Emergent Literacy

Chapter 4Cohen and Cowan

What is Emergent Literacy?

Key Terms

• Alphabetic principle• Phonemic

awareness• Reading readiness• Cognitive

development• Auditory perception• Visual perception

• Motor skills • Shared literacy

experience• Zone of proximal

development• Invented spelling• Graphemes

Emergent literacy….

• Begins before formal instruction• Learning about reading, writing and

print• Understand functions of print• Alphabetic principle• Phonological awareness• Storybook reading

Strong Relationship between

Language developmentand

Literacy skills

..

“What the child learns at home

is the foundation for all literacy

development.”

Emergent Literacy

vs.Reading “readiness”

Cognitive Development

• Concept development• Language development• Listening development• Classification*• Quantitative skills (more than; #’s)

By Kindergarten

• 8000 words

(know almost all basic grammatical forms of their

language)

Components

• Phonological awareness• Experiences with Print• Experiences with using language• Letter recognition• Storybook Reading

Invented Spelling

• 5 Stages:– Precommunicative (3-6 yrs.)– Semiphonetic 1-2 letters; consonants 5-9– Phonetic (others can figure it out) 6-12– Transitional (vowels; “real”) 7-12– Conventional 8-adult

Zone of Proximal Development

Experiences that promote EL

• Shared literacy• zone of proximal development• Invented spelling• Phonemic awareness

Identifying special needs Children

• Inadequate motor development• Language delays• Speech disorders• Poor cognitive development

Are computers appropriate for this age?

Assessment

• Portfolios• Checklists• Anecdotal records• Published tests• Systematic observation