Emergent Literacy: Synthesis of the Research

Although most preschool-age children cannot read and write in the conventional sense, their attempts at reading and writing show steady development during this stage (Hiebert, 1988). Typically, reading research in this developmental period has focused on discrete skills that are prerequisite to reading, such as letter-sound correspondences and letter naming. By highlighting the processes and products of initial reading instruction, however, this research has largely excluded the role that writing (van Kleeck, 1990) and early childhood literacy learning play in facilitating reading and writing acquisition. In contrast, the emergent literacy perspective, which emanated from cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics, takes a broader view of literacy and examines children's literacy development before the onset of formal instruction (Hiebert & Papierz, 1990; Mason & Allen, 1986; McGee & Lomax, 1990; Sulzby & Teale, 1991).