What is emergent literacy?

Emergent literacy builds on a foundation of oral language, and includes phonological awareness, alphabet and letter-sound knowledge, concepts of print, story comprehension, as well as mark-making and emergent writing. Emergent literacy develops best in play-based environments where oral language and print are used meaningfully for a range of purposes.

Phonological awareness is the recognition of sounds in language and is an important prerequisite to learning to read and write when children start school, helping children decode printed words and spell by understanding the relationship between language sounds and the alphabet. Phonological awareness starts with identifying words in a sea of sound, then progresses to recognising syllables in words, repeated sounds, rhymes, and the beginning and ending sounds in words (onset and rime). 

Phonemic awareness, a subset of phonological awareness, is the ability to identify and manipulate the smallest units of sounds (phonemes), such as identifying and breaking words into individual sounds (e.g. /c/a/t), blending sounds together to make words (e.g. c/a/t makes ‘cat’), deleting or substituting sounds in words (e.g. changing c/a/t to a/t, m/a/t, or c/u/t). While children may begin to develop phonemic awareness in early childhood, they will learn more specific phonemic awareness skills when they start school or kura. 

Playing with language sounds also applies to internal speech (silently ‘talking’ in your head). While we all use internal speech, it is particularly important for children who use Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) systems to communicate. Strengthening their internal speech provides a strong platform for later reading and spelling.

Alphabet principle is the term used to explain the way in which letters or symbols in a written language represent specific language sounds. This understanding of letter-sound relationships helps children create phonemically accurate representations in reading and spelling at school. Therefore, it is important to support and encourage the learning of alphabet sounds alongside the shapes and names of letters.

Concepts of print encompass all the rules and conventions that determine how print looks and operates in a particular language. This includes aspects such as directionality (left to right, top to bottom in English), spacing between words and paragraphs, book orientation, understanding that words convey meaning and remain consistent, and how punctuation works. In order to learn to read, children need to understand print concepts, as well as having strong oral language and an ability to match and discriminate visual symbols. Learning concepts about print begins early with kaiako supporting infants to recognise that pictures convey meaning and help to tell stories. 

Story comprehension is about interpreting the meanings in stories and is an important foundation for children’s language and literacy success. Story comprehension includes understanding that stories often follow a logical structure with a beginning, middle and end, and can reflect children’s own world, the worlds of others, or invented worlds. Understanding the meanings within a story includes exploring who, what, when, where, why, and how questions.

Reading and storytelling introduces children to new vocabulary and sentence structures. They spark imagination and curiosity along with the ability to focus and concentrate. Through stories, children learn about the world – their own and that of others – which in turn helps them to understand different perspectives and builds social and emotional competencies such as empathy and cultural understanding. 

Mark making refers to the initial stages of writing and drawing that young children engage in as they begin to explore and understand written and visual literacy. With time and practice, mark making develops into emergent writing as children begin to create recognisable print-like forms and alphabet letters. Before starting school, many children are demonstrating emergent writing, including writing their names and other familiar words. These may be spelt phonetically reflecting children’s developing confidence, skills, and understandings of the writing process. Importantly, children also show an understanding of the purpose of writing, through activities such as sending messages, making lists, and putting words to illustrations to create a story.