Defining and Understanding Early Literacy

From a young age, children have an interest in communication. They enjoy listening and connecting through conversation and eye contact with parents and caregivers. These everyday interactions are fun for young children and supportive of their literacy development.

Many of the things we do each day in our roles as caregivers and educators contribute to foundational early literacy skills. The way we set up our classroom, the materials we offer, and our interactions with young children all become building blocks to literacy.

What is Early Literacy?

Zero to Three’s article, Early Literacy and Very Young Children, explains that early literacy does not just mean “early reading…Early literacy theory emphasizes the more natural unfolding of skills through the enjoyment of books, the importance of positive interactions between young children and adults, and the critical role of literacy-rich experiences.” 

Learning experiences, rather than formal instruction, is the key to preparing children to learn to read. Pushing children to read at too young an age risks damaging children’s natural interest and drive to enjoy reading and writing on their own.

Scholastic’s document describing the way that literacy develops in young children reminds us that “literacy development is less about a limited critical period and more about windows of opportunity that extend across early childhood.”

Early Literacy Skills Prepare the Way for Reading

Learning to read starts long before elementary school. Because the foundations of pre-literacy begin during early childhood, supportive learning opportunities at a young age will set children up for later success in school and into adulthood. 

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s article, Early Beginnings: Early Literacy Knowledge and Instruction, shares that “early literacy skills have a clear and consistently strong relationship with later conventional literacy skills, such as decoding, oral reading, fluency, reading comprehension, writing, and spelling. Even before children start school, they can become aware of systematic patterns of sounds in spoken language, manipulate sounds in words, recognize words and break them apart into smaller units, learn the relationship between sounds and letters, and build their oral language and vocabulary skills. These are all skills that the National Early Literacy Panel found to be precursors to children’s later growth in the ability to decode and comprehend text, to write, and to spell.”

How to Incorporate Early Literacy Instruction into your Program’s Daily Schedule

An article from NAEYC entitled The Essentials of Early Literacy Instruction notes that “linking literacy and play is one of the most effective ways to make literacy activities meaningful and enjoyable for children.” The article highlights  8 key early literacy teaching strategies that feature play-based activities backed by research in early literacy and later reading achievement. 

1. Rich teacher-talk. This refers to engaging children in meaningful conversations. These conversations can be in large or small groups or in one-on-one conversations. Discuss topics that reflect children’s interests, encourage curiosity, and promote reflection.

    

2. Storybook reading. Reading aloud to a group of children at least once per day, gives little ones to learn from enjoyable stories and information books. During the reading, engage children’s interest by asking them to anticipate what comes next. At the end of the story, you might talk with the children about the characters and themes they noticed in the story. You might also enjoy G2K’s article: Storytime Tips to Support Foundational Early Literacy Skills.
3. Phonological awareness activities.  Activities, games, and stories that involve rhyme and alliteration increase children’s awareness of the sounds of language. Discuss some of the similarities and differences in the words that you are reading to help children notice when patterns are present.
4. Alphabet activities. ABC books, magnet letters, alphabet blocks, and puzzles promote familiarity with the letters of the alphabet.
5. Spaces that support emergent reading. Classroom design and curriculum can encourage children to read. Having a library center with a variety of fun and interesting options will make children excited to find a book. When children express interest in favorite books, read them repeatedly to familiarize them with the story and encourage independent reading.
6. Support for emergent writing. Similar to strategy 5, a classroom writing center that offers a variety of markers, crayons, pencils, and paper will encourage children to use emergent forms of writing, such as scribble writing, random letter strings, and invented spelling. Functional writing opportunities that are connected to class activities (e.g., sign-up sheets for popular centers, library book check-out slips) also give children an opportunity to write with purpose and intention. For some fun emergent writing and alphabet activities, take a look at the G2K article, Fun Preschool Activities that Build Foundational Writing Skills.
7. Shared book experience. While reading stories with children, draw attention to basic concepts about books and print, such as the distinction between pictures and print, left-to-right, and top-to-bottom sequence. You can also point out the parts of the book, like the cover, title, and pages. 
8. Integrated, content-focused activities. Create opportunities for children to investigate and discover topics that they find interesting. This emergent curriculum model will keep children engaged and interested.

You’ll find even more ideas for supporting early pre-literacy skills on this printable from Stanford’s Center for Early Childhood.

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