Emergent Literacy By: Ashley Williams

What is Emergent Literacy? Emergent literacy is a gradual process from birth - until a child can read and write in a conventional sense. The key terms that refer to early literacy are speaking, listening, reading, writing, and viewing. During early speech and language development, children learn skills that are important to the development of literacy. Young children develop knowledge of how print works before formal instruction begins. Early literacy behaviors are developed in early experiences with print in the home, in preschool programs, and in kindergarten. The basic components of emergent literacy are oral language development, concepts about print, alphabet knowledge, and phonemic awareness.

History of Emergent Literacy Beginning in the 1970s, researchers began to challenge traditional reading readiness attitudes and practices. One of the pioneers in examining young children's reading and writing was Marie Clay (Teale & Sulzby, 1986). Clay (1966) first introduced the term emergent literacy to describe the behaviors used by young children with books and when reading and writing, even though the children could not actually read and write in the conventional sense. On the other hand, the concept of reading readiness suggested that there was a point in time when children were ready to learn to read and write. Clay (1975) emphasized the importance of the relationship between reading and writing in early literacy development. Up until this time, it was believed that children should learn to read before they could learn to write. Clay's research on emergent literacy evolved to include several elements: 1). Literacy development begins before children start formal instruction in elementary school (Teale & Sulzby, 1986). For example, by age 2 or 3 many children can identify signs, labels, and logos in their homes and in their communities (Idaho Center on Developmental Disabilities, 1996). 2). Reading and writing develop at the same time in young children, rather than sequentially (e.g. Idaho Center on Developmental Disabilities, 1996; Teale & Sulzby, 1986). 3). Literacy involves listening, speaking, reading, and writing abilities, which is a form of both oral and written language. 4). The functions of literacy such as knowing that letters spell words and that words have meaning have been found to be as important a part of learning about reading and writing during early childhood (e.g. Council for Exceptional Children, 1996; Idaho Center on Developmental Disabilities, 1996; Teale & Sulzby, 1986). 5) As children actively engage with adults in reading and writing situation and explore print on their own they begin to learn to read and write. (e.g.. Idaho Center on Developmental Disabilities, 1996; Teals & Sulzby, 1986).

When does Early Literacy Start? Reading and writing develops at the same time in young children. Writing often becomes easier for children than reading. Children understand information about print by what they see and interact with in their daily environment. Once children begin to enjoy print, they can recognize words that rhyme, scribble with crayons, point out signs, and are able to name some letters of the alphabet. Children then begin to combine what they know about speaking and listening with what they know about print and become ready to learn to read and write. As children are exposed to more print, this helps them to improve their writing. Children learn literacy through active engagement with books and writing opportunities. Children re-enact what they know by rereading favorite books and by using invented spelling. Listening to books plays a very important role in the literacy development of children. Children develop a feel for the structure written language at a very early age by listening to books read aloud Reading to children each day helps them develop a positive attitude towards reading. .

What is the difference between reading readiness and emergent literacy? Reading Readiness is the moment at which children are ready to learn to read. During this time children transition from being non-readers to readers. Emergent literacy is a gradual process that helps children develop literacy through their own natural learning ability and their experiences with print. Emergent Literacy Reading Readiness

WHAT emergent literacy looks like when students begin to read… Use sentence construction and grammar Oral language reflects literature to which student is exposed Shows pleasure in language Has acquired most of the concepts about print Use print in everyday life Shows evidence of phonemic awareness Use phonics and knows many letter sounds Use both consonants and vowels sounds Uses decoding strategies to begin to build fluency: sight words, context, graphics, and word structure Begins to construct meaning in writing Know and writes his or her name Writes letters and uses some other writing conventions Write for own purposes Becomes familiar with the writing process Constructs meaning in writing

What Emergent Literacy looks like In the Classroom… A literacy-rich environment should include material introduced from drawings, writings, books, and reading assignments. Print should be found throughout the classroom. Some examples are poems hung on the walls, stories dictated by children hung on the bulletin boards, notes written by the teacher printed on poster paper, children’s names written on desks and a variety of words displayed on word walls. Large print posters, labels for centers, and newly learned vocabulary words taken from content studied should also be posted (Gunning, T. J. 2005).

Writing Workshop Model writing by allowing students time to write group stories, messages, letters, greeting cards and shopping list Create patterned language charts Use books to help children write Create writing centers Students should be encouraged to keep a writing journal. Writing instruments, paper, books, and magazines available for children to browse and utilize. Stories and books written by students displayed Allow students time to draw, paint, scribble and write for enjoyment Use blank books and white boards Allow children opportunity to dictate stories

Reading Workshop Books should be given to browse and time to read and share.   A listening center should be use to allow children to listen to stories while they follow along with the book  Children practice print by turning pages and tracking print Use dramatic play such as acting out stories/characters Use storytelling, nursery rhymes, read-alouds, re- reading stories, alphabet books, concept book. Big books, Predictable books and Picture books Talk about selecting, discussing, sharing, reciting, and rhymes Use comfortable Reading Center, with lots of print and a variety of books Use informational books, nursery rhymes and poetry books Develop connections Share stories with repetitive patterns Use age appropriate text Use engaging themes and wordless picture books

Phonics Instruction Phonological awareness otherwise known as sound awareness is the understanding that oral language can be broken into individual words, words into syllables, and syllables into individual sounds. The skills should include the ability to know and manipulate the sounds within spoken words, to know the letters of the alphabet, and combine the letters with the sounds (alphabet knowledge). Children should be taught phonics in a one-on-one situation or in small homogeneous groups. Model the pronunciation of words clearly, and without raising and lowering voice distortions Model spacing between sounds when completing blending and segmenting activities Use songs, rhyming games, and word play to support children’s language developments Use blocks and claps, rhyming, blending, phoneme Isolation, phoneme segmentation, phoneme manipulation, songs and chants

Spelling Instruction Use word wall with sight words, word families, high frequency words and content words Use games and materials that encourage capital and lower case letter Use word families and rhyming patterns “Word play" activities should encourage children to change beginning, middle, and ending letters of related words Alphabetic awareness activities should focus on printed words made up of patterns of letters Combine and manipulate letters to change words and spelling patterns Use sound-letter relationships that are organized systematically and provide practice Use activities that are in context to the words children are reading and writing Lessons should help children understand spelling conventions in a systematic way Practice decoding and identifying words that contain the letter-sound relationships children are learning to read and need for reading and writing

Role of the teacher The teacher plays a critical role in modeling literacy behaviors, developing meaningful literacy activities, and creating a bond between home and school to encourage literacy learning. The teacher should be the facilitator who helps build on a student’s background knowledge by providing support and scaffolding instruction for student success. Teachers who use Big Books for shared reading while helping students develop an understanding of a variety of print such as directionality, parts of a book, and an understanding of words, letters and sentence structure often help students learn to read and write better. Teachers who understand that each reader brings various levels of prior knowledge, socio-cultural experiences and beliefs to the emergent literacy process often are able to help the emergent learner learn to read and write faster.

references Barclay, Kathy; Benelli, Cecelia; & Curtis, Ann. (1995). Literacy begins at birth: What caregivers can learn from parents of children who read early. Young Children, 50 (4), 24-28. Clay, Marie. (1966). Emergent reading behaviour. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Auckland, New Zealand. Clay, Marie. (1975). What did I write? Auckland, New Zealand: Heinemann Educational Delgado-Gaitan, C. (1996). Protean literacy: Extending the discourse on empowerment. London: Falmer Press. Goodman, Yeta. 1986. "Children Coming to Know Literacy." In Emergent Literacy: Writing and Reading, ed. William Teale and Elizabeth Sulzby. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Goldenberg, C., Reese, L., & Gallimore, R. (1992). Effects of literacy materials from school on Latino children's home experiences and early reading achievement. American Journal of Education, 100, 497-536 Gunning, T. J. (2005). Creating literacy: Instruction for all students. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Morrow, Lesley Mandel. (1997). Literacy development in the early years: Helping children read and write. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Teale, William, & Sulzby, Elizabeth. (1986). Emergent literacy: Writing and reading. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation