English Quarterly

Environmental Print:
Taking Another Look

Mary Stone
Linda Swinwood

Imagine this.
You have just rushed up to the receptionist looking for help and he says, "Did you check the signs?"
"No."
"Then do that first, please."

So you look!

EXIT SOUTH STREET

PLEASE REMOVE RUBBERS

PAY PHONE

CHILDREN MUST NOT BE LEFT UNATTENDED

OUTPATIENT WAITING ONLY
EMERGENCY WAITING ONLY
CLINICS COFFEE SHOP 1-OP-70
ORTHOPTICS DENTISTRY
OPHTHALMOLOGY

SECURITY NO ADMITTANCE
DENTISTRY DEPARTMENT

COMMAND AND CONTROL CENTRE
KOALA BEAR CARE

PLEASE TAKE A NUMBER

INFORMATION FOR EMERGENCY PATIENTS:

IN OUR EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT THE MOST SERIOUSLY ILL ARE CARED FOR FIRST. THIS MEANS THAT CHILDREN ARE NOT SEEN ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS. FOR THIS REASON YOU MAY HAVE A WAITING PERIOD.

SOME NON-URGENT PATIENTS HAVE PREARRANGED APPOINTMENTS WITH THEIR FAMILY DOCTOR OR A SPECIALIST.

IF YOUR CHILD'S CONDITION CHANGES PLEASE NOTIFY THE TRIAGE NURSE IN THE BOOTH IMMEDIATELY.

BE ASSURED THAT OUR STAFF IS

WORKING AS EFFICIENTLY AS

POSSIBLE TO ATTEND TO YOUR CHILD.

THANK YOU

EMERGENCY PATIENTS PLEASE SEE NURSE IN BOOTH
OUTPATIENT REGISTRATION
EMERGENCY FIRE REGULATIONS
THE GIFT HORSE MAIN LEVEL

1-ST-4 1.S
DR. BENARD AND DR. PYESMANY PATIENTS ROOM 127
OUTPATIENTS CLINICS TESTS
EYE CLINIC

Where do you begin to look?

This is the print environment parents encounter when they enter the Izaak Walton Killam Hospital for Children emergency and outpatients department. The waiting room is awash with print. We actually counted forty-six signs visible from the entrance door.

For several hours we watched as parents and their children arrived at this area of the hospital. None of them attended to the printed information available. So, for whom are all these messages intended? Some are definitely for the parents but it would appear that most are meant for hospital staff. The signs that are meant for parents are lost in the barrage of print that assaults them as they enter.

Does this tell us anything about the print in our schools and classrooms? There has been a tendency over the last few years to surround young learners with print. We have been in classrooms where most items are labeled: chair, table, desk, closet, shelves, door, window, door knob, floor, ceiling, clay, large blocks, small blocks, Lego, glue, scissors, pencils, paper, bench, carpet, and so on. Add to this the posters, poems, stories, charts, alphabet cards, and art work that cover the walls and we have a situation very much like the one at the IWK.

The purpose of all of this textual material is to make kids comfortable with print, to demonstrate that print carries meaning, and to make information available to them. The overall intent is to assist children as they become active meaning makers with print.

HOWEVER
It appears that there is more to consider than simply filling the room with print. Certainly, any print used should have meaning for the children but in light of our hospital experience that does not appear to be enough. Even meaningful print can get lost if the environment is supersaturated. We watched as adults ignored the print and found other ways to find out what they needed to know. Is it not likely that children do the same?

We had an opportunity to visit a classroom where graduate students were participating in a summer institute session. Along one wall was a large blackboard covered with print: schedules, questions to consider, reminders, book titles, quotes, and graffiti. As visitors to the classroom we noticed this 'message board' but paid little attention to it. However, we did observe several students referring to it for specific information. Because this collection of print was a part of their classroom experience, and they had been part of the process that had generated it, it was meaningful for them and they used it. When they needed specific information they knew where to find it.

In looking at our own classrooms through the lens of our experiences in the hospital and the university classroom we realize that the print which is most useful to the children includes such things as recorded brainstorms, lists of writing ideas, reminders, duty lists, categorized information, and chart stories which the children not only helped generate but also referred to as they work. This is not to say that students have to help generate all of the print used in the classroom but the print should be pertinent to the students within the context of their ongoing activity.

Children need to know what print is present and where to find it when they need it. Therefore, it is vital that the children participate in producing it and in adding it to their learning environment. The classroom print, then, will be constantly changing as various learning experiences unfold.

In a brief search through recent research literature we were not able to find any reference to the phenomenon we observed at the IWK. Many researchers talk about the value of environmental print (Smith, 1985; Goodman, 1986; Hill, 1989). They also point out that it is the meaningful environmental print that makes the greatest impact on children. However, we could find nothing that considers how children deal with a learning environment littered with print into which they had no input and with which they had no previous experience. In light of our observations of adults in print saturated situations we think it is important to think about the quantity and nature of print we add to our classrooms.

Goodman, K. (1986) What's Whole in Whole Language? Richmond Hill, Ont.: Scholastic.

Hill, M. (1989) Home: Where Reading and Writing Begin. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational Books.

Smith, F. (1985) Reading Without Nonsense. New York: Teacher's College Press.

Mary Stone and Linda Swinwood both teach for the Halifax Regional School Board, Nova Scotia.

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