U of A Childhood Educator Combines Experience with Research for Book Chapter

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Erin Casey

Erin Casey, University of Arkansas clinical assistant professor of childhood education, wrote a chapter for a new textbook in which she describes experiences she had teaching English as a second language in a large, urban school district more than 10 years ago.

Casey, who joined the faculty of the College of Education and Health Professions in 2010, wrote “Using Literacy Response Activities with Early Childhood English Language Learners and Immigrant Students” for Cross-Cultural Considerations in the Education of Young Immigrant Learners published recently by IGI Global.

In the chapter, Casey describes how she recorded her observations about her students’ language development and later recognized the central relationships between theory and methodology found in the experiences of the first-graders.

“By exploring the important components of this empirical evidence, educators can understand how the different pieces assemble to provide interactive, stimulating methodologies for use with early childhood English language learners and immigrant children,” she wrote.

The chapter examines issues such as beliefs about the literacy abilities and needs of English language learners, brain-based research about learning styles and cognitive growth, information on the appropriateness of using fairy tales, and Reader Response theory and its effectiveness on reading comprehension and oral language development.