SP

Early Literacy Development & Print Awareness

Early Home Literacy Practices

  • Parental modeling
    • Parents switch off TV & phones every evening → signals that reading is pleasurable, valued, and deliberate.
    • Children observe that the printed page, not the pictures, drives the story; reinforced by caregiver’s finger-tracking each word.
  • Print‐rich errands
    • Grocery trip: caregiver verbally labels items ("cucumber, melon") and points to shelf labels → child learns that different texts (signs, lists, price labels) serve different purposes.
    • Child already links M in melon to M in her own name → illustrates emergent phonemic awareness.
  • “Pretend reading”
    • Toddlers often narrate a book from memory or imagination; shows knowledge of book anatomy (front/back, page-turning, left-to-right order).
    • Pretend reading = rehearsal for real decoding.
  • Language exposure for infants
    • 2-month-old Vijay focuses on mother’s intonation; brain is being tuned to phonemes that will later map to graphemes.

Importance of Print Awareness

  • Definition: recognizing that print is everywhere, conveys meaning, is made of letters/words, and can be produced by anyone.
  • Key attributes of print vs. other visuals:
    • Symbolizes language, not objects.
    • Contains permanent, retrievable information.
    • Obeys conventions (directionality, spacing, punctuation).
  • Typical onset: toddler interest emerges around 16\text{–}20\,\text{months}; some notice letters even earlier.

Relationship Between Oral & Written Language

  • Four interrelated domains: listening, speaking, reading, writing.
    • Speaking = encoding thoughts into oral symbols.
    • Writing = encoding the same thoughts into graphic symbols.
    • Reading & listening = decoding those symbol systems.
  • Strong oral skills → easier transition to both writing and reading.

Classroom Approaches to Print Instruction

  • Traditional
    • Provide abundant materials for open exploration.
    • Read picture books; avoid heavy focus on letter formation.
  • Readiness (explicit)
    • Teacher-modeled writing.
    • Direct tracing, naming, ordered practice of letters.
  • Natural / Embedded
    • Weave print into daily routines (labels, job charts, environmental print).
    • Alphabet toys, constant connections among talking, writing, and reading.
  • Picture-book reading is common to all three approaches because narrative fuels vocabulary, comprehension, and motivation.

Developmental Sequence of Writing & Print Awareness

  1. Level 1 – Drawing ≠ Writing
    • Child still sees scribbles/pictures as interchangeable.
  2. Level 2 – Scanning Print Strings
    • Notices that print has linear order; begins to separate scribbles from text area.
  3. Level 3 – Letter–Sound Links
    • Identifies letters from own name; attempts to match sounds to letters in other words.

Sequence of observable milestones

  • Watches adults mark paper → notices print in environment → recognizes own name → identifies first letter → writes pseudo-letters → writes name → writes other words.

Invented Spelling: Phases & Pedagogical Value

  • Why encourage it?
    • Exercising phonemic awareness while writing solidifies sound–symbol correspondence more powerfully than worksheets.
    • Provides a “window” into child’s linguistic knowledge (mis-spellings reveal what phonemes are/aren’t perceived).
  • Phases
    1. Spelling awareness – knows letters represent words, but strings random.
    2. Primitive spelling – still no correspondence; may insert spaces.
    3. Pre-phonetic – writes initial or final sounds. (e.g., "BMP" for bump).
    4. Phonetic/phonemic – matches most sounds ("LUV" for love).
    5. Conventional – applies orthographic rules.
  • Teacher practice
    • Respond with questions (“What sounds do you hear?”) instead of immediate correction.
    • Keep all versions; do not erase – errors inform next lesson.
    • Celebrate risk-taking (“Great BM P! Let’s listen again for the middle sound.”).

Fine-Motor & Physiological Foundations for Writing

  • Muscle development proceeds head → toe; large muscles mature before fine.
  • Prerequisites:
    • Small-muscle coordination (Play-Doh, tweezers, tearing paper).
    • Hand–eye coordination, proper grasp, pressure control.
    • Ability to draw basic strokes (vertical, horizontal, circular, diagonal lines – diagonals often hardest).
  • Hand preference typically stabilizes by Kindergarten; switching is normal in 3- and 4-year-olds.

Strategies to Promote Alphabet & Print Awareness

  • Daily name writing routines; begin with all capitals, shift to title case once capitals are mastered (≈ January).
  • Create classroom alphabet books compiled from student pictures.
  • Environmental print walls, label centers, traffic signs in dramatic-play.
  • Dictation: teacher records child’s oral story under the picture → child sees speech transformed to print.
  • Provide thick markers, unlined paper early; introduce lines gradually for spatial cues.
  • Games: letter-of-the-day hunt, blending onset–rime (“c-at → cat”), segmenting ("sun" → /s/ /ʌ/ /n/).

Case Studies / Writing Samples (Video & Slides)

  • Scribbler (Pre-K)
    • No text, color blocks; next step = more tools, talk about writing vs. drawing.
  • Message + Picture (Pre-K)
    • Random letters in a left-to-right row, separate from picture; teach word spacing via underlined blanks.
  • Advanced Pre-K (“MOM I LUV U”)
    • All caps, no spaces; focus on finger-spacing or word boxes.
  • Kindergarten Bus Scene
    • Labels only on stop sign; encourage adding initial letters to each picture element.
  • Kindergarten “Me and my friends are playing”
    • Run-on string; child grasping spatial concept of word → model spaces, expand sentences, provide lined paper options.

Key Numerical & Statistical References

  • Blurry home video child age: 2.5 years.
  • Typical toddler print curiosity: 16\text{–}20 months.
  • GPA example from transcript: 3.6 (context: college admissions anecdote).
  • Quoted acceptance statistic: 90\% (illustrative, not research-based).
  • Infant Vijay age: 2 months.
  • Pre-K writer ages discussed: 4 years (implicit).

Ethical, Philosophical & Practical Implications

  • Equity: Early exposure is often privilege-dependent; educators must recreate literacy-rich environments for children lacking them.
  • Motivation over perfection: Emphasizing joy of reading/writing prevents negative self-concepts; premature correction may hamper risk-taking.
  • Parental self-efficacy: Message to caregivers—even non-readers can model that books matter by valuing library visits, storytelling, or simply handling books.
  • Process vs. Product: Saving invented spellings honors the learning journey and supplies formative assessment data.

Connections to Prior Lectures / Frameworks

  • Mirrors earlier discussion linking listening → speaking → reading → writing as mutually reinforcing modalities.
  • Reinforces phonological awareness hierarchy: sentence → word → syllable → onset–rime → phoneme.
  • Echoes Orton-Gillingham principle of multisensory, explicit, cumulative instruction (e.g., saying sound while writing it).

Quick Reference: Teacher Moves & Prompts

  • “Let’s tap the sounds: /b/-/ʌ/-/mp/. What letter goes after b?”
  • “Draw a line for each word you’ll write.”
  • “Tell me about your picture; I’ll write your words underneath.”
  • “Find something in the room that starts with the same sound as your name.”
  • “Can you put a space the size of your pinky between words?”