The K-16 Literacy Center at UT Tyler accepting applications for Born to Read Spring 2023 intake. Click here for more information.
Learning to read or write doesn't start in Kindergarten or First Grade.
What is Literacy?
According to the National Institute for Literacy's Quick Reference Guide, Literacy is all the activities involved in speaking, listening, reading, writing, and appreciating both spoken and written language.
What are Early Literacy Skills?
According to the National Institute for Literacy's Quick Reference Guide, Early Literacy Skills are skills that begin to develop in the preschool years, such as alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, writing name, print knowledge, and oral language. Research has shown that these skills may provide a foundation for later-developing more mature reading and writing skills.
Oral Language Development - The development of knowledge and skills that allow children to understand, speak, and use words to communicate.
Speaking Skills
1) Producing the sounds of language.
2) Understanding what words mean and the connections among words.
3) Using word conveniently - for example, to put together words in the right order.
4) Using conventional forms of words, for example, plurals and appropriate forms of verbs to indicate things that happened in the past or might happen in the future.
5) Using language for different purposes - to express ideas and feelings, to obtain or communicate information, to negotiate social disagreements, etc.
Listening Skills
1) Understanding what other people are saying when they speak.
2) Detecting, manipulating, or analyzing the auditory aspects of spoken language.
3) Enjoying listening to stories.
4) Following oral instructions.
Communication skills- for talking and listening
1) Understanding the social rules of conversation-taking turns, listening when someone else is talking.
2) Understanding and using the rules of grammar.
3) Asking questions to get information.
4) Engaging peers and adults.
Vocabulary skills- or talking, listening, and conversation
1) Understanding a large collection of words and their meanings.
2) Understanding the inter-relationship among words- for example, subordinate and super-ordinate words (e.g., dogs and cats are both types of animals).
3) Extending own vocabulary to create new meaning.