Literacy environment: What must teachers do?

Abstract

This research is motivated by the lack of support for a literacy learning environment in the classroom that can function effectively to support the literacy skills of elementary school students. A literate environment is an important factor in the development of literacy skills because children who are exposed to an environment rich in literacy (functional literacy artifacts, the involvement of children in literacy activities with people around them, and activities to demonstrate literacy events and interactions) can gradually make children rich in literacy experiences and can achieve optimal literacy acquisition. The purpose of this study is to describe the condition of the literacy environment in elementary schools and how to design and function effective literacy environment artifacts to provide support in the development of children's literacy skills. The research method used is descriptive qualitative. The results of field findings of the literacy environment in class II SDN 1 Pasirhalang, Sukaraja District, Sukabumi Regency were obtained from observations using instruments developed from the Classroom Literacy Environment Checklist (CLEC). The findings from the observed schools indicate that from the aspect of the physical environment in the form of the availability of libraries, books in class, already exist but still need improvement, especially in their function as learning materials. Likewise, from the aspect of the social environment, teacher activities in learning have been seen, although they are not yet varied. These findings recommend that teachers need to design a classroom environment with an effective physical environment (literacy artifact) by providing reading books that are relevant to children's needs, printed materials, writing tools, and their function in learning activities. Besides, teachers also need to create a social literacy environment, through interactions between children and peers (discussion, sociodrama), interactions between children and teachers (information-rich conversations), literacy games, reading storybooks, sharing reading experiences, writing activities, as well as integrated literacy activities that focus on content (reading, writing, listening).