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Young children don't learn how to read just by opening a book! Kids go through many important stages of seeing written words before they can read and write. This overall idea is called emergent literacy.
Young children don't learn how to read just by opening a book! Kids go through many important stages of seeing written words before they can read and write. This overall idea is called emergent literacy.
Below are some signs of emergent literacy and some suggestions for what you can do to build emergent literacy in your child.
Below are some signs of emergent literacy and some suggestions for what you can do to build emergent literacy in your child.
What is Emergent Literacy?
What is Emergent Literacy?
Before children learn to read and write, they begin acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary to develop literacy skills. These emergent literacy skills can be gained through reading aloud with parents, physically holding books, and seeing text and making visual connections between written and oral language. Interacting with literature cannot only help children in developing reading and vocabulary skills, but it can also improve their general attitude toward reading as an activity. These emergent literacy skills can also be predictors of literacy in later developmental stages.
Components of Emergent Literacy
Components of Emergent Literacy
Comprehensive Emergent Literacy Model (CELM)
(adapted from Rohde 2015)Comprehensive Emergent Literacy Model (CELM)
Signs of Emergent Literacy
Signs of Emergent Literacy
The CELM model contains three main components, each a precursor to specific Emergent Literacy skills.
Print awareness leads to word identification. Signs that your child has developed print awareness include the following:
- Knowledge of the alphabet
- Understand how to handle a book
- Realize that text moves left to right, top to bottom, page to page
- Enjoy print materials when being read to, or when pretending to read
- Understand the difference between letters and words
Phonological awareness is closely related to listening comprehension and includes the following set of skills:
- Understand that words are made by combining several sounds
- Rhyme and segment sounds
- Recognize different letters and the sounds they make
Language/Oral language leads to silent reading comprehension. Oral language includes skills such as:
- Recognize that text contains information
- Understand semantics
- Develop a broader vocabulary
It's also important to note the overlap between these components. The aforementioned skills all work together to encourage proficiency in areas such as grammar, syntax, and spelling, which leads to the development of reading and writing. By learning how to manipulate alphabet letters, word choice, and letter/sound relationships, children can create authentic and purposeful messages and stories.
Oral Narrative Skill
Oral Narrative Skill
Though not officially a part of the Comprehensive Emergent Literacy Model, oral narrative skill, or a child’s ability to tell or retell a story, is a useful indicator of a child’s understanding of stories and of their mastery over pragmatics, syntax, and semantics. It is usually measured by the quality of the story (richness of language used) and by the child’s ability to convey pieces of information that are central to the story (story memory).
What Can You Do to Encourage Early Literacy?
What Can You Do to Encourage Early Literacy?
The three interlinked components are situated in the context of culture, community, and demographics. This means that a child’s ability to gain literacy skills is influenced by environmental factors as they dictate access to literacy opportunities, the importance associated with literacy, and the support children will receive from people around them to learn about reading and writing. Parents can therefore take several actions to encourage early literacy, such as those suggested below.
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