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Child Development & Early Education vocabulary · Language and Communication

Emergent literacy

Meaning in child development & early education, with examples

nounCommon term

In child development & early education, emergent literacy means: The early knowledge and skills that come before conventional reading and writing, such as enjoying books, knowing that print has meaning, recognising some letters and scribbling.

In Turkish: erken okuryazarlık, gelişen okuryazarlık, okuma-yazmaya hazırlık

How it is used

Used in research and curriculum documents for children from birth to about five. It treats literacy as something that develops gradually, not something that starts suddenly at school. Related terms are early literacy, print awareness and mark making.

Example sentences

  1. Sharing picture books every day supports emergent literacy.

  2. Pretending to read a menu in the café corner is an example of emergent literacy.

Common collocations

  • emergent literacy skills
  • early literacy
  • print awareness
  • emergent writing
  • phonological awarenessThe ability to hear and play with the sounds in spoken words, such as noticing rhymes, clapping syllables or hearing the first sound in a word.
  • mark makingThe early marks children make with any tool, such as crayons, chalk, paint, sticks in sand or fingers in foam, which come before drawing and writing.
  • language developmentThe process by which children learn to understand and use language, from crying and babbling to words, sentences and conversation.
  • expressive languageA child's ability to use language to communicate, through words, sentences, gestures or signs, in order to ask for things, share ideas and describe events.

More terms: Language and Communication

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