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Notes on Childrens Literacy Development Emergent Literacy: Early Reading and Writing Development
Froma P. Roth, PhD, CCC-SLP Diane R. Paul, PhD, CCC-SLP Ann-Mari Pierotti, MA, CCC-SLP Children start to learn language from the day they are born. As they grow and develop, their speech and language skills become increasingly more complex. They learn to understand and use language to express their ideas, thoughts, and feelings, and to communicate with others. During early speech and language development, children learn skills that are important to the development of literacy (reading and writing). This stage, known as emergent literacy, begins at birth and continues through the preschool years. Children see and interact with print (e.g., books, magazines, grocery lists) in everyday situations (e.g., home, in preschool, and at daycare) well before they start elementary school. Parents can see their child's growing appreciation and enjoyment of print as he or she begins to recognize words that rhyme, scribble with crayons, point out logos and street signs, and name some letters of the alphabet. Gradually, children combine what they know about speaking and listening with what they know about print and become ready to learn to read and write. Are Spoken Language and Literacy Connected? Yes. The experiences with talking and listening gained during the preschool period prepare children to learn to read and write during the early elementary school years. This means that children who enter school with weaker verbal abilities are much more likely to experience difficulties learning literacy skills than those who do not. One spoken language skill that is strongly connected to early reading and writing is phonological awareness-the recognition that words are made up of separate speech sounds, for example, that the word dog is composed of three sounds: d, aw, g. There are a variety of oral language activities that show children's natural development of phonological awareness, including rhyming (e.g., "cat-hat") and alliteration (e.g., "big bears bounce on beds"), and isolating sounds ("Mom, f is the first sound in the word fish"). As children playfully engage in sound play, they eventually learn to segment words into their separate sounds, and "map" sounds onto printed letters, which allows them to begin to learn to read and write. Children who perform well on sound awareness tasks become successful readers and writers, while children who struggle with such tasks often do not. Who Is at Risk? There are some early signs that may place a child at risk for the acquisition of literacy skills. Preschool children with speech and language disorders often experience problems learning to read and write when they enter school. Other factors include physical or medical conditions (e.g., preterm birth requiring placement in a neonatal intensive care unit, chronic ear infections, fetal alcohol syndrome, cerebral palsy), developmental

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disorders (e.g., mental retardation, autism spectrum), poverty, home literacy environment, and family history of language or literacy disabilities. Early Warning Signs Signs that may indicate later reading and writing and learning problems include persistent baby talk, absence of interest in or appreciation for nursery rhymes or shared book reading, difficulty understanding simple directions, difficulty learning (or remembering) names of letters, failure to recognize or identify letters in the child's own name. Role of the Speech-Language Pathologist Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have a key role in promoting the emergent literacy skills of all children, and especially those with known or suspected literacy-related learning difficulties. The SLP may help to prevent such problems, identify children at risk for reading and writing difficulties, and provide intervention to remediate literacyrelated difficulties. Prevention efforts involve working in collaboration with families, caregivers, and teachers to ensure that young children have high quality and ample opportunities to participate in emergent literacy activities both at home and in daycare and preschool environments. SLPs also help older children or those with developmental delays who have missed such opportunities. Children who have difficulty grasping emergent literacy games and activities may be referred for further assessment so that intervention can begin as early as possible to foster growth in needed areas and increase the likelihood of successful learning and academic achievement. Early Intervention Is Critical Emergent literacy instruction is most beneficial when it begins early in the preschool period because these difficulties are persistent and often affect children's further language and literacy learning throughout the school years. Promoting literacy development, however, is not confined to young children. Older children, particularly those with speech and language impairments, may be functioning in the emergent literacy stage and require intervention aimed at establishing and strengthening these skills that are essential to learning to read and write. What Parents Can Do You can help your child develop literacy skills during regular activities without adding extra time to your day. There also are things you can do during planned play and reading times. Show your children that reading and writing are a part of everyday life and can be fun and enjoyable. Activities for preschool children include the following:

Talk to your child and name objects, people, and events in the everyday environment. Repeat your child's strings of sounds (e.g., "dadadada, bababa") and add to them.

Talk to your child during daily routine activities such as bath or mealtime and respond to his or her questions. Draw your child's attention to print in everyday settings such as traffic signs, store logos, and food containers. Introduce new vocabulary words during holidays and special activities such as outings to the zoo, the park, and so on. Engage your child in singing, rhyming games, and nursery rhymes. Read picture and story books that focus on sounds, rhymes, and alliteration (words that start with the same sound, as found in Dr. Seuss books). Reread your child's favorite book(s). Focus your child's attention on books by pointing to words and pictures as you read. Provide a variety of materials to encourage drawing and scribbling (e.g., crayons, paper, markers, finger paints). Encourage your child to describe or tell a story about his/her drawing and write down the words.

If you have concerns about your child's speech and language development or emergent literacy skills, please contact a certified speech-language pathologist. Go to ASHA's Web site at http://www.asha.org/ for more information and referrals, or call 800-638-8255.

Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), 2006

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Understanding Literacy Development in Young Children

Three-year-old Emma is playing house with Jacob at her preschool. They have a doll in a cradle in front of them. Emma picks up a book and sits in a rocking chair facing the doll and Jacob. She begins telling the story of The Three Bears as she turns the pages of the book, even though she is actually holding Goodnight Moon. From a traditional reading readiness perspective, this activity might not have been labeled as reading since Emma is not actually reading the story of The Three Bears. However, because Emma is read to regularly both at home and at preschool, she has become familiar with the act of reading. She is able to practice the literacy skills she has observed her parents and her teacher using. From the emergent literacy perspective, such activity is considered a developmentally appropriate reading behavior. This article provides a historical perspective on the shift in our understanding of literacy development in young children from reading readiness to emergent literacy, describes the elements of the emergent literacy perspective, and offers suggestions for promoting the literacy development of young children. Historical Perspective on Literacy Development: Reading Readiness In their review of the literature on literacy development, Teale and Sulzby (1986) note that from the late 1800s to the 1920s the research literature on reading and writing focused only on the elementary school years. In the 1920s, however, educators began to recognize the early childhood and kindergarten years as a "period of preparation" for reading and writing. In 1925, the National Committee on Reading published the first explicit reference to the concept of reading readiness. The introduction of this term gave rise to two different lines of research on preparing children for reading (Teale & Sulzby, 1986). While one group believed that reading readiness was the result of maturation ("nature"), the other group thought that appropriate experiences could accelerate readiness ("nurture"). These differing viewpoints underscore the philosophical differences that have characterized much of the research on children's development through the years. Reading Readiness from the "Nature" Perspective. The dominant theory from the 1920s into the 1950s was that reading readiness was the result of biological maturation. From this perspective, it was believed that the mental processes necessary for reading would unfold automatically at a certain period of time in development (Teale & Sulzby, 1986). Researchers argued that good practice would provide an environment that did not interfere with the predetermined process of development in the child. Thus, educators and parents were advised to postpone the teaching of reading until children reached a certain age.

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Reading Readiness from the "Nurture" Perspective. During the late 1950s and 1960s, the dominant theory shifted from reading readiness as maturation toward readiness as the product of experience. Proponents of this viewpoint argued that if children had the appropriate experiences, their reading readiness could be accelerated. Teale and Sulzby (1986) identify several factors which contributed to this shift: * a growing reliance on reading readiness workbooks and tests during the first years of school, which had been used by the maturationists as an intervention tool; * increased research on young children which was demonstrating that preschoolers knew more than had generally been believed; * the adequacy of American education was being questioned since the Soviet Union was the first country to travel in space; and * supporters of social equality argued that "large numbers of minority children had culturally disadvantaged backgrounds and had to wait until they got to school to overcome the disadvantage (p. xii)." In response to this shift in thinking, educators and parents were encouraged to use more direct instruction and structured curriculum in early childhood and kindergarten programs in order to prepare children for reading. In reading readiness programs children were considered ready to read when they had met certain social, physical, and cognitive competencies (Morrow, 1997). The Shift to an Emergent Literacy Perspective Starting in the 1970s, researchers began to challenge traditional reading readiness attitudes and practices. One of the pioneers in examining young children's reading and writing was Marie Clay (Teale & Sulzby, 1986). Clay (1966) first introduced the term emergent literacy to describe the behaviors used by young children with books and when reading and writing, even though the children could not actually read and write in the conventional sense. Whereas the concept of reading readiness suggested that there was a point in time when children were ready to learn to read and write, emergent literacy suggested that there were continuities in children's literacy development between early literacy behaviors and those displayed once children could read independently (Idaho Center on Developmental Disabilities, 1996). Clay (1975) also emphasized the importance of the relationship between writing and reading in early literacy development. Until then, it was believed that children must learn to read before they could learn to write. From the growing body of research on literacy development, Clay's concept of emergent literacy has evolved to include several elements.

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* Literacy development begins before children start formal instruction in elementary school (Teale & Sulzby, 1986). For example, by age 2 or 3 many children can identify signs, labels, and logos in their homes and in their communities (Idaho Center on Developmental Disabilities, 1996). * Reading and writing develop at the same time and interrelatedly in young children, rather than sequentially (Idaho Center on Developmental Disabilities, 1996; Teale & Sulzby, 1986). Literacy involves listening, speaking, reading, and writing abilities (as aspects of both oral and written language). * The functions of literacy (such as knowing that letters spell words and knowing that words have meaning) have been found to be as important a part of learning about reading and writing during early childhood as the forms of literacy (such as naming specific letters or words). Children learn to read so they can read to learn (Council for Exceptional Children, 1996; Idaho Center on Developmental Disabilities, 1996; Teale & Sulzby, 1986). * Children have been found to learn about written language as they actively engage with adults in reading and writing situations; as they explore print on their own; and as they observe others around them engaged in literacy activities (Idaho Center on Developmental Disabilities, 1996; Teale & Sulzby, 1986). For example, when hearing Goodnight Moon for the 100th time, children are not just memorizing the words, but actually learning about the meaning of the words and about how words tell a story. * Children have been found to pass through general stages of literacy development in a variety of ways and at different ages (Idaho Center on Developmental Disabilities, 1996; Teale & Sulzby, 1986). Suggestions for Promoting Literacy Development As the research on literacy development continues to emerge, it is important to translate the findings into practical suggestions for supporting early literacy development. The following is a list of suggestions which can promote early literacy development for newborns to preschoolers. Infants * Introduce cardboard or cloth books with brightly colored pictures. Try to select books that reflect the child's own experiences such as books about daily life, family members, animals, or food (National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), 1997). * Read books that have rhyme, rhythm, or repetition such as nursery rhymes since the sound of the language is especially important to infants who cannot yet focus on pictures very well (McMahon, 1996). * Help increase vocabulary by playing "What's that?" or "Where's the ball?" when reading books together (NAEYC, 1997). * Point out words on signs at the park, at the zoo, when walking or driving. Explain what the words mean as you name them (NAEYC, 1997). * If the infant becomes restless or fussy while reading, put the book away so that

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the child does not develop a negative association to reading (McMahon, 1996). Toddlers and Preschoolers * Provide a rich literacy environment by purchasing books for children; taking the children to the library; subscribing to newspapers and magazines; and providing such materials as checks, menus, or greeting cards for play at reading and writing (Barclay, Benelli, & Curtis, 1995; NAEYC, 1997). * Add simple stories with a basic plot and one central character to nursery rhymes and favorite books as toddlers' language abilities allow for greater listening capacity and understanding (McMahon, 1996). * Provide a warm, accepting atmosphere for reading and writing by responding to children's requests for reading and rereading favorite stories. Also, respond to questions and comments about print inside and outside the home such as packages at the grocery store, road signs, and menus at restaurants (Barclay, Benelli, & Curtis, 1995; NAEYC, 1997). * Capitalize on your child's developing interests and take short trips which relate to those interests as well as reading and rereading stories about similar events or places (NAEYC, 1997). * Create an environment that is supportive of early writing by making sure paper, crayons, pens, pencils, and markers are available. Let toddlers help you write shopping lists (Barclay, Benelli, & Curtis, 1995; NAEYC, 1997). * Allow preschool-age children to carry out the steps written in recipes (NAEYC, 1997).

Conclusion
It is never too early to begin reading to a child (McMahon, 1996). By reading to infants, parents can help their children develop an understanding about print at an early age as infants learn to make connections between words and meaning (NAEYC, 1997). By engaging children at an early age in reading and allowing children to observe those around them engaged in reading activities, parents can help foster a lifelong passion for reading that leads to benefits in all areas of development as the children grow older. Additional Resources ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English and Communication http://www.indiana.edu/~eric-rec/ The Parents' & Teachers' Guide to Helping Young Children Learn: Creative Ideas from 35 Respected Experts edited by Betty Farber. Published in 1997 by Preschool Publications, Inc. ISBN 1-881425-05-3. Sources

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Barclay, Kathy; Benelli, Cecelia; & Curtis, Ann. (1995). Literacy begins at birth: What caregivers can learn from parents of children who read early. Young Children, 50 (4), 24-28. Clay, Marie. (1966). Emergent reading behaviour. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Auckland, New Zealand. Clay, Marie. (1975). What did I write? Auckland, New Zealand: Heinemann Educational. Council for Exceptional Children. (1996). Reading: The first chapter in education. [Online]. Available: http://www.cec.sped.org/ericec/frstchap.htm [NPIN Editor's note (04-25-02): this URL has changed: http://www.ericec.org/frstchap.html] [1998, March 3]. Idaho Center on Developmental Disabilities. (1996). What is emergent literacy? [Online]. Available: http://www.ets.uidaho.edu/cdhd/emerlit/intro.htm [2000 April 6]. McMahon, Rebecca. (1996). Introducing infants to the joy of reading. Dimensions of Early Childhood, 24(3), 26-29. Morrow, Lesley Mandel. (1997). Literacy development in the early years: Helping children read and write. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. National Association for the Education of Young Children. (1997). Helping children learn about reading. [Online]. Available: http://npin.org/library/texts/home/learnabo.html [1997, September 25]. Teale, William, & Sulzby, Elizabeth. (1986). Emergent literacy: Writing and reading. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation. Dawn Ramsberg Credits: National Parent Information Network

Piaget and Vygotsky

Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget and Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky examined how children acquire language. Both were interested in the relationship of thinking and language learning. Piaget's idea was that children learn through action. He believed that children are born with and acquire schemas, or concepts for how to act and respond to the world. As children explore their world, they form and reform ideas in their minds. The more actively involved children are, the more knowledge is gained. McGee and Richgels (1996) note, "Because children construct their own knowledge, this knowledge does not come fully developed and is often quite different from that of an adult" (p. 7). Accordingly, the Piagetian perspective of literacy acquisition emphasizes a child's stages of development and reflects "concepts of reading and writing as the child has constructed them," state McGee and Richgels (1996, p. 10). They add, "Children 's concepts of reading and writing are shaped more by what they accomplished in preceding developmental stages than by their simply imitating adults' behavior or following adults' directions" (p. 10). The Vygotskian perspective of literacy acquisition emphasizes social interaction but places less emphasis on stages of behavior. From this perspective, language and cognition emerge in development at about the same time and are intertwined. Children build new concepts by interacting with others who either provide feedback for their hypotheses or help them accomplish a task (McGee & Richgels, 1996). Vygotsky suggested that learning is a matter of internalizing the language and actions of others. According to McGee and Richgels (1996), "Vygotsky believed that children need to be able to talk about a new problem or a new concept in order to understand it and use it" (p. 8). As the child discusses a problem or task with an adult, the adult supplies language to assist the child in solving the problem; the child gradually internalizes the language until the task can be completed independently (McGee & Richgels, 1996). The instructional technique in which the teacher models the desired learning strategy or task and then gradually shifts responsibility to the students is called scaffolding. info@ncrel.org Copyright North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. All rights reserved. Disclaimer and copyright information.

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Critical Issue: Addressing the Literacy Needs of Emergent and Early Readers
ISSUE: Literacy development begins in the very early stages of childhood, even though the activities of young children may not seem related to reading and writing. Early behaviors such as "reading" from pictures and "writing" with scribbles are examples of emergent literacy and are an important part of children's literacy development. With the support of parents, caregivers, early childhood educators, and teachers, as well as exposure to a literacy-rich environment, children successfully progress from emergent to conventional reading. The theoretical and research-based knowledge of child development in general and of literacy development in particular provides an understanding of the literacy acquisition of young children and suggests strategies that can help children become successful, confident readers and writers. OVERVIEW: In 1966, New Zealand researcher Marie Clay introduced the term emergent literacy to describe the behaviors seen in young children when they use books and writing materials to imitate reading and writing activities, even though the children cannot actually read and write in the conventional sense (Ramsburg, 1998). In the three decades since Clay's introduction, an extensive body of research has expanded the understanding of emergent literacy. According to current research, children's literacy development begins long before children start formal instruction in elementary school (Allington & Cunningham, 1996; Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999; Clay, 1991; Hall & Moats, 1999; Holdaway, 1979; Teale & Sulzby, 1986). This literacy development is nourished by social interactions with caring adults and exposure to literacy materials, such as children's storybooks (Sulzby, 1991). It proceeds along a continuum, and children acquire literacy skills in a variety of ways and at different ages (Emergent Literacy Project, n.d.; McGee & Richgels, 1996; Ramsburg, 1998; Strickland & Morrow, 1988). Children's skills in reading and writing develop at the same time and are interrelated rather than sequential (Teale & Sulzby, 1986). Educators can promote children's understanding of reading and writing by helping them build literacy knowledge and skills through the use of engaged learning activities. Children's growth from emergent to conventional literacy is influenced by their continuing literacy development, their understanding of literacy concepts, and the efforts of parents, caregivers, and teachers to promote literacy. Children's Literacy Development From as early as the first months through the second year of life, children's experiences with oral language development and literacy begin to build a foundation for later reading success (Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999; Strickland & Morrow, 1988; Weaver, 1988). From 2 to 3 years of age, children begin to produce understandable speech in response to books and the written marks they create.

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From 3 through 4 years of age, children show rapid growth in literacy. They begin to "read" their favorite books by themselves, focusing mostly on reenacting the story from the pictures. Eventually, they progress from telling about each picture individually to weaving a story from picture to picture using language that sounds like reading or written language (Holdaway, 1979; International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998; Sulzby, 1991). At this time, children also experiment with writing by forming scribbles, letter-like forms, and random strings of letters (Barclay, 1991; Clay, 1975; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998; McGee & Richgels, 1996). They also begin to use "mock handwriting" (Clay, 1975) or wavy scribbles (Sulzby, 1985b) to imitate adult cursive writing. Letter-like forms or "mock letters" (Clay, 1975) are the young child?s attempt to form alphabetic letters; these forms of writing eventually will develop into standard letters (Barclay, 1991). When using various forms of writing, children maintain their intention to create meaning and will often "read" their printed messages using language that sounds like reading (Clay, 1975; McGee & Richgels, 1996; Sulzby, 1985b). Around age 5, children enter school and begin receiving formal literacy instruction. Most children at the kindergarten level are considered to be emergent readers. They continue to make rapid growth in literacy skills if they are exposed to literacy-rich environments (Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999). Children at this age continue to "read" from books they? ve heard repeatedly. Gradually, these readings demonstrate the intonation patterns of the adult reader and language used in the book. Emergent readers are just beginning to control early reading strategies such as directionality, word-by-word matching, and concepts of print. They use pictures to support reading and rely heavily on their knowledge of language (Holdaway, 1979; Pinnell, 1996b; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Children's writing also develops rapidly during the kindergarten year. Just as children?s reading acquisition does not occur in a linear path, children?s writing skills also reflect an overlapping development. Children continue to use the variety of writing forms developed earlier, but they typically add random letter strings to their repertoire; in effect, they create strings of letters for their written messages without regard for the sounds represented by the letters (Sulzby, 1989, 1992). At this age, children plan their writing and are able to discuss their plans with others. If allowed, they begin to use invented spelling (phonetic spelling). Invented spelling typically represents the most dominant sounds in a word, such as the beginning and ending sounds (Gentry, 1982; McGee & Richgels, 1996; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998; Weaver, 1988). Even though children begin applying phonetic knowledge to create invented spellings, there is a lapse in time before they use phonetic clues to read what they write. Often children will try to recall what has been written or will use a picture created with the text to reread instead of using the letter clues (Kamberelis & Sulzby, 1988; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). It is interesting to note that once children start to use invented spelling, they do not use it equally for all writing tasks. In a study on emergent writing, Sulzby, Barnhart, and Hieshima (1989) observed children employing writing forms typical of earlier literacy development when asked to engage in more extended writing tasks. The children typically used invented spelling to represent single words or short phrases, but they reverted to less mature forms of writing when required to create more complex pieces.

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Tracy van Peeren, a kindergarten teacher at Greenwood Elementary School in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, describes the use of developmentally appropriate literacy activities in the kindergarten classroom [560 k audio file]. Excerpted from a videotaped interview with Tracy van Peeren (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 1999). A text transcript is available. At some point during the kindergarten or first grade year, most children move from emergent literacy into conventional literacy. This process is gradual. Although all aspects of conventional literacy are developing during the emergent period, they become recognizable in conventional literacy. Educators working with young children must keep in mind that there is no prescribed grade level for reaching conventional literacy. Emergent literacy and conventional literacy "are not discrete stages but a continuum of learning that varies with the complexity of each individual?s development," states Pinnell (1996b, p. 177). As children are moving into conventional literacy, they pass through different periods of development in their efforts to become successful readers, just as they did at the emergent level. Many traditional researchers use the terms early reader, transitional reader, and fluent reader to describe these periods of literacy growth. Most children at the first grade level are or will become early readers. They know how to use early reading strategies and can read appropriately selected text independently after a story introduction given by a teacher (Pinnell, 1996b). Early readers begin to attend to print and apply the phonetic value (International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998) of letters in order to read. They commonly look at beginning and ending letters in order to decode unfamiliar words (Clay, 1991; Pinnell, 1996b; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Children in this early reading period also begin to attend to more than one source for cues while reading. Attention is paid to meaning cues, grammatical cues, and prior knowledge on a limited basis (Clay, 1991; Holdaway, 1979; International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998; Pinnell, 1996b; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). These children are able to recognize a small number of words on sight. In writing, children typically progress through five stages of invented spelling, ranging from writing the initial consonant sound of a word to using conventional spelling. Most children at the second grade level are transitional readers. They are able to read unknown text with more independence than can early readers. Transitional readers use meaning, grammatical, and letter cues more fully. They recognize a large number of frequently used words on sight and use pictures in a limited way while reading (Clay, 1991; International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998; Pinnell, 1996b; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Some children continue to use phonetic or invented spelling, but the spelling is easily readable. Sometime during the development from early reader into transitional reader, children?s writing also begins to demonstrate characteristics of the transitional speller (Gentry, 1982; McGee & Richgels, 1996; Weaver, 1988). Transitional spellers are able to apply

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spelling rules, patterns, and a variety of other strategies for putting words on paper (Gentry, 1982; Weaver, 1988). Children at the third grade level typically are fluent readers. They use all sources of information flexibly to read a variety of unknown texts. Fluent readers are able to read for meaning with less attention to decoding and can independently solve problems encountered in the text (Clay, 1991; International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998; Pinnell, 1996b; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Typically, writing has developed into mostly conventional spelling; children may employ transitional and phonetic spellings to spell infrequently used words or words that are challenging to the child. Children are able to write expressively in many different forms using rich vocabulary and more complex sentences. They often revise and edit their own work (International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998). If the reading materials are appropriately challenging, children's fluency (which includes automatic word recognition, rapid decoding, and checking for meaning) continues to increase. Children's Concepts of Literacy In addition to acknowledging children's developmental acquisition of decoding, comprehension, and writing skills, emergent literacy research emphasizes the changes that occur in children's understanding of literacy concepts. "The transition to real reading involves changes not only in composition of skills but also in concepts about the nature of literacy," note Snow, Burns, and Griffin (1998). As children have more experience with reading and writing, their understanding of the concepts of reading and writing expand and grow to fit their new knowledge. For instance, Sulzby (1985a) describes categories of children's storybook reading from emergent through conventional reading. She notes that children eventually move from pointing and labeling pictures in a book, to "reading" a story through the illustrations, to telling the story using book language, and finally to reading conventionally using the text of a story. An important transition is when children?s "reading" of stories changes from sounding like oral language to sounding like written language. This transition demonstrates a change in ideas from thinking of reading as spoken words to understanding that reading is recreated from written text that has special wordings (McGee & Richgels, 1996; Sulzby, 1991). A similar shift in language can be observed in children?s story dictation and in the rereading of their emergent writing (Sulzby, Barnhart, & Hieshima, 1989). The young child?s concept of words changes as the child's literacy development evolves. Ferreiro (1986), for example, notes that young children often think words should show some figural resemblance to their meaning; later, children think words need a minimum number of symbols; still later, they think words need varied letters. In a study by Pick, Unze, Brownell, Drozdal, and Hopmann (1978), children as young as 3 years old were asked to sort word cards into piles of "words" and "not words." The children put all

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single-letter and two-letter cards into the "not words" pile and cards of three or more letters into the "words" pile. Their notion of words was a string of at least three letters. In contrast, first graders put all word cards they could read--regardless of length--into the "words" pile, and all word cards they did not recognize into the "not words" pile. The first graders' concept of words was that words can have any number of letters but must be recognizable and meaningful to the reader. These studies indicate that children's ideas about words are quite different from adults' concepts of words. "Because children construct their own knowledge, this knowledge does not come fully developed and is often quite different from that of an adult. Thus, there are differences between how an adult understands reading and writing and how a child understands reading and writing," note McGee and Richgels (1996, p. 7). As children progress into conventional literacy, however, their concepts of literacy gradually change toward the more conventional adult conceptualizations. Efforts to Promote Children's Literacy Development Because reading and writing are thinking processes (Allington & Cunningham, 1996; McGee & Richgels, 1996), emergent literacy also must be considered in the context of children's developing cognitive skills. The theories of both Piaget and Vygotsky are relevant to the discussion of emergent literacy and help explain the cognitive concepts formed by young learners. Emergent literacy is partly discovered; children construct their own ideas about literacy as they actively participate in literacy activities (Piaget). Emergent literacy also is based on behaviors modeled and supported by adults (Vygotsky) that encourage children to change and refine their own ideas to more closely match conventional notions. One example of this interface between literacy acquisition and literacy instruction is the child's development of phonemic awareness (awareness that spoken words are made with individual sounds). By playing with language, such as rhyming or substituting sounds in words, some children develop a degree of phonemic awareness on their own, while other children require instruction from adults. Instruction may enable some children to use metacognition (the process of thinking about and regulating one's own learning) to achieve a higher level of phonemic awareness. David Kerbow, a researcher for the Center for School Improvement at the University of Chicago, discusses the development of phonemic awareness and the value of reading aloud to children [784 k audio file]. Excerpted from a videotaped interview with David Kerbow (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 1999). A text transcript is available. In their literacy development, children progress through several categories of phonological skills. The earliest and easiest tasks involve rhyming, identifying words that rhyme, and thinking of rhyming words. Intermediate tasks involve the blending of phonemes (for example, /i/ and /n/ = in) and syllable splitting (separating the first phoneme of a word from the ending sound: /b/ /at/). The most difficult tasks involve the complete segmentation of phonemes and manipulation of them to form new words (Griffith & Olson, 1992; Hall & Moats, 1999).

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Children's parents, caregivers, and early childhood educators play an important role in ensuring that children successfully progress in their literacy development. Children's literacy efforts are best supported by adults? interactions with children through reading aloud and conversation and by children?s social interactions with each other (McGee & Richgels, 1996). It is imperative that caregivers and educators in all settings are knowledgeable about emergent literacy and make a concerted effort to ensure that children experience literacy-rich environments to support their development into conventional literacy. Of utmost importance is reading aloud to children and providing opportunities for them to discuss the stories that they hear (Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999). Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, and Wilkinson (1985) state, "The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children. This is especially so during the preschool years" (p. 23). Reading aloud to children helps them develop in four areas that are important to formal reading instruction: oral language, cognitive skills, concepts of print, and phonemic awareness. Development of these skills provides a strong foundation to support literacy development during the early school years (Allington & Cunningham, 1996; Hall & Moats, 1999; Holdaway, 1979). Children who are read to develop background knowledge about a range of topics and build a large vocabulary, which assists in later reading comprehension and development of reading strategies. They become familiar with rich language patterns and gain an understanding of what written language sounds like. Reading aloud to children helps them associate reading with pleasure and encourages them to seek out opportunities to read on their own. Children also become familiar with the reading process by watching how others read, and they develop an understanding of story structure. Repeated readings of favorite stories allow children an informal opportunity to gradually develop a more elaborate understanding of these concepts. By revisiting stories many times, children focus on unique features of a story or text and reinforce previous understandings. In addition, rereadings enable children to read emergently (Sulzby, 1985b; Sulzby, Buhle, & Kaiser, 1999). All children need to have high-quality children's books as a part of their daily experience (Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999). Storytime can include a variety of reading materials, including "books that positively reflect children?s identity, home language, and culture" (International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998, p. 9). Children benefit from having access to a wide range of literacy materials, such as books, magazines, newspapers, and a variety of writing materials. The library media specialist at school or the children?s librarian at the public library can help identify a variety of materials, including picture books, rhyming books, alphabet books, short stories, and chapter books. Literacy-rich environments, both at home and at school, are important in promoting literacy and preventing reading difficulties. In literacy-rich home environments, parents and caregivers provide children with occasions for daily reading, extended discourse (extensive talking or writing), language play, experimentation with literacy materials,

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book talk (discussion of characters, action, and plot), and dramatic play (Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999; International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998). In literacy-rich classrooms, teachers incorporate the characteristics of literacy-rich home environments, but they also use grouping for learning, developmentally appropriate practices, and literacy routines; in addition, they have classroom designs that continue to encourage reading and writing (McGee & Richgels, 1996) through learning centers and engaged learning activities. In their joint position statement, Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children, the International Reading Association and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (1998) confirm that the first eight years of a child's life are the most important years for literacy development and that developmentally appropriate practices at home and at school are crucial for ensuring that children become successful readers. David Kerbow, a researcher for the Center for School Improvement at the University of Chicago, notes that developmentally appropriate literacy activities can function at different levels and are valuable and applicable to all children in a classroom [364 k audio file]. Excerpted from a videotaped interview with David Kerbow (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 1999). A text transcript is available. Some children, however, enter elementary school without a strong background in literacy. The children most at risk of developing reading problems are those who begin school with low language skills, less phonemic awareness and letter knowledge, and less familiarity with literacy tasks and underlying purposes (Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999). Research in the areas of family risk factors that contribute to children's reading difficulties, adult-child interactions during story reading, and language development delays verifies that successes or struggles with reading can be observed very early in a child's life. To help children develop emergent skills and overcome barriers to literacy, teachers may need to take special efforts in working with children individually and in offering support and encouragement to parents and caregivers for participating in their children's literacy development. Schools also can use a wide variety of literacy intervention programs to minimize identified risk factors and support children in their literacy development. Special consideration can be given to children who do not have strong skills in oral English. According to Snow, Burns, and Griffin (1998), non-English-speaking children need adequate preparation before they are taught to read in English. The ability to speak English provides the foundation for learning alphabetic principles, the structure of the language, and the content of the material they are reading. If children cannot speak English, they can be taught to read and write in their own language while becoming proficient in English. If that is not possible, "the initial instructional priority should be developing the children's oral proficiency in English" (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998, p. 325). Formal reading instruction in English can be started after the child is adequately proficient in oral English.

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It is imperative that teachers who work with young children either in preschool or primary environments are continually provided opportunities to learn more about child development, especially as it relates to literacy acquisition (Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999; International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998). Preservice education and later professional development can provide the research base as well as instruction on how to apply literacy research to classroom practice (Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999). By continually expanding their knowledge base, teachers will be better prepared to select appropriate instructional strategies, interventions, and materials to ensure that they are meeting the diverse needs of young children. Screening and assessment are crucial tools for determining children?s literacy needs. Screening provides educators a quick look at children?s skills and development in specific areas prior to beginning reading instruction, while assessment provides ongoing feedback about children?s literacy progress and growth. Both screening and ongoing assessment can help teachers identify children who are developing atypically and are in need of intervention. The earlier children receive this intervention, the better. During kindergarten and first grade, children can be screened for phonemic awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and an understanding of basic language concepts (Texas Education Agency, 1997a). Throughout kindergarten and the primary grades, teachers can use a full continuum of assessment options, ranging from performance-based assessment to standardized testing. The use of performance-based assessments (such as observational records of reading and writing, developmental benchmarks, and portfolios) can be used to inform daily teaching (Allington & Cunningham, 1996; Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999; International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998; Slegers, 1996). End-of-year assessments inform parents and educators of children's literacy progress and assist in planning for the following school year (Texas Education Agency, 1997a). Literacy development begins very early in a child?s life and forms a foundation for the acquisition of conventional literacy. "Research consistently demonstrates that the more children know about language and literacy before they begin formal schooling, the better equipped they are to succeed in reading," note Burns, Griffin, and Snow (1999, p. 8). Parents, caregivers, and teachers need to ensure that young children are exposed to literacy-rich environments and receive developmentally appropriate literacy instruction. Such environments and experiences have a profound effect on children's literacy development by providing opportunities and encouragement for children to become successful readers.

GOALS

Teachers and caregivers understand and support childrens emergent literacy and, in later years, children's transition to conventional reading and writing.

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Teachers, administrators, and specialists understand the developmental nature of emergent literacy and early conventional literacy; they ensure that the K-2 curriculum and instructional materials are appropriate. Parents are supported in sharing and exploring literacy with their children. Homes, day care settings, and schools provide literacy-rich environments for children. Home cultures and languages are used as literacy resources, and children are read to from rich literature. The literacy program supports children?s social, emotional, aesthetic, maturational, and cognitive needs. Childrens literacy development is supported through balanced reading programs that incorporate quality literature, writing opportunities, development of phonemic awareness, and alphabetic knowledge. Teachers and caregivers participate in long-term professional development and learning forums in emergent literacy and early conventional literacy; they recognize, support, and assess children's literacy skills.

ACTION OPTIONS: Administrators, teachers and early childhood educators, and parents and caregivers can take the following steps to provide opportunities for children's literacy acquisition. Administrators:

Work with community groups and libraries to provide informational programs for parents regarding the development of literacy skills in young children. Review research on reading and young children, such as Beating the Odds in Teaching All Children to Read, Reading the Right Way, Beginning Reading Instruction: Components and Features of a Research-Based Reading Program, Balanced Reading Instruction, and Improving the Reading Achievement of America's Children . Become familiar with Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children (the joint position statement of the International Reading Association and the National Association for

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the Education of Young Children), and thePrimary Literacy Standards developed as part of the New Standards project.

Develop an understanding of phonological terms. Work with teachers to provide a developmentally appropriate curriculum in reading and writing that is "challenging but attainable with sufficient adult support" (International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998, p. 8). Develop strategies for preventing reading difficulties in young children. Ensure that the library or resource center has extensive and varied resources for younger students. Ensure that appropriate screenings and assessments are used to determine intervention programs for children who are experiencing reading problems and children who are at risk of developing reading problems. Support teachers in implementing developmentally appropriate literacy practices in their classrooms. Provide teachers with ongoing professional development on topics such as children's growth from emergent literacy to conventional literacy, literacy instruction, and developmentally appropriate practice. (Refer to CIERA links for various literacy and educational resources.)

Teachers and Early Childhood Educators:

Use developmentally appropriate literacy practice that acknowledges children?s development, interests, and literacy knowledge. Read to children daily and allow them to take turns "reading" the material to each other. Use a wide range of literacy materials in class. Allow children to experience a variety of children's books, magazines, and newspapers. Take time to listen to children to determine their interests, language skills, and areas of need. Use children's home cultures and languages as literacy resources.

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Provide multiple rereadings of stories for pleasure and exploration. Invite children to join in the readings, honoring their emergent reading behaviors. Create a literacy-rich classroom environment. Provide appropriate literacy activities for children, such as literacy activities for day care and preschool settings, literacy activities for kindergarten, and literacy activities for first grade. Ensure that the school provides appropriate writing materials for children. Encourage children to compose stories and informational articles in emergent forms; provide opportunities for children to read, share, and display their writing. Provide opportunities for reading and writing in a kindergarten classroom that will benefit children at every phase of their literacy development. Provide "writing experiences that allow the flexibility to use nonconventional forms of writing at first (invented or phonetic spelling) and over time move to conventional forms" (International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998, p.9). Use appropriate strategies for teaching beginning reading. As children begin to read conventionally, provide balanced reading instruction to teach both skills and meaning and to meet the reading needs of individual children. Share ideas with parents and caregivers on creating an optimal environment to support young children's literacy development. Participate in professional development activities to increase understanding of emergent literacy and appropriate teaching practices.

Parents and Caregivers:

Read aloud to children. Share and explore books and other reading materials with children. Provide a literacy-rich environment by promoting home literacy activities for infants and toddlers and home literacy activities for preschoolers. Realize the value of helping children learn about reading .

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Encourage children's literacy development at home through resources such as Beginning Reading Instruction: Practical Ideas for Parents (Adobe Reader PDF 494 KB) and Helping Your Child Learn to Read.

Talk with and listen to children to promote their oral language development. Encourage children to retell stories that have been read to them. Encourage children to draw pictures or "write" about the stories they have listened to and to emergently "read" these stories. Provide children with a positive role model by taking time to read and write. Visit the library regularly with children. Children may enjoy having their own library card. Take children to the "story hour," children's plays, and other community activities. Develop an understanding of phonological terms. Take advantage of opportunities to learn and read about children?s development and literacy acquisition.

IMPLEMENTATION PITFALLS: Because of the various demands

of early childhood classrooms, teachers working with young children sometimes find it difficult to match the method of teaching with each child's level of literacy development and individual skills. Instructional activities that are used before the child is ready will result in less-than-expected progress. For example, if instruction focuses on isolated skills (such as word recognition, one-to-one pointing and chanting, or sounding out nonsense words) before a child has developed the prior concepts necessary for mastering these skills, real understanding and learning cannot take place. To be successful in their literacy acquisition, children need to grasp basic instruction before they can add new skills. Early assessment, screening, and knowledge of children's abilities help ensure that children receive appropriate and individualized instruction. Traditional school-based literacy programs often assume that children?s literacy concepts are sufficiently developed to match the adult notion of literacy. In light of what is known about children?s developmental progression, this assumption may or may not be true

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when children enter school. To ensure successful reading experiences, instruction needs to be appropriate to the child?s development. For example, instruction must take into consideration the child?s concept of words. If a child thinks only nouns and verbs are words and rejects one- to two-letter words (such as a, an, on, and of), drilling on these words as sight vocabulary does not make sense. This idea is particularly relevant in determining when to introduce conventional reading instruction. Moving slightly ahead of development may work with 7- to 8-year-olds but not with 3- to 4-year-olds. Teachers may assume that very young children should be taught through a conventional model of reading instead of an emergent model. They may provide direct instruction to the class instead of taking time to determine the appropriate instruction for each child. Teachers should encourage and support the literacy development of each individual. If a child is not able to apply the phonetic value or determine meaning independently, the teachers' role is to guide the child through these learning processes and ensure successful reading experiences. When working with young children, teachers may focus on one literacy component to the exclusion of others (for example, emphasizing phonics to the exclusion of reading for learning and enjoyment). Learning to read will be more successful for children if the various components are interwoven into literacy instruction. Teachers may be given reading tools and materials without long-term professional development to ensure deep understanding of children's literacy development. Professional development is important in helping teachers understand that appropriate reading and writing skills should be taught to children at the appropriate times. These skills must be presented in different ways to reach all children in the classroom. Professional development also helps teachers assess children?s readiness to learn new skills. Differences in training of early childhood educators and K-8 educators have resulted in widely varying programs and interpretations of emergent literacy. Early childhood educators tend to focus on nurturing the social and emotional needs of children and providing developmentally appropriate instruction. Teachers trained for grades K-8, on the other hand, tend to be more focused on curriculum and instructional strategies. Recent research indicates a trend toward a more structured academic kindergarten (Slegers, 1996) in which the curriculum reflects skills that have been moved down from first grade. As a result, teachers may feel pressure to formally teach reading skills to children in kindergarten. If these teachers keep in mind the different kinds of development their students demonstrate, they will be able to provide appropriate instruction for all students. Individualized instruction with a focus on continual progress within a continuum of learning will meet the varying needs of children. DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW: Although some early childhood educators provide activities that support emergent literacy development, others interpret "developmentally appropriate" to mean that reading and writing are academic skills that belong only in programs for older children (Slegers, 1996).

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Traditionally, children's literacy skills were compared with adults' literacy skills, and reading and writing were viewed as difficult processes for children to learn. "Children were considered knowledgeable about literacy only when their reading and writing approximated adults' reading and writing," states the Emergent Literacy Project (n.d.). "Children who could identify written words without picture clues were considered readers. Similarly, children who could spell words so that adults could read them were considered writers. This definition of reading and writing was based on what adults could do." Some educators believe that children must reach a certain level of physical and neurological maturation before they are ready for reading and writing. This perspective, called reading readiness, "suggests that there is a point in time when a child is ready to begin to learn to read and write" (Emergent Literacy Project, n.d.) rather than a developmental continuum of reading and writing acquisition. "It also assumes that physical and neurological maturation alone prepare the child to take advantage of instruction in reading and writing," note the International Reading Association and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (1998, p. 2). They add, "The readiness perspective implies that until children reach a certain stage of maturity, all exposure to reading and writing, except perhaps being read stories, is a waste of time or even potentially harmful" (p. 2). According to the reading readiness viewpoint, conventional literacy skills should be taught in kindergarten so children are ready for the first-grade curriculum when they enter first grade. There are varying opinions on the strategies for teaching young children to read and write. Some educators believe that instruction in conventional literacy should be based on early, explicit, and intensive instruction in sound-letter relationships to develop children's comprehension and decoding skills. Others emphasize immersion in language and literature. Before the concept of emergent literacy was introduced, it was believed that children must learn to read before they could learn to write. Some educators still believe that this approach is the best way to teach young children. Some parents and educators think that schools should discourage the use of invented spelling. They believe that invented spelling prevents children from learning to spell correctly and affects their success in school and life.

ILLUSTRATIVE CASES:

Jo Wingo, a kindergarten teacher at Centralized Kindergarten North School, in Indianapolis, Indiana, demonstrates literacy best practice in a kindergarten classroom [text and videostreaming feature]. Elizabeth Sulzby, professor of education at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and principal investigator at the Center for the Improvement of

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Early Reading Achievement, discusses children's development of emergent writing [text and videostreaming feature].

The literacy program at Cherry Valley Elementary School, in Polson, Montana, emphasizes teaching and reaching each child as an individual. Successful Early Childhood Education in an Imperfect World describes educational strategies--including literacy practices--used with young children in four Northwest schools: Cherry Valley Elementary School, in Polson, Montana; Helen Baller Elementary School, in Camas, Washington; Harborview/Capital Elementary School, in Juneau, Alaska; and Mary Harrison Primary School, in Toledo, Oregon.

CONTACTS:
Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA) University of Michigan, School of Education 610 E. University Ave, Room 1600 SEB Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1259 (734) 647-6940; fax (734) 763-1229 Contact: Elfrieda Hiebert, Director E-mail: ciera@umich.edu WWW: http://www.ciera.org/ ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication Indiana University Smith Research Center, Suite 150 Bloomington, IN 47408-2698 (800) 759-4723 or (812) 855-5847; fax (812) 855-4220 WWW: http://www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/ International Reading Association 800 Barksdale Road P.O. Box 8139 Newark, DE 19714-8139 (302) 731-1600; fax: (302) 731-1057 WWW: http://www.reading.org/ National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) 1509 16th St. N.W. Washington, DC 20036-1426 (202) 232-8777 or (800) 424-2460; fax (202) 328-1846

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Contact: Pat Spahr, Information Services Director E-mail: pubaff@naeyc.org WWW: http://www.naeyc.org/ National Institute for Literacy 1775 I St. N.W., Suite 730 Washington, DC 20006-2401 (202) 233-2025; fax (202) 233-2050 Contact: Andrew Hartman, Director E-mail: jbehroozi@nifl.gov WWW: http://www.nifl.gov/ Whole Language Umbrella National Council of Teachers of English 1111 West Kenyon Road Urbana, IL 61801 (2l1) 328-3870 or (800) 369-6283; fax (217) 328-9645 E-mail: webmaster@ncte.org WWW: http://www.ncte.org/groups/wlu

This Critical Issue was written by Debra Johnson, a freelance writer who also is a multiage resource teacher at Lincoln School in Mundelein, Illinois, in collaboration with Elizabeth Sulzby, professor of education at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and principal investigator at the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement in Ann Arbor. Date posted: 1999 info@ncrel.org Copyright North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. All rights reserved. Disclaimer and copyright information Queen's Printer for Ontario, 20102008-2009 - Last Modified: 17/3/09 9:00 AM

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Early Reading Strategy, The Report of the Expert Panel on Early Reading in Ontario, 2003, Ministry of Education, Ontario
Why Early Reading Matters

Stages of Reading Development Reading to Learn Making It Happen Laying a Strong foundation Reading in a Second Language

Becoming a reader is a continuous process that begins with the development of oral language skills and leads, over time, to independent reading. Oral language the ability to speak and listen is a vital foundation for reading success. In every culture, children learn the language of the home as they observe, listen, speak, and interact with the adults and children in their environment. This process happens naturally and predictably in almost all cases. While developing oral language is a natural process, learning to read is not. Children must be taught to understand, interpret, and manipulate the printed symbols of written language. This is an essential task of the first few years of school. Reading success is the foundation for achievement throughout the school years. There is a critical window of opportunity from the ages of four to seven for learning to read. Children who successfully learn to read in the early primary years of school are well prepared to read for learning and for pleasure in the years to come. On the other hand, children who struggle with reading in Grades 1 to 3 are at a serious disadvantage. Academically, they have a much harder time keeping up with their peers, and they increasingly fall behind in other subjects. They are far more likely to suffer low selfesteem and, in their teen years, are more likely to drop out without completing high school. Children with unaddressed reading difficulties have not failed the system; the system has failed them. We now know that this is not inevitable, even for children who

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Queen's Printer for Ontario,

20102008-2009 - Last Modified: 17/3/09 9:02 AM

9 Components of Effective, Research-Supported Reading Instruction

By: Learning First Alliance (2000) We know from research that an effective reading program must address several aspects of reading. Among others, these aspects include the alphabetic code, fluency, comprehension, and motivation. The following are nine components of effective reading instruction.

1. Phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, and concepts of print

Phoneme awareness and letter-sound knowledge account for more of the variation in early reading and spelling success than general intelligence, overall maturity level, or listening comprehension. They are the basis for learning an alphabetic writing system. Children who have poorly developed phonemic awareness at the end of kindergarten are likely to become poor readers. Explicit instruction in sound identification, matching, segmentation, and blending, when linked appropriately to sound-symbol association, reduces the risk of reading failure and accelerates early reading and spelling acquisition for all children.

2. The alphabetic code: Phonics and decoding

In addition to phoneme awareness and letter knowledge, knowledge of sound-symbol associations is vital for success in first grade and beyond. Accurate and fluent word recognition depends on phonics knowledge. The ability to read words accounts for a substantial proportion of overall reading success even in older readers. Good readers do not depend primarily on context to identify new words. When good readers encounter an unknown word, they decode the word, name it, and then attach meaning. The context of the passage helps a reader get the meaning of a word once a word has been deciphered.

3. Fluent, automatic reading of text

Beginning readers must apply their decoding skills to fluent, automatic reading of text. Children who are reading with adequate fluency are much more likely to comprehend what they are reading. Thus the concept of independent reading level is important: it is that level at which the child recognizes more than 95 percent of the words and can read without laboring over decoding. Poor readers often read too slowly. Some poor readers

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have a specific problem with fluent, automatic text reading even though they have learned basic phonics.

4. Vocabulary
Knowledge of word meanings is critical to reading comprehension. Knowledge of words supports comprehension, and wide reading enables the acquisition of word knowledge. At school age, children are expected to learn the meanings of new words at the rate of several thousand per year. Most of these words are acquired by reading them in books or hearing them read aloud from books. Networks of words, tied conceptually, are the foundation of productive vocabulary. Key in developing this foundation is active processing of word meanings, which develops understanding of words and their uses, and connections among word concepts.

5. Text comprehension
The undisputed purpose of learning to read is to comprehend. Although children are initially limited in what they can read independently, comprehension instruction can occur as soon as they enter school. Comprehension depends, firstly, on a large, working vocabulary and substantial background knowledge. Even before children can read for themselves, teachers can build this vital background knowledge by reading interactively and frequently to children from a variety of narrative and expository texts, chosen in part for their ability to expand what children know about the world around them. Further, comprehension is enhanced when teachers make sure students understand what they are reading by asking questions and encouraging student questions and discussions. Effective instruction will help the reader actively relate his or her own knowledge or experience to the ideas written in the text, and then remember the ideas that he or she has come to understand.

6. Written expression
Reading and writing are two sides of the same coin. Both depend on fluent understanding and use of language at many levels. Each enhances the other. From first grade onward, children benefit from almost daily opportunities to organize, transcribe, and edit their thoughts in writing. A variety of writing assignments appropriate to their abilities is desirable, including production of narratives and exposition. While they are building the skills of letter formation, spelling, and sentence generation, children also should be taught to compose in stages: generating and organizing ideas, initially with a group or partner; producing a draft; sharing ideas with others for the purpose of gaining feedback; and revising, editing, proofreading, and publishing.

7. Spelling and handwriting

Recent research supports the premise that written composition is enhanced by mastery of the component skills of spelling and writing just as reading comprehension is supported

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by mastery of fluent word recognition. Fluent, accurate letter formation and spelling are associated with students' production of longer and better-organized compositions. Word usage, handwriting, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling are the necessary conventions of written expression that must be taught alongside strategies for composing. Students learn spelling and handwriting more readily if those skills are taught explicitly from first grade onward and if they are applied in the context of frequent, purposeful writing assignments.

8. Screening and continuous assessment to inform instruction

Frequent assessment of developing readers, and the use of that information for planning instruction, is the most reliable way of preventing children from falling behind and staying behind. A clear message from longitudinal studies of reading development is that most children who become poor readers in third grade and beyond were having difficulty right from the start with phonologically-based reading skills. In addition, instruction that targets the specific weaknesses most likely to cause reading difficulty often prevents later reading failure and facilitates the reading development of most children.

9. Motivating children to read and developing their literacy horizons

As we have emphasized earlier, a successful teacher of beginning reading generates enthusiasm and appreciation for reading. Research reviews have repeatedly stated that children who are read to often, who are led to enjoy books, and who are encouraged to read widely are more likely to become good readers than children who lack these experiences. Teachers who are juggling the technical challenges of program organization and delivery may lose sight of the fact that purposeful reading and writing is the goal of instruction. Information on the importance of daily reading aloud, the selection of varied reading material, the use of the library, and the integration of topics across the curriculum will bolster literacy instruction, even as teachers focus on teaching specific reading and writing skills. Team and school initiatives to promote a love of books and wide reading should be ever-present. Endnotes Adams, M., Treiman, R., & Pressley, M. (1998). Reading, writing and literacy. In I. E. Siegal and K. A. Renniger (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Child psychology in practice (5th ed., Vol. 4, pp. 275-355). New York: Wiley. Bear, D. Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (1996). Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill. Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. G. (1991). Conditions of vocabulary acquisition. In P. D. Pearson (Ed.), The Handbook of Reading Research (Vol. 2, pp. 789-814). New York: Longman Press.

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Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Omanson, R. C. (1984). The fertility of some types of vocabulary instruction. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans. Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., Hamilton, R. L., & Kucan, L. Getting at the meaning: How to help students unpack difficult text. American Educator, 22, 66-71, 85. Beck, I. L., McCaslin, E. C., & McKeown, M. G. (1980). The rationale and design of a program to teach vocabulary to fourth-grade students. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Learning Research and Development Center. Berninger, V., Vaughan, K., Abbott, R., Brooks, A., Abbott, S., Reed, E., Rogan, L., & Graham, S. (1998). Early intervention for spelling problems: Teaching spelling units of varying size within a multiple connections framework. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 587-605. Berninger, V., Vaughan, K., Abbott, R., Abbott, S., Brooks, A., Rogan, L., Reed, E., & Graham, S. (1997). Treatment of handwriting fluency problems in beginning writing: Transfer from handwriting to composition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 652666. Durkin, D. (1993). Teaching them to read (6th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Ehri, L., & Soffer, A. (1999). Graphophonemic awareness: Development in elementary students. Scientific Studies of Reading, 3, 1-30. Fletcher, J. M., & Lyon, G. R. (1998). Reading: A research-based approach. In W. Evers (Ed.), What's gone wrong in America's classrooms (pp. 49-90). Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press. Graham, S., Berninger, V., Abbott, R., Abbott, S., & Whitaker, D. (1997). The role of mechanics in composing of elementary school students: A new methodological approach. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 170-182. Learning First Alliance (1998). Every child reading: An action plan. Washington, DC: Author. Moats, L. C. (1995). The missing foundation in teacher education. American Educator, 19(2), 9, 43-51. National Reading Panel. (2000). Fluency. Chap. 3 in Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read: Reports of the subgroups (pp. 3-1-3-43). Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health.

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National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health. National Reading Panel. (2000). Text comprehension. Part 2 of Chap. 4 in Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read: Reports of the subgroups (pp. 4-39-4118). Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health. National Reading Panel. (2000). Vocabulary instruction. Part 1 of Chap. 4 in Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read: Reports of the subgroups (pp. 415-4-38). Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health. Pressley, M. (1998). Reading instruction that works: The case for balanced teaching. New York: Guilford Press. Scarborough, H., Ehri, L., Olson, R., & Fowler, A. (1998). The fate of phonemic awareness beyond the early school years. Scientific Studies of Reading, 2, 115-142. Snow, C., Burns, S., & Griffin, P. (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children (pp. 80-83). Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Treiman, R. (1993). Beginning to spell. New York: Oxford University Press. In addition to their mention in Every Child Reading: An Action Plan, these components are commonly delineated in documents such as research reviews, state standards on instruction, the Reading Excellence Act funding criteria, curriculum guidelines, and teacher instructional manuals. Of course, as the National Reading Panel notes, "phonics teaching is a means to an end. . . . In implementing systematic phonics instruction, educators must keep the end in mind and ensure that children understand the purpose of learning letter sounds and that they are able to apply these skills accurately and fluently in their daily reading and writing activities" (Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of Health, 2000, p. 10). The panel's report also states that, notwithstanding the fact that explicit, systematic, synthetic phonics is the most effective approach, there remain unanswered questions on how to make this instruction as effective as possible. For example, the panel notes that more research is needed on questions such as how long single instruction sessions should last, how many letter-sound relations should be taught, and how many months or years a phonics program should continue. Moreover, some children will learn and appropriately apply phonics skills quickly and effortlessly, while others must be taught slowly, step by step. The individual variation in any group remains a continual challenge to teacher judgment,

32
resourcefulness, and program management skill. In the standardization of the Texas Primary Reading Inventory, these subtests combined predict the likelihood of success or failure with about 90 percent accuracy. The readability of text, as reflected in sentence complexity and frequency of vocabulary, can now be assessed with software. Readability formulas tend to have more validity for children who have attained a reading level above 2nd grade than they do for those who are just beginning to read, and readability does not reflect the extent to which a text is decodable on the basis of what a child has been taught. Endnotes Adams, M., Treiman, R., & Pressley, M. (1998). Reading, writing and literacy. In I. E. Siegal and K. A. Renniger (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Child psychology in practice (5th ed., Vol. 4, pp. 275-355). New York: Wiley. Bear, D. Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (1996). Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill. Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. G. (1991). Conditions of vocabulary acquisition. In P. D. Pearson (Ed.), The Handbook of Reading Research (Vol. 2, pp. 789-814). New York: Longman Press. Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., & Omanson, R. C. (1984). The fertility of some types of vocabulary instruction. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans. Beck, I. L., McKeown, M. G., Hamilton, R. L., & Kucan, L. Getting at the meaning: How to help students unpack difficult text. American Educator, 22, 66-71, 85. Beck, I. L., McCaslin, E. C., & McKeown, M. G. (1980). The rationale and design of a program to teach vocabulary to fourth-grade students. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Learning Research and Development Center. Berninger, V., Vaughan, K., Abbott, R., Brooks, A., Abbott, S., Reed, E., Rogan, L., & Graham, S. (1998). Early intervention for spelling problems: Teaching spelling units of varying size within a multiple connections framework. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 587-605. Berninger, V., Vaughan, K., Abbott, R., Abbott, S., Brooks, A., Rogan, L., Reed, E., & Graham, S. (1997). Treatment of handwriting fluency problems in beginning writing: Transfer from handwriting to composition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 652666.

33
Durkin, D. (1993). Teaching them to read (6th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Ehri, L., & Soffer, A. (1999). Graphophonemic awareness: Development in elementary students. Scientific Studies of Reading, 3, 1-30. Fletcher, J. M., & Lyon, G. R. (1998). Reading: A research-based approach. In W. Evers (Ed.), What's gone wrong in America's classrooms (pp. 49-90). Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press. Graham, S., Berninger, V., Abbott, R., Abbott, S., & Whitaker, D. (1997). The role of mechanics in composing of elementary school students: A new methodological approach. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 170-182. Learning First Alliance (1998). Every child reading: An action plan. Washington, DC: Author. Moats, L. C. (1995). The missing foundation in teacher education. American Educator, 19(2), 9, 43-51. National Reading Panel. (2000). Fluency. Chap. 3 in Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read: Reports of the subgroups (pp. 3-1-3-43). Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health. National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health. National Reading Panel. (2000). Text comprehension. Part 2 of Chap. 4 in Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read: Reports of the subgroups (pp. 4-39-4118). Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health. National Reading Panel. (2000). Vocabulary instruction. Part 1 of Chap. 4 in Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read: Reports of the subgroups (pp. 415-4-38). Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health. Pressley, M. (1998). Reading instruction that works: The case for balanced teaching. New York: Guilford Press. Scarborough, H., Ehri, L., Olson, R., & Fowler, A. (1998). The fate of phonemic awareness beyond the early school years. Scientific Studies of Reading, 2, 115-142.

34
Snow, C., Burns, S., & Griffin, P. (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children (pp. 80-83). Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Treiman, R. (1993). Beginning to spell. New York: Oxford University Press. In addition to their mention in Every Child Reading: An Action Plan, these components are commonly delineated in documents such as research reviews, state standards on instruction, the Reading Excellence Act funding criteria, curriculum guidelines, and teacher instructional manuals. Of course, as the National Reading Panel notes, "phonics teaching is a means to an end. . . . In implementing systematic phonics instruction, educators must keep the end in mind and ensure that children understand the purpose of learning letter sounds and that they are able to apply these skills accurately and fluently in their daily reading and writing activities" (Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of Health, 2000, p. 10). The panel's report also states that, notwithstanding the fact that explicit, systematic, synthetic phonics is the most effective approach, there remain unanswered questions on how to make this instruction as effective as possible. For example, the panel notes that more research is needed on questions such as how long single instruction sessions should last, how many letter-sound relations should be taught, and how many months or years a phonics program should continue. Moreover, some children will learn and appropriately apply phonics skills quickly and effortlessly, while others must be taught slowly, step by step. The individual variation in any group remains a continual challenge to teacher judgment, resourcefulness, and program management skill. In the standardization of the Texas Primary Reading Inventory, these subtests combined predict the likelihood of success or failure with about 90 percent accuracy. The readability of text, as reflected in sentence complexity and frequency of vocabulary, can now be assessed with software. Readability formulas tend to have more validity for children who have attained a reading level above 2nd grade than they do for those who are just beginning to read, and readability does not reflect the extent to which a text is decodable on the basis of what a child has been taught. Excerpted from: The Content of Professional Development. (November, 2000). Every Child Reading: A Professional Development Guide. Learning First Alliance. Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2000 by the Learning First Alliance. Learning First Alliance member organizations include: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, American Association of School Administrators, American Federation of Teachers, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Council of Chief State School Officers, Education Commission of the States, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National

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Association of State Boards of Education, National Education Association, National Parent Teacher Association, National School Boards Association. For more information,