing her hand under the cheek down the
front of her neck), “and the curl on his forehead.”
Saturday, May 26.—About eleven at night, Lady Hester went into
the bath, previous to which I passed two or three hours with her. The
conversation ran on the arrival of some Europeans at Sayda, who,
by the report of a servant returning from the town, had lost two of
their number by the plague, and, in consequence, had been put into
quarantine at Sheemaôony, the Turkish mausoleum spoken of in a
former page, about a quarter of a mile from the city gate. Lady
Hester had heard of their distressed situation about four o’clock in
the afternoon, it being said they were pilgrims who had applied for
permission to be lodged at Dayr el Mkhallas, the monastery at Jôon,
which had been acceded to by the monks but forbidden by the health
officers, owing to a foul bill of health they brought with them.
Subsequently it was given out that they were poor Germans; and
she, with her accustomed humanity, thinking they might be in want of
some little comforts, had made up a couple of baskets of violet and
rose syrups, capillaire, lemons, &c., and despatched a man with a
note, in these words:—“The humble offering of Lady Hester
Stanhope to the sick Germans, with her request that they will make
known their wants to her, whether for medicines, or for whatever they
may need.”
The servant had hardly set off, when an express arrived with a
letter to her ladyship from one of the strangers, to the effect that, one
of the party being ill, the writer requested she would be kind enough
to send down her doctor. It was signed Charles Baron de Busech,
Knight of Malta. On asking me whether I was afraid of the plague, I
answered, “Yes; and as it appeared they were men of rank, and
could not fail of obtaining medical advice from Sayda, where there
were four or five army surgeons, and two or three physicians, I
thought it best not to go until more clear information had been
obtained respecting them.” Lady Hester approved of this, and wrote
the following reply:—

To the Baron Charles de Busech, Knight of Malta, in

quarantine on the seashore, Sayda.
Jôon, May 26, 1838.
Sir Baron,
Although I myself have no fear of the plague, or of persons
infected with it, almost all the Franks have. The physician who
is with me happens to be of the number; therefore, it does not
 depend on me to cure people of what I consider prejudices.
Our days are numbered, and everything is in the hands of
God.
Your letter is without a date, and comes from I know not
where. At the moment that I received it I had sent a servant
with a few cooling syrups to some sick Germans, guarded by
a ring of soldiers outside of the town, of whose names and
class in life I am ignorant, although the peasants give out that
there are some of very high quality among them: for I feared
that, in a strange country, and thus surrounded by fever or
perhaps plague, they would not be able to procure the drinks
necessary in such maladies. I hope not to have offended any
one, although I have made a blundering business, not
knowing who I addressed myself to. But, having understood
that they had yesterday demanded an asylum at Dayr
Mkhallas, which had been refused them, I was uneasy on
their account.
I have ordered my purveyor at Sayda, Captain Hassan
Logmagi, to come up to-morrow, that I may get a right
understanding in this confused affair, and may see if it is in
my power, by any trifling service, to be useful to them. Allow
me to remark that, if, in any case, symptoms of plague, or
even of the ardent fevers of the country, manifest themselves,
the Frank doctors understand but little about it. The barbers of
the country are those who have the most knowledge on the
subject.
This letter goes by the servant, who has in charge the
basket of syrups, and whom I had called back when about ten
minutes on his road.
H. L. Stanhope.

The servant was despatched, and many conjectures were formed

as to who the Baron de Busech could be. The reader will say that it
mattered little who he was, and that humanity dictated, when a sick
person demanded assistance, to go without delay and afford it. This,
in common cases, no doubt was what I or any other medical
practitioner should feel it his duty to do; but, where Lady Hester was
concerned, the ordinary rules of life would not hold good. I at once
considered what a warfare would ensue between her ladyship and
myself on the treatment to be followed (she always assuming the
right of dictation); and I thought it best to say I was afraid of the
plague: for, although I felt little difficulty in giving way to Lady
Hester’s opinion on other matters in discussion between us of every
possible kind, it was different where the treatment of the sick was
concerned; for there the case became serious, and life and death
were in the balance.
Lady Hester made this, my refusal, a pretext for a long lecture,
which she delivered in a mild tone, but mixed with the self-boasting
common to her. Her reasoning was indisputably sound, but she did
not know the motive that guided me.
Sunday, May 27.—Her ladyship’s letter to the baron was taken to
Logmagi at Sayda, who went immediately and delivered it to that
gentleman, and, according to the orders sent to him, offered his
services and those of her ladyship to all the party. He then came up
to the Dar, and informed her that the strangers were several in
number, Germans of distinction, and delivered a letter to her from
one of them. It was couched in courtly language, to thank her for her
attention to them. It repeated the request that she would let her
doctor come down, and was signed Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria.
As Beyrout was closed, owing to the plague, and the Sayda
bakers never make any bread but flat cakes, flaky and unpalateable,
Lady Hester ordered, as a first step for their comfort, a baking of
forty or fifty loaves, about the size of twopenny loaves: and this
supply was continued to the duke and his suite during the whole time
they remained. She sent tea and a teapot, rum, brandy, and such
little things as she knew could not be procured in the town. These
articles were accompanied by a letter, as follows:—
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