1. Emergent Literacy EDC424 Dr. Deeney

2. 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)

3. 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)

4. 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)

5. 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

6. Concepts about Print

7. 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)

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

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

10. 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

11. 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