Parent’s Guide to Emergent Literacy

Public Libraries ... It’s Never Too Early

What is emergent literacy? Emergent literacy is what children know about reading and writing before they can actually read or write. Young children’s emergent literacy skills are the building blocks for later reading and writing. Children learn these skills before they start school and this begins in infancy. From birth throughout the preschool years, children develop knowledge of spoken language, the sounds that form words, letters, writing and books. This is the beginning of the abilities that children need to be able to learn to read and write in school.

Why parents are the best “teachers” to get their child ready for learning to read Children begin to get ready to read long before they start school. Young children often have short attention spans but enjoy repeating favorite activities. Parents can share these activities frequently for short amounts of time throughout the day. Other family members can become involved, which means that the child will have several different people with whom to practice. Many preschool programs do not teach these skills specifically and they cannot provide the one-on-one teaching. Children who do not develop phonological sensitivity on their own are unlikely to get much help from anyone other than their parents. The Early Literacy Initiative: A Partnership between the Public Library Association and the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) This information was created by Dr. Grover (Russ) Whitehurst, Leading Professor of Psychology at the State University of New York and Dr. Christopher Lonigan, Associate Professor of Psychology at Florida State University. Funding was provided by the Public Library Association (PLA), a division of the American Library Association. Spring 2001

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