A Review of Emergent Literacy with Implications for Research and Practice in Reading

Emergent literacy research is reviewed and related to studies on reading and writing processes and beginning reading and writing instruction.%The first section describes the social and linguistic contexts for literacy.This research shows that communication patterns and practices and parent-scaffolding of literacy activities for their preschool children are critically important events for literacy development.The second section on oral and written distinctions describes why literacy is not a simple extension of oral language.Written language contains new and difficult-to-learn conceptsJ The third section reviews research on the acquisition of emergent reading and writing skills and knowledge."The fourth section presents examples of landmark instructional studies that adopt an emergent literacy perspective.