Egan 1991

Egan, Kieran. 1991. "Literacy and the oral foundations of education." In Minami and Kennedy 1991. (Reprint from Egan 1987.) Interest level: academic.

Emphasizes the importance of correctly understanding children's orality. Advocates appropriate curriculum development so orality can serve as the foundation for the later development of literacy. Discusses kinds of thinking, such as poetry, rhetoric, and music in cultures that do not have writing. Summarizes implications for education and gives examples of children's easy use of metaphor and simile.

Stresses the positive resources of orality, rather than considering it as an absence of literacy. Comments on the importance of humor and jokes that stimulate flexibility in the use of categories. Encourages teachers to think of lessons and units as good stories to tell in addition to objectives to attain.

This organizes "content in ways that make it more accessible and engaging to young children." Suggests alternatives to the dominant objectives-content-methods-evaluation schemes to plan and to teach lessons and units (pages 201-202).

• Bibliography module: Egan 1991
• In overview module: Bibliography (Literacy): E
• In modular book: Bibliography (Literacy), by Doris Gallemore, Trudi C. Hunt, Jeanne Swanson, and Stephen L. Walter
• In document collection: Reference materials
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 28 June 1999

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