Theoretical aspects of integrated language development in the teaching of reading and writing in primary education

The article deals with some aspects of integrated language education in reading and writing in the primary teaching phase (in the first grade). The Lithuanian language as a school subject in primary education involves two broad areas: a child’s language development and literary education. Each of the areas has several components. The curriculum of the Lithuanian language in primary school (grades 1–4) has traditionally been divided into the teaching of grammar and reading. After the reorganization of Lithuanian education the focus has shifted towards the content integration which is based on the holistic concept of personality, cognitive tendencies and leads to the development of an integral and fully educated personality. Based on psychological characteristics of children aged 7–11 years, a fragmented and grammaticalised language teaching has been replaced by the integrated language curriculum designed according to different linguistic activities, i.e. speaking, listening, reading and writing, which are integrated in the learning materials and learning process. The integration of education has been broadly discussed extensively by famous Lithuanian teachers. In their opinion, inclusive relationships can be very varied and involve both wide and narrow fields of education. When creating a new curriculum the focus should be placed on the integration of subjects. We are interested in the internal integration of the subject, i.e. the combination of different components within the Lithuanian language teaching in the primary stage of teaching of reading and writing. We suggest that the internal integration of language education can have multiple aspects. The first aspect involves the integration of oral (speaking and listening) and written language (reading and writing).The relationship between spoken and written language in educating the child is a straightforward one because, according to psychologists, spoken language is the foundation of the development of written language. The relationship of spoken and written language results in the second aspect of language development integration, i.e. the integration of literary and language education. In the modern primary education it is the most prominent feature of internal integration. Its essence lies is combining language teaching with literary education. The third aspect is based on the integration of language elements or units, i.e. the links between a text, sentence, word and sound. Here the most important role is that of a text because a text is an example of naturally produced language where all language units are used in a variety of forms and the full meaning and importance of a sentence, word and sound is most fully revealed. The internal integration of language development in primary reading and writing teaching phase has some features typical only of the primary phase; therefore, some specific aspects of integration can be defined. Integration of language units (levels). While teaching new sounds, we have to isolate them in the word and teach to pronounce them correctly in the word as well. However, in naturally occurring speech, thoughts are expressed in sentences and sentences form texts. Therefore, examples suitable for phonemic analysis are taken out from texts such as folk songs and poems. Therefore, while showing new letters and their sounds all language units are integrated.Integration of literary education and reading and writing. Next to the extra time dedicated to reading fiction in the first grade, suitably selected texts and words taken from them for phonemic analysis and teaching of new letters can benefit literary education as well. It is useful to provide such texts in the textbook: texts are read by the teacher, the pupils can find new letters, isolate them from the other letters, those who read can already read the given text. Children’s folklore, poems, especially those involving linguistic games are very suitable for the isolation of new letters in the speech stream. Therefore, a wellchosen literary piece can become a tool for language development and literary education. In summary, successful training of reading and writing in the primary stage presupposes internal integrating links. Based on the knowledge of language structure and some features of children’s literature, it is possible to integrate the following areas of teaching of Lithuanian: development of spoken and written language, primary reading and writing, knowledge of the sound structure of the language, teaching of reading, writing and spelling basics, teaching of the language units, literary and linguistic development