This study explores how preschoolers develop understandings of the symbolic nature of print in the context of their own writing. Using qualitative methods and a cross-sectional design, this study documents the learning trajectory that begins with children's earliest experiences linking speech and print in writing events and continues as they learn…

Children's conceptual knowledge of writing words and numbers is an important aspect of their cognitive development. Children use notations as representations that have a communicative value and begin to learn about formal differences between writing words and writing numbers at an early age before the onset of formal schooling. The aim of the…

This mixed methods study explored the influence of an interactive writing intervention on preschoolers' skills of emergent literacy, as well as teacher perceptions of the intervention. Before the intervention assessment scores were collected on the subscales of letter name identification, letter sound identification, onset-rime blending, and…

In elementary school, an important goal of reading instruction is to enable children to read most words automatically by sight so that they can focus on learning from and enjoying what they are reading. But becoming a strong reader takes several years. Parents and caregivers need to know if a child is making good progress in learning to read.…

Since 2012, when preparatory grade (PG) became compulsory in Romania for 6-year olds, little understanding has been gained of how children's literacy evolves in PG, although over the same period, Romanian 15-year olds' reading performance has shown no signs of improvement (Noveanu et al., 2023). Children enter school with broadly varying literacy…

In this article, the author offers recommendations for pedagogical practice based on the assessment results of uppercase letter-name knowledge among Spanish-speaking preschool children from low-income backgrounds.

Preschool teachers and primary school teachers must work in harmony and carry out consistent practices with each other in the process of teaching literacy. This study aims to determine the practices of preschool teachers in the literacy preparation process and the opinions of primary school teachers on the level of readiness of students from…

Young children's use of tablets and smartphones has proliferated in recent years. Furthermore, apps are being developed at breakneck pace, often designed to support children's learning in a variety of academic skills across various domains. While a growing body of literature focuses upon the use of multimedia apps to support emergent literacy,…

Families face adverse experiences in gentrified urban areas, including dangerous living conditions, eviction, and homelessness. Parents and caregivers often work long hours to avoid these outcomes, leaving children with reduced home literacy interactions lacking necessary letter knowledge for kindergarten. This study examines the effectiveness of…

This study examined the nature of young children's literacy interest, the predictability of literacy interest for early literacy skills, and gender differences in literacy interest using a sample of Head Start children (N = 263). Literacy interest was compared across parent-, teacher-, and child-reported measures of literacy activity participation…

While mobile devices are becoming increasingly ubiquitous (even in low-income families in the United States) and are being used for educational purposes, it is unclear how these technological tools may benefit letter learning (a foundational precursor to early literacy achievement) in preschool children. To contribute clarity, this study tested…

Background: Beginning readers are typically introduced to enlarged print, and the size of this print decreases as readers become more fluent. In comparison, beginning blind readers are expected to learn standard-sized Braille from the outset because past research suggests letter knowledge cannot be transferred across different sizes of Braille.…

This article addresses the characteristics of learners in the emergent stage of literacy development and describes two instructional practices that facilitate the development of the alphabetic principle and concept of word in text.

We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate reading-writing relations. Beyond the overall relation, we systematically investigated moderation of the relation as a function of linguistic grain size (word reading and spelling versus reading comprehension and written composition), measurement of reading comprehension (e.g., multiple choice,…

"Tender Shoots" compared two book-reading and conversation approaches for parents and preschoolers to an activity-based control group. The "Rich Reading and Reminiscing" (RRR) condition taught parents to converse about the storyline; the "Strengthening Sound Sensitivity" (SSS) condition taught parents to converse…