There is an explosion of new research describing writing stages and how young children learn about reading by learning to write first. Teachers can develop environments in which students can freely explore writing in no-fail situations. By being guided by childrens' spontaneous learning efforts many inapropriate teaching techniques can be avoided.…

Explores how children become oriented to literacy and how their perceptions of the purpose of print develop as they move toward becoming more fluent users of print. (DF)

A year-long, quasi-experimental study investigated the comparative effects of a whole language approach and a code emphasis approach upon the emergent literacy of 53 girls in two kindergarten classes in an all girls' parochial school in the Northeast. Subjects in the experimental class received instruction in Holdaway's Shared Book Experience…

This report describes an early intervention program to elicit emergent literacy skills in Potentially English Proficient kindergarten students. The school is located in a suburb of a large city near a naval base. The problem, lack of literacy readiness skills, was documented with a battery of tests given prior to entrance in kindergarten and the…

Examines three Swedish research projects concerning how reading and writing are viewed in the preschool context. Finds that linguistic awareness is a precondition, stimulating linguistic awareness fosters literacy development, linguistic awareness activities are common in preschools, and attitudes have changed about when and how young children…

This report details a year-long study of the emerging literacy of preschoolers and kindergarteners in two southwest Florida communities. Using a quasi-experimental design, investigation focused on two preschools and two kindergarten classes that implemented certain strategies associated with a whole language philosophy, including daily shared…

Children begin school with some very basic ideas about written language and reading. The first is that of sign and message. That a graphic representation, a "sign," conveys meaning is an early and easy concept for children that stems from their visually attending to print in their environment. The realization that spoken language can be…

In response to the decline in thinking, reading, and writing skills, as indicated by the latest report of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, this paper offers elementary school teachers one framework for a classroom writing program to cultivate a reading-writing-thinking connection. Based on six categories of B. Bloom's taxonomy…

The validity of recent research concerning invented spelling, the developmental stages in children's writing, and whether children will attempt writing before reading and continue writing while learning to read were examined. Five developmental stages in spelling have been identified: (1) the precommunicative stage, involving the use of random…

Describes a program that associates phonics instruction with children's earliest reading and writing, using the ERIS method to teach sound/letter correspondences and to provide opportunities for writing and reading. (NKA)

A study of kindergarten children used three language-eliciting situations to obtain stories. The stories were compared for fluency, vocabulary, descriptive nature, and story structure. Results indicated that stories elicited without the use of a prop were more fluent and reflected a more sophisticated story structure than those elicited by a…

Spelling practices, processes, and implications can be analyzed in terms of three conceptual models: the bottom up, the top down, and the interactive compensatory model. Spelling instruction from post-colonial America into the 20th century reveals a preoccupation with the bottom up philosophy, which emphasized rules, word lists, and rote…

The purposes of this study were (1) to investigate the metalinguistic knowledge children have acquired from their environment before formal instruction, and (2) to examine the relationship between evolving writing and reading behavior. Twenty middle-class children ranging in age from 4.1 years to 5.11 years were selected. The Goodman and Cox…

There has been an explosion of knowledge over the last few years about how children's earliest experiences set the stage for success in learning to read and write. Most experts agree that children who reach kindergarten with certain characteristics--an interest in books, a fondness for conversation, a curiosity about the world--are more likely to…

The concept of "preliteracy" is important for adult literacy programs. All illiterate adults can undertake their initiation into the world of letters and figures provided they are strongly motivated to do so. Experiments on motivation indicate that literacy programs must respond at least to one essential need of the future literate…