Emergent Literacy Learners
There are a range of different skills that each emergent reader and writer needs to build to help them move towards reading and writing with comprehension.
For students with who cannot rely on speech alone to be heard and understood, Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is, of course, a crucial part of their life – and essential for their literacy program. As I explain in the presentation “Literacy and Complex Communication Needs: Developing Language”, we need to ensure that every student has access to a comprehensive vocabulary to help their language develop – and literacy and language need to develop hand-in-hand.
I like to think of emergent literacy learners as being organised into three groups. Grouping them in this way helps me to differentiate for them in my literacy program.
Early Emergent – These students are right at the beginning of their literacy journey. They are just learning that they are a writer. They are also learning the functions of print – these are that text is a code for speech and that print has meaning. They are often learning to engage with books and are usually just beginning to learn the alphabet. Early emergent literacy learners are also often receptive communicators. (This means that they aren’t yet using a formal communication system, and we are modelling with AAC to build their receptive language so that they can become expressive communicators in the future.)
Emergent – These students are engaging with books, believe they are a writer and know some letters in the alphabet. They still have a lot of skills to learn, but they generally understand the functions of print (text is a code for speech and that print has meaning). They are also expressive communicators – using speech and/or AAC to get their message across to others.
Late Emergent – These students are consolidating their emergent literacy understandings. They know how to handle books, although they are often still learning some print concepts, and they understand that writing is made up of letters – but may still be learning about spaces. They are consolidating their alphabet knowledge. They are also continuing to build their language and communication skills.
A reminder of what the research says about why emergent literacy behaviours may seem to come and go (created September 2022).
Emergent Literacy Instruction
There are 6 areas we need to work on with all emergent readers and writers. Each of these need to happen every day – and some, like shared reading, should be happening more than once a day. Many of them can be embedded through the other activities we do throughout the day and can be done in any setting! This website has a different page for each area. You can get to each page by clicking on the links below, or by using the emergent menu at the top of every page.