Emergent Literacy
REA 612
Murray State University, 2008
What is Reading Readiness?
• We used to think that children didn’t learn to
read and write until they began school.
• We used to think that reading was primarily a
visual process.
• We thought children weren’t ready to learn to
read until they reached a certain age and had
certain prerequisite skills such as auditory and
visual discrimination, and a certain IQ.
• We got children ready to read with skills such
as visual discrimination activities.
What is Emergent Literacy?
• We now understand that the ability to
read and write emerges gradually.
• Children begin to learn about reading
and writing almost from birth.
• Children’s approximations – scribble
writing and pretend reading – are part
of the process of learning to read and
write and show us what the child
already knows.
Young children become
readers and writers by…
• …observing reading and
writing functions at home
• …being read to
• …experimenting with
reading and writing
Concepts, Strategies and Skills
Needed to Become a Reader
• Oral language and listening skills
• Functions of print
• Concept of word, letter, directionality
• The “language of books.”
• Alphabetic principal.
• The names of some of the letters
ALL of these develop very gradually in a
literacy-rich environment
How can we help children learn the functions
of written language and experiment with
reading and writing?
• Make lists with students
• Write notes to students
• Writing morning messages
• Recording questions and information on charts
• Use literacy materials at play centers
• Allow students to write notes to classmates
• Reading and writing stories together
• Drawing and writing in journals
Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young
Children – from IRA & NAEYC joint position statement
Preschool:
• Daily reading aloud to children
• Literacy play
• Songs, finger plays, poems
• Print-rich environments
• Experiences that expand vocabulary
• Opportunities to focus on the sounds in
language
• Opportunities to talk about what is read
Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young
Children – from IRA & NAEYC joint position statement
K-primary grades:
• Many of same practices as preschool years
• Daily reading aloud
• Daily independent reading of meaningful
texts
• Daily supported writing of many types of
texts
• Invented spellings
• Small group instruction and collaboration
Things to think about…
• Why are those activities
developmentally appropriate?
• What activities were NOT mentioned?
– Being taught phonics rules
– Intensive phonics programs
– Extrinsic rewards
• Why are they NOT mentioned?
• When do we stop learning to read and
write?
Stages of Emergent Reading and
Writing
• Elizabeth Sulzby’s Stages of
Emergent Reading
• Stages of Writing Development
Sulzby’s Stages of Emergent Reading
Picture -Gove rne d Attempts
Story not formed: Labeling,
commenting, following the
action
Story Formed
Written Language-
Print-Governed Attempts Like (Print Not
Watched)
Print Watched: Refusal
to read or aspectual
reading Print Watched:
Strategies imbalanced
and indep endent reading
Stages of Writing Development
• Scribble stage
• Prephonemic stage
• Phonemic stage
• Transitional stage
• Conventional stage
What does this child know about writing?
What does this child know about
writing?
What does this child know about writing?
What does this child know about writing?
Why does this
student
represent the
/w/ sound
with the letter
Y?
Why does he
represent the
/sh/ sound
with the letter
H?
What does this child know about writing?
Stages of Writing Development: What
the child knows
• Scribble stage – Writing means something
• Prephonemic stage – Writing is made up of
letters
• Phonemic stage – Letters stand for certain
sounds
• Transitional stage – Uses visual memory for
some words; invents others
• Conventional stage – Relies on visual
memory rather than spelling how it sounds
What is Phonemic Awareness?
• Understanding phonics?
• NO
• Something that may be an important
prerequisite to learning to read?
• YES
• FIND OUT WHAT IT IS AND HOW
YOU HELP STUDENTS DEVELOP
IT ON THE EMERGENT LITERACY
TRACK!!!
asteroid -
Small star
astronaut
- Star
voyager
disaster -
Against the
stars
astro - star
(Greek)
* asterisk -
aster - A star-
A small star
shaped flower
shape
Technology presentation – Students use Kidspiration to construct
webs showing the meanings of root words or affixes.