The Use of Children Literature in Literacy Development in Early Childhood, Pre-Primary and Primary Education 60 44

Abstract

The paper examines the use of children literature in literacy development in early childhood, pre-primary and primary education. Naturally, when young children are growing from birth in their families, they acquire their mother tongue effortlessly. At this stage, they are developing a certain degree and level of literacy. That is, the sociocultural relationship in their environment before going to school for formal education. These early years of children’s lives are very important because their experiences and backgrounds influence their future lives and during these crucial times of their lives, they acquire the fundamental foundations for the development of literacy. From this early stage of their lives, they learn to communicate with their environment by using spoken words and this develop the necessary skills for literacy acquisition. The focal point of this paper is to break down the meaning of literacy and children literature. The paper identifies some of the various components of children literature and identify how they can enhance the acquisition of literacy at this level. To achieve the purpose of this work, it examines with pragmatic examples some component such as: Story-telling, role playing method of children literature, reading for the children, learning by imitation, picture-kit, singing songs and rhymes, gamification and how they can be used to develop literacy.