California Preschool Learning Foundations - ECEZero2Three ...

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY
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textualized situations, is referred to as
“literate language” (Curenton and
Justice 2004). Key markers of literate
language include use of elaborated
noun phrases (e.g., my green
ball), conjunctions (when, because),
and adverbs (tomorrow, slowly). As
children develop literate language,
they can decrease their reliance on
immediate context as a tool for communication.
This ability is essential in
preparing young children for school,
where decontextualized language is
highly valued and used, and it has also
proven to be an important facilitator
of later reading comprehension (Dickinson
and Snow 1987; Dickinson and
Tabors 1991; Snow 1983).
Children’s semantic (vocabulary) and
syntactic (grammar) abilities become
especially important in the later stages
of learning to read (Bishop and Adams
1990; Bowey 1986; Demont and
Gombert 1996; Gillon and Dodd 1994;
Share and Silva 1987; Vellutino, Scanlon,
and Tanzman 1991; Whitehurst
and Lonigan 1998). These abilities are
particularly relevant when children
try to comprehend units of text larger
than individual words (Mason 1992;
Nation and Snowling 1998; Snow and
others 1991; Whitehurst 1997). Thus,
it is important for preschool children
to continue building their semantic
and syntactic abilities to facilitate
their learning later in the sequence
of learning to read.
Reading
Concepts About Print. An important
element to the development
of emergent literacy is preschool
children’s development of a sophisticated
knowledge of how print works.
Children’s development of this
knowledge is enhanced by their explicit
and implicit exposure to literacy
practices within their homes, classrooms,
and communities (Ferreiro and
Teberosky 1982; Harste, Woodward,
and Burke 1984; Sulzby 1987; Teale
1987). Children develop an understanding
of print from television and
other media exposure and from more
traditional types of public literacy—like
magazines, comics, newspapers, and
billboards (Harste, Woodward, and
Burke 1984; Holdaway 1986). Most
important, children develop an awareness
of concepts about print as they
experience people around them using
the printed word for many purposes.
Children also learn about the purposes
of print from labels, signs, and other
kinds of print that they see around
them (Neuman and Roskos 1993).
This exposure to print is key not
only to developing preschool children’s
concepts about print, but also to providing
the foundation of processes
and knowledge bases that facilitate
writing, reading, and reading comprehension,
such as vocabulary and
declarative knowledge (Adams 1990;
Mason 1980; Stanovich and Cunningham
1992, 1993; West and Stanovich
1991). Children’s understanding of
concepts about print has been shown
to be associated with later reading performance
(Adams 1990; Badian 2001;
Clay 1993; Preventing Reading Difficulties
in Young Children 1998; Reutzel,
Oda, and Moore 1989; Scarborough
1998; Stuart 1995; Tunmer, Herriman,
and Nesdale 1988).
Central to an understanding of the
nature and role of reading and writing
is a child’s understanding of “intentionality”
(Purcell-Gates and Dahl
1991). That is, children need to
Preschool Learning Foundations, Volume 1 • California Department of Education