Starting Small:The First Steps Early Literacy Series

LITERATE FROM BIRTH

Starting Small: The First Steps Early Literacy Series is a collection of short presentations designed to acquaint you with the basics of early literacy development. This initial presentation defines literacy and establishes that its development begins even before birth. 1What is literacy?

Its not uncommon to hear literacy described as something learned in school. But the truth is that literacy begins long before children set foot in kindergarten. In fact, new research suggests it may begin before a child is born.

To understand how literacy develops, lets begin by asking an important question: Just what is literacy?

Take a moment to consider that. If you were asked to define the word literacy, what would your definition include? 2Literacy is about making meaning

Speaking/Writing: Expressing Meaning

Listening/Reading: Understanding Meaning

At its most basic, literacy whether spoken or written is the process of making meaning. You can think of reading, writing, speaking and listening as complimentary processes operating like a two way street. Moving in one direction are speaking and writing which involve the expression of meaning. They are the ways we communicate with others.

Moving in the other direction are listening and reading, which relate to the ways others communicate their meanings to us.

Whether spoken or written, literacy is about the creation of meaning. 3The importance of symbols

No definition of literacy would be complete without one other piece: the use of symbols.

To illustrate their use, take a moment to read the comic strip at the top of the frame.

Were you able to understand the story that Peanuts illustrator Charles Schultz was telling? Charlie Brown is delivering newspapers and Snoopy is fetching each as it is thrown.

Its a meaning Mr. Schultz was able to communicate without the use of a single word but was able to tell instead with pictures. In this case what we are seeing is not a boy and his dog, but symbols representing them. And we were able to understand his meaning. This idea of pictures as symbols is famously illustrated in Renee Magrittes famous painting shown below. In French it explains, This is not a pipe. And of course, it isntnot a real pipe at least. Magrittes painting is a picture. He is using a symbol to represent something real. 4Words are symbols too whether spoken or written.

Pipe

Words are symbols too. Whether spoken or written, the word pipe is not a pipe, but an even more abstract way of representing this real life thing.

With this understanding our basic definition of literacy is complete. 5Literacy is the use of symbols to create meaning.

Literacy is use of symbols to create meaning. 6Literacy is developmental. It progresses toward more and more grown up versions.

The ability to use spoken and written language to create meaning is developmental. It starts before birth - in very simple forms - and progresses toward increasingly complex grown up versions.

For this reason, its important to understand that children are literate (in early ways) long before they come to school. And it is important that we as parents and other interested adults - treat them this way.

In Part 2, well learn more about the early development of language.7