Voices de la Luna

Emerging literacy describes the gradual, ongoing process of learning to understand and use language that begins at birth and continues through the early childhood years (i.e., through age eight). During this period children first learn to use oral forms of language—listening and speaking—and then begin to explore and make sense of written forms—reading and writing.
     Emerging literacy begins in infancy as a parent lifts a baby, looks into her eyes, and speaks softly to her. It’s hard to believe that this casual, spontaneous activity is leading to the development of language skills, but this pleasant interaction helps the baby learn about the give and take of conversation and the pleasures of communicating with other people. Young children continue to develop listening and speaking skills as they communicate their needs and desires through sounds and gestures, babble to themselves and others, say their first words, and rapidly add new words to their spoken vocabularies.
     Most children who have been surrounded by language from birth are fluent speakers by age three, regardless of intelligence, and without conscious effort. Each of the 6,000 languages in the world uses a different assortment of phonemes—the distinctive sounds used to form words. When adults hear another language, they may not notice the differences in phonemes not used in their own language. Babies are born with the ability to distinguish these differences. Their babbles include many more sounds than those used in their home language. At about six to ten months, babies begin to ignore the phonemes not used in their home language. They babble only the sounds made by the people who talk with them most often.
     During their first year, babies hear speech as a series of distinct but meaningless words. By age one, most children begin linking words to meaning. They understand the names used to label familiar objects, body parts, animals, and people. Children at this stage simplify the process of learning these labels by making three basic assumptions: labels (words) refer to a whole object, not parts or qualities ("Flopsy" is a beloved toy, not its head or color). Labels refer to classes of things rather than individual items ("Doggie" is the word for all four-legged animals). Anything that has a name can only have one name (for now, "Daddy" is "Daddy," and not a "man" or "Jake").
     As children develop their language skills, they give up these assumptions and learn new words and meanings. From this point on, children develop language skills rapidly. Here is a typical sequence: at about 18 months, children add new words to their vocabulary at the astounding rate of one every two hours. By age two, most children have one to 2,000 words and combine two words to form simple sentences: "Go out." "All gone." Between 24 to 30 months, children speak in longer sentences.
     From 30 to 36 months children begin following the rules for expressing tense and number and use words such as "some," "would," and "who." At the same time as they are gaining listening and speaking skills, young children are learning about reading and writing. At home and in child care, Head Start, or school, they listen to favorite stories and retell them on their own, play with alphabet blocks, point out the logo on a sign for a favorite restaurant, draw pictures, scribble and write letters and words, and watch as adults read and write for pleasure and to get jobs done.
      Young children make numerous language discoveries as they play, explore, and interact with others. Language skills are primary avenues for cognitive development because they allow children to talk about their experiences and discoveries. Children learn the words used to describe concepts such as up and down, and words that let them talk about past and future events.
     Many play experiences support children's emerging literacy skills. Sorting, matching, classifying, and sequencing materials such as beads, a box of buttons, or a set of colored cubes, contribute to children's emerging literacy skills. Rolling playdough and doing fingerplays help children strengthen and improve the coordination of the small muscles in their hands and fingers. They use these muscles to control writing tools such as crayons, markers, and brushes. As their language skills grow, young children tell stories, identify printed words such as their names, write their names on paintings and creations, and incorporate writing in their make-believe play. After listening to a story they talk about the people, feelings, places, things, and events in the book and compare them to their own experiences.
     Reading and writing skills develop together. Children learn about writing by seeing how the print in their homes, classrooms, and communities provides information. They watch and learn as adults write--to make a list, correspond with a friend, or do a crossword puzzle. They also learn from doing their own writing.
     Children pass through stages as they develop the physical and thinking skills used in writing. Early scribbling, the first stage, takes place when a child first encounters crayons and paper, grasps the crayon in her fist, and makes random marks on paper. She is likely to be more interested in the physical experience of scribbling than in the products of her efforts. At the next stage, controlled scribbling, the same child discovers that she can control the marks she makes with a crayon. Increases in her small muscle skills and eye-hand coordination and her ability to think before acting allow her to explore different techniques and colors.
     Children pass through several more writing stages during the preschool years. A child in the basic forms stage can look at his scribbles and see rectangles, squares, and circles. His physical skills are developed enough so that he can repeat the actions that led to forming these shapes. At this stage, a child might also engage in scribble writing--horizontal, linear scribbles that go across a page as if they were actual words. Scribble writing does not look like actual words, but it does look like the writing system the child has seen adults use. In this stage, the child might also come to understand that drawing and writing are different. He may draw a picture then use scribble writing on a different part of the page. The pictorial stage begins when a child can combine marks and basic forms to make pictures and letters that look like real things. In this stage, children understand that pictures and words are symbols.