Emergent Literacy EDC424 Dr. Deeney

Young Children as Literacy Learners In literate societies, learning to read and write begins in infancy Literacy is developed in real-life settings to accomplish goals Reading and writing develop concurrently and interrelated Literacy learning is an active, socially-based, constructive process Parents and other literate persons play a key role in developing children’s literacy (Teale & Sulzby, 1989)

Children Construct Knowledge about Print by: Independently exploring written language Interacting with parents and other literate persons around print Observing others engaging in literacy activities (Teale & Sulzby, 1989)

Some Things Young Children Learn about Print Print is different from other kinds of visual patterns in the environment Print is print across a variety of media Print is all over the place Different kinds of print are used by adults in different ways Print can be produced by anyone Print symbolizes language Print holds information (Adams, 1991)

Reading Aloud Reading aloud to children helps children develop Language Vocabulary Decontextualized language Conceptual knowledge Concepts about print Eagerness and interest for reading Learning to read before entering school Success in beginning reading

Concepts about Print

Book-Orientation Concepts Books are held a certain way (front vs. back, top vs. bottom, how to open) Knows where the reading starts (first page) Knows where to start reading on a page (top left)

Directionality Concepts Tracks line of print from L-R Follows print with return sweep Matches voice with word (1:1 match)

Word and Letter Concepts Can show a letter Can show a word Can show space between words Identifies common punctuation (period, question mark, comma)

Books for Young Children Relate to familiar life experiences Provide clear illustrations without distracting background Use clear, natural language Have predictable text Offer opportunities for participation and interaction Are durable Hold a child’s attention

Development of Storybook Reading (Sulzby, 1985) Picture-governed Story not formed (labeling, commenting on action) Story formed (parts of a story or ‘story-like’ units are present) Oral language-like (story is content-dependent, may include dialogue, listener can understand, but story-telling vs. reading-like) Written language-like (written language features are used, story is not context-dependent) Print not watched (child is pretend-reading, verbatim-like) Print watched