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The design of literacy environment model in primary school

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The 7th South East Asia Design Research International Conference (SEADRIC 2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1470 (2020) 012013 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1470/1/012013

The design of literacy environment model in primary school

H Hilman, B Musthafa and M Agustin

1
Faculty of Science Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jln. Dr. Setiabudhi
No. 229, Bandung 40154, Indonesia
2
Department of Primary School Teacher Education, Bina Mutiara Sukabumi Colleges
for Teacher Training and Education (Sekolah Tinggi Keguruan dan Ilmu
Pendidikan/STKIP Bina Mutiara Sukabumi), Jln. Pembangunan (Selakaso),
Sukabumi, 43192, Indonesia

Email: dinmusthafa@upi.edu

Abstract. This research is motivated by the problem by the lack of a fixed model on how to
support learning environment that can be beneficial for the development of literacy skills of
primary school students in the early grade. The aim of this study is to create a legitimate basis
for the development of environmental design and literacy learning for early childhood and early
grade of primary school students. This study discussed the development of a model that would
equip teachers with certain important aspects of the literacy environment that are suitable to be
applied in primary schools. This study employed Educational Design Research. There were
several stages employed in this study: conducting a literature study of the essential environment
by reviewing the available models, comparing and contrasting the differences between the
models from the learning environment available in the literature, deciding the model components
of an essential literacy environment, and trying to create a theoretical model and prototypes. The
results of this research suggest that the design of a literacy learning environment model should
be used as a guide in developing literacy skills of primary school students in the early grade.
Keyword: Literacy environment model, early literacy, early grade, primary school.

1. Introduction
One of the ways to improve students' early literacy skills can be done by designing literate learning
environment models. The environment has long been suspected of being the key to success. This way
ideally starts from the very first environment, home. According to [1a], there is a distribution of literacy
(literacy disparity) between children who come from literate and rich-print home environments with
those from "disadvantaged" families. At practical level, the format of the literate environmental design
model at home and at school is still relatively not optimal in providing support for the development of
a literate environment to improve students' early literacy skills. On a more specific level, the main issue
that becomes the focus is the lack of a clear model of how to support a learning environment that can be
used as a guide in developing early literacy skills for elementary school students in the early grade.
Based on these problems, it is necessary to design a potential literacy environment learning model to
develop students’ literacy skills in the early grade of elementary schools.

2. Methods
The method employed in this research is Educational Design Research. It is a systematic study of the
activities of designing, developing and evaluating educational interventions (such as programs,
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The 7th South East Asia Design Research International Conference (SEADRIC 2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1470 (2020) 012013 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1470/1/012013

strategies and learning materials, products and systems) as solutions to solving complex problems in
educational practice with the aim to get more knowledge about the characteristics of these interventions
and their design and development processes [2a]. Meanwhile, according to [3a] design-based research
is not so much an approach as it is a series of approaches, with the intent of producing new theories,
artefacts, and practices that account for and potentially impact on learning and teaching in naturalistic
setting.
The stages of this study [2b] are as follows.

Analysis of Developmen Iterative Reflection of

practical t of cycles of produce
problems by prototype of testing ‘design
researchers solutions & principles’ &
& informed by refinemen enhance
practitioners existing t of solution
in design solutions implementatio
collaboratio principals in practice n

Figure 1. The Steps of Education Design Research [3b]

The explanation of the steps are as follows.

a. Analysis of practical problem
This is the initial stages where the researcher conducted a problem analysis so that the problems about
the lack of student literacy skills were found afterwards. It might be caused by the absence of
environmental design that supports the development of literacy skills, especially the students' early
literacy skills.
b. Development of prototype solutions
This is the stage to design the development of literacy learning environments. At this stage, the focus is
on formulating the design of the literacy environment model as the results from comparing and
contrasting the relevant theories and then deciding the model components of an essential literacy
environment by Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The next activity was determining the research subject,
the time and place of research, literature study, and preparation of instruments: observations, interviews,
and tests, also preparing teaching materials, and learning devices.
c. Iterative cycles of testing and refinement of solutions in practice
At this stage, I tried to make and apply the prototype model. This stage aims to carry out extensive
testing in the field through observation, interviews, and tests. Observations were done to see the
implementation of the stages of the model in the classroom. The stages in this activity were, (1)
designing and preparing the initial draft design of the literacy learning environment model, (2) limited
testing of draft models in grade 2 of elementary school, (3) evaluation and revision of the results of the
implementation of the draft model 1 (4) draft test on model 2, (5) evaluation and revision of the results
of the implementation of the draft model 2, (6) validation of draft models by experts and practitioners
through FGD.
d. Reflection to produce ‘design principles’ and enhance solution implementation
This is the final stage in this research. It is intended to produce new design products that can improve
the implementation of solution. Besides, the results of the field studies were consulted and discussed
with counsellors and experts to obtain a comprehensive description of the problems that were intact in
the field which finally resulted as formulated solution.

3. Result and Discussion

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IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1470 (2020) 012013 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1470/1/012013

3.1. Concept of Literacy Learning Environment

The literature review in this study is focused on the ecological system theory for human development
from Urie Bronfenbrenner. According to Bronfenbrenner [4], the environment is composed of structured
arrangements, each of which is complementary and sequential.
According to [5a], they state that the function and human development are the result of complex
reciprocal interactions between people who are active and develop bio-psychologically (onto system)
with the environment, which is understood as four compiled 'layers', namely layers of microsystems,
mesosystems, ecosystems, and macrosystems, each of which consists of people, objects, and symbols.
In addition, [5b, 7a] also introduce chronosystem which is described as a system that covers the time
dimension that is related to one's environment.
The microsystem is the circle that is closest to children which includes activities and patterns of
direct interaction of children with their immediate environment such as parent interactions, family
members including younger and older siblings, schools, peers, toys and relationships / interactions and
roles in the family, social workers, as well as institutions that interact regularly with children [5c, 8, 7b].
In regards to this theoretical framework, the class is what influences students’ development through
interaction with the context of the learning environment in the form of physical material and the context
of the social environment where students spend half of their time with their teachers and peers. The
focus of this research is to design a social learning environment model that can develop students' early
literacy skills in the early grades.
According to [1b], the literate environment is defined as an environment that equips children with
literacy demonstration, literacy engagement, and literacy support. The form of activity in literacy
demonstrations is that children see their parents reading books, newspapers, and magazines to get
entertainment and information, and then listen to them talking about what they already read. The form
of literacy engagement activities such as children routinely read, engage in interactive discussions and
literacy practices that are enabled by the access they have to various readings (children's books in genre
and magazines) and various writing instruments (pens, markers, pencils, crayons, chalk, etc.) and lots
of paper. Meanwhile, the form of literacy support activities is children are encouraged to explore their
world and express their feelings using all the means available to them [1c].
Based on these explanations, the literacy environment is an environment that not only has room
arrangements (layout of goods, seating, books, and other materials), but also has an environment that
enables literacy learning activities in the form of demonstrations, engagement and support who are rich
in information, psychological support, and full of values.

3.2. Types of Literacy Learning Environment

3.2.1. Physical Environment.
There are several key aspects of the physical literacy environment associated with children's learning
[9, 10]. These include literacy-related books and materials (books that are available in the library and
class materials such as puzzles and teaching aids, for example, a menu list), writing materials (e.g.
stationery, pens, markers, pencils and writing media for example, striped paper, construction paper),
print environment (labels, charts, names and displays), technology (computer and computer games
related to literacy; audio center), use of literacy materials (how many children spend time using literacy
and writing materials). The physical environment relates to the setting and fulfilment of physical
material such as seating arrangements, fulfilment, and arrangement of books, newspapers, magazines,
pencils, pens in class, in libraries, structuring reading centers, writing centers, and other material
arrangements that support the development of literacy skills.
3.2.2. Informational Environment.
The informational environment is related to content that is rich in information from literacy activities
involving students, for example, storytelling activities and teacher conversation activities in the
classroom. According to [11], teachers must find a way to make the classroom interaction rich in
conversation, and the class has also to involve children in conversations in large group settings, small

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The 7th South East Asia Design Research International Conference (SEADRIC 2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1470 (2020) 012013 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1470/1/012013

groups, and individuals who are rich in knowledge about the world. The forms of literacy activities that
can be developed to support the development of early literacy skills such as storytelling and book
sharing.
3.2.3. Phycological Environment.
The psychological environment is one of the learning environments that can be developed in supporting
the development of students' early literacy skills. The psychological environment plays a role in
motivating students through the quality of the close relationship between teachers and students [12a].
Furthermore, according to [13, 12b], students who get limited emotional support in the form of
sensitivity, a positive classroom atmosphere (laughter, pleasant conversation, and enthusiasm for
learning) from the homeroom teacher have significantly lower abilities at the standard reading step.
3.2.4. Ideological Environment.
The ideological environment is one of the important factors in the classroom. In the concept of 'neutral',
ideology can be considered as 'systems of thought,' 'belief systems,' or 'symbolic systems' related to
social actions or political practices [14, 15]. The ideological environment has a strategic role in building
positive values for students. The ideological environment can be in the form of dialogue or teacher
speech that contains a value as an effort to develop students' early literacy skills. These values are related
to religious values, ethical values and cultural values that are used as the basis by the teacher to develop
students' early literacy skills.
3.2.5. Social Environment.
The social environment is an environment where social interactions between students and students
and/or students and teacher occur. Vygotsky emphasized that children interactions with more skilled
adults and peers cannot be separated from their cognitive development [16]. The learning environment
in a social constructivist perspective is designed to provoke thoughtful involvement that helps students
develop thinking skills and attitudes that contribute to effective problem solving and critical thinking
[17a]. The student-centered environment where the focus is on democratic student learning as far as the
division of responsibility and involvement in decision making is concerned [18]. Therefore,
environmental support is needed to develop students' skills. In a social constructivist perspective, the
main topics are known, namely Zone Proximal Development (ZPD) and scaffolding. The term Zone
Proximal Development (ZPD) refers to "the distance between the actual level of development as
determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined
through problem-solving under the guidance of adults, or in collaboration with more capable peers"
[19]. While scaffolding is the support given for certain learning tasks, with clear goals, about the
willingness of teachers to help students develop certain skills, obtain certain concepts or reach a certain
level of understanding [20a].

3.3. Design of the Learning Environment Model to Promote Literacy in Primary Schools
In the context of this study, the important components that will be used as the main component of
designing a model of literacy learning environment based on social constructivist perspectives are based
on the results of analysis and synthesis of learning environment theory and social constructivist theory.
The design of this model aims to help develop early literacy skills of elementary school students in the
early grade. The important components of the design of a literacy learning environment model based on
social constructivist perspectives include the four components articulated below.
3.3.1. Providing Context.
In a sociocultural perspective, the context is broadly discussed which includes activities, goals and
texts or discourses, to examine what in this case is the practice of literacy in the classroom and its
influence on the development of knowledge [21]. Vygotsky points out that the heart of learning
depends on motivation for learning [22a]. For example, when determining the purpose of initial
reading, which is to recognize letters, students will learn about early reading, before continuing to
advanced reading with different objectives.

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IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1470 (2020) 012013 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1470/1/012013

3.3.2. Modelling.
Scaffolding strategies applied in the classroom is where the tasks requested from students can reduce
their complexity strategically. In this case, the form of teacher scaffolding is in the form of modelling.
It is the teacher's attempt to think hard or act on how he will approach problems, guide, and advice,
which is freely defined as an effort to advise students of various levels of simplicity [23]. According to
[24], there are at least six successful scaffolding features, including: (a) recruiting interest in the task;
(b) reducing the level of freedom in the task to make it manageable by tutee; (c) maintaining direction
of goals; (d) marking important features; (e) controlling frustration; and (f) modelling solutions for the
task.
Furthermore, [25] defines scaffolding in learning as a gradual withdrawal from adults, for example,
teachers support through instruction, modelling, questions, feedback, etc. According to [22b], they argue
that the form of scaffolding that is useful is to model the practice of reading that is desired by students.
Modelling helps students to see what it means to enter a dialogue with the text. In line with this, the
form of scaffolding according to [26] state that teachers must explain (explaining), model (modelling),
and use practical guidance (guided practice) in the classroom. By modelling what students want to do,
students will be better at doing assignments assigned by the teacher. The examples of modelling
activities are modelling on initial reading, reading aloud, and modelling initial writing.
3.3.3. Dialogue.
Vygotsky, Vygotsky, the father of constructivism, claims that learning takes place through dialogue
[22c]. This dialogue was originally instrumental - this happened between teacher and student, between
students, or even between text and readers [22d]. According to [27], they state that through language
children have been involved in dialogue where ideas are heard, shared, and criticized. This activity
provides a sharing experience directly to stimulate discourse. Activities also provide opportunities for
children to explain and produce knowledge. According to [28], social dialogue that helps transmit the
meaning of words to children and also gives the child the opportunity to apply those words in situations
that require more reasons. He claims that early childhood teachers and other people can improve
children's language and the development of reasoning by improving their own dialogue, asking
questions and talking with children.
According to [17b], features of social constructivist approaches are: 1) active construction of
knowledge based on experience with any prior knowledge of the physical and social world, (2) emphasis
on the importance of ZPD, (3) emphasis on the influence of human culture and the socio-cultural context,
(4) recognition of knowledge from social constructs obtained through dialogue and negotiation, (5)
emphasis on subjective constructs of knowledge and 6) interpretation of multiple knowledge and as a
summary. Examples of dialogue activities can be done by collaborative discussions between students
and students, or students with teachers, such as dialogues about storybooks by asking questions about
the contents of the story or having a dialogue about the experience.
3.3.4. Engagement.
Language as a basic learning resource is exploited in teaching situations, listening, observation, and
action. However, it is also involved in conversations with adults (parents, teachers) and peers, to support
better understanding [20b]. Other engagement as stated by [29] are portrayed in various activities such
as students actively participate in joint activities and engage in class discussions which aimed at sharing
ideas and experiences and exploring and challenging understanding of each other. In this case, to
develop the skills of students at school and at home, they have to get involved in literacy activities such
as conversations with parents, teachers, as well as peers, and involved in various opportunities working
on literacy tasks such as discussion, reading, writing, and other academic assignments.

3.4. The Syntax of Literacy Environment Design Model

The description of the syntax of the application of DECM literacy environment design model for the
development of early literacy skills in the classroom is portrayed in the figure below.

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The 7th South East Asia Design Research International Conference (SEADRIC 2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1470 (2020) 012013 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1470/1/012013

Core activity End activity

Initial activity Engagement
Modelling Dialogue
Context
Activity & Strategy Activity & Strategy Activity & Strategy
Activity & Strategy Give example Rich teacher talk Engage student in
Whole class, Shared book rich coversation
Provide purpose individual experience Whole class
Whole class Large group, small Give more task
group

Figure 2. DECM Literacy Environment Design Model

3.4.1. Provide Context.

In this activity, the teacher determines literacy learning goals. For example in early writing learning,
learning objectives are adjusted to the curriculum in the school. This activity can be carried out in large
classes. At the same time, the teacher can also motivate students to learn on how to write well.
Furthermore, the initial writing activity can also be contextualized with real activities in student life. In
addition to writing, in reading activities, provision of context can also be done. For example, when
reading, students need a clear idea of why they are reading and how to improve text content with their
experiences. This is done so that students understand that writing skills can be related to other aspects
and can be useful for everyday life.
3.4.2. Modelling.
In this activity, the teacher gives examples and guides student literacy activities such as in the initial
writing activity. The teacher exemplifies and guides how to write correctly in accordance with the
expected indicators in the curriculum. The teacher can also model how to read the correct one. Dialogue
activities can be done by giving examples to all students in large and individual classes. This is done so
that students can do their work in accordance with what the teacher exemplifies. Modelling can also be
done by involving students who have better abilities in writing or reading to give examples to their peers.
Modelling can also be in the form of behavioural modelling, for example, modelling of text reading
activities every day at home and at school.
3.4.3. Dialogue.
In this activity, the teacher dialogues with students by giving a number of questions about the topic of
learning or about the experience of students. The teacher can manage students to have a dialogue with
their peers. For example, in the shared book experience, the book is discussed together in large classes,
as well as in small groups between students. In addition, dialogue activities can also be carried out
through socio-drama. This dialogue is useful for exploring his knowledge, constructing old knowledge
into new knowledge, and by dialogue can stimulate students to think critically.
3.4.4. Engagement.
In this activity, students are involved in literacy activities freely by giving independent tasks, for
example, by involving students to read other books in class, in the library, or at home. Involve it in
everyday conversations with adults. Students can also be involved in free and contextual writing
activities, such as writing home phone numbers, writing home addresses, or writing experience stories.

3.5. Early Literacy Skills in Primary School

The framework for developing the teaching of early literacy is based on Vygotsky's learning theory,
which emphasizes the nature and importance of social interaction in teaching, especially between adults

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The 7th South East Asia Design Research International Conference (SEADRIC 2019) IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1470 (2020) 012013 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1470/1/012013

and children [30]. Early literacy skills in the first grade of elementary schools include early literacy
activities, namely practicing arranging letters into a sentence and writing sentences in regular activities
such as writing in a daily journal. In the second grade, students must be able to put sentences together
in the form of stories using basic signs and correct capital letters. In third grade, the goal is to complete
paragraphs, starting from a topic of sentences, describing a bit of a sentence, and summary sentence
[31].

4. Conclusion
The literacy environment is an environment that not only has room arrangements (layout of goods,
seating, books, and other materials), but also an environment that enables literacy learning activities in
the form of demonstrations, engagement, and support that is rich in information, psychological supports,
and full of values. The learning environment in a social constructivist perspective is a student-centered
and democratic learning environment which is designed to provoke thoughtful involvement that helps
students develop thinking skills and attitudes that contribute to effective problem solving and critical
thinking. The components developed into the main component of the literacy learning environment
model based on social constructivist perspectives include modelling, engagement, dialogue, and the
provide of a context. The components of this model are abbreviated as DECM literacy environment
models. The design of this model aims to help develop early literacy skills of elementary school students
in the early grade.

Acknowledgments
This work was financially supported by the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education
Republic Indonesia. The project schema is the Doctoral Dissertation Research. It contracts number
171A/UN40.D/PP/2019.

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