Explores the concept of emergent literacy, discussing what children know about reading and writing, how they come to know it, and what this information means for classroom practices and school policy. (MM)

Presents research findings about the development of metalinguistic awareness (MLA) in young children. Discusses MLA and reading readiness, and the implications for beginning reading instruction. Suggests various reading methods which allow children with both high and low levels of MLA to develop literacy. (MM)

Assessed the knowledge of print of 324 children aged 3, 4, and 5 years by means of a set of 20 cards containing commercial logos and signs. Analysis of individual responses resulted in seven common categories describing the behavior of children as they progressed to recognition of the function of print. (NH)

A prereading model based on a 9-month longitudinal study of 45 deaf preschool children from state residential schools is presented. The model contends that reading can be initiated by giving deaf children opportunities to match their internalized manual language to printed words, stressing reading-related activities involving parents, teachers,…

This guide presents information and ideas to help parents support their children as they grow into readers. It provides literacy-building activities that parents can use to help their children acquire a solid foundation for learning to read and mastering other academic subjects. The guide is divided by age and grade: infants and toddlers,…

Discussion and results of a study made to indentify and quantify the reading interests of preschool children. (RB)

The model delineates a structure for summarizing the dimensions of a developmentally oriented prereading program. The structure provides a guide for planning the curriculum so that parents and teachers can arrange experiences that will help children develop higher levels of representation and more complex language structures, and extend their…

Describes an experiment designed to determine whether beginning readers read with fewer oral reading errors if the reading materials have content directly related to the reader's existing cognitive structure. (HOD)

Examines the extent to which preschool children are aware of and acquire the phonemic structure of the spoken word. Tests 4-year-old nonreaders, assessing product name reading ability, knowledge of the alphabet, rhyme skills, and explicit phonemic awareness ability. Finds subjects acquired knowledge of the alphabet before they showed explicit…

Day care providers can develop emergent literacy in preschool children by using enlarged versions of books, discussing the books before reading, tracking the printed text while reading, using questioning techniques to illustrate meaning, discussing the stories after reading them, and enlisting parent involvement. (SH)

Determines if children enrolled in different types of preschool programs (ranging from maturational to early formal reading) differed in their knowledge of print concepts. Finds that the type of program was not a deciding factor in acquiring prereading print knowledge. (RS)

Examines the predictive relations among dimensions of symbolic play (object and ideational transformations), linguistic verbs, and measures of early literacy. Indicates that use of linguistic verbs predicts Concepts of Print scores and that symbolic play and linguistic verbs predict emergent writing and reading, respectively. (SR)

Study identifies home literacy and literacy interest as two independent sources of literacy experience among 92 kindergarten prereaders. Together, they accounted for significant variance in oral vocabulary and on a letter-name and letter-sound measure of early written language. Discussion focuses on print exposure versus explicit print-sound…

Noting that in the beginning stages of reading it is helpful for children to be surrounded by the written word and to be read to by adults, this article offers brief encapsulations of and responses to five articles about beginning reading and reading readiness. The five articles are as follows: (1) "Three-Year-Olds in Their Reading Corner" by…

A study examined the association between specific features of the preschool language context and the development of children's literacy-related language skills. Teachers were interviewed about the frequency with which they read to student groups during the school day; their preferences about literature; and the nature of their curriculum. Teachers…