15.7: Pre-Academic Skills

Learning Objectives

1. Describe the components of emergent literacy.
2. Explain how dialogic reading and the PEER strategy promote early language and literacy skills.
3. Identify typical stages of early writing development.

Language development in early childhood plays a crucial role in acquiring pre-academic skills, particularly in reading, writing, and mathematics. Before children formally learn to read or write, they develop emergent literacy, which consists of foundational skills that prepare them for later academic success. Through early exposure to language and print, children begin to recognize the connections between spoken and written words, setting the stage for literacy and numeracy development.

Pre-Reading Skills

Emergent literacy includes early experiences with books, storytelling, and environmental print (such as signs and labels), which help children develop an awareness of written language. One essential pre-reading skill is phonemic awareness, the ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds within words. For example, a child who can hear that “cat” and “bat” rhyme or break “dog” into the sounds /d/, /o/, and /g/ is demonstrating phonemic awareness, which is a strong predictor of later reading success (Lonigan et al., 2009). Phonemic awareness is closely tied to phonics, the understanding that letters represent sounds, which allows children to decode written words.

Dialogic Reading and the PEER Strategy

One evidence-based approach to supporting emergent literacy is dialogic reading, a technique grounded in Vygotsky’s theory that learning occurs through social interaction. Dialogic reading involves an adult engaging a child in a conversation about a book, rather than simply reading aloud to them. Instead of being passive listeners, children become active participants, responding to prompts, answering questions, and making predictions about the story as it unfolds. Research shows that dialogic reading improves vocabulary, comprehension, and expressive language skills, particularly for children from diverse backgrounds (Mol et al., 2008).

A widely used method within the dialogic reading is the PEER strategy. During the PEER strategy, the adult:

1. Prompts the child with a question about the book (e.g., "What do you think will happen next?").
2. The adult then evaluates the child's response (e.g., "Yes, the dog is looking for his bone.")
3. and expands what the child said (e.g., "He looks worried because he can't find it.").
4. Finally, the adult repeats the prompt to reinforce learning (e.g,. "Where do you think the bone might be?").

Several types of prompts may be used to engage children in dialogic reading through the PEER strategy.

Table \(\PageIndex{1}\). Types of prompts used with the PEER strategy.

Prompt	Description	Example	Goal of the prompt
Completion questions	Encourage children to finish a sentence or phrase from the book.	When reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, a caregiver might pause and let the child complete the phrase: “I see a red ______ looking at me.”	Help children focus on sentence structure and familiar patterns.
Recall questions	Ask children to remember details from the book.	A caregiver might ask, “What happened to the caterpillar before it became a butterfly?” in The Very Hungry Caterpillar.	Strengthen memory and comprehension.
Open-ended questions	Encourage children to express their thoughts and expand on ideas.	Instead of asking, “Is the girl happy?” an adult might ask, “How do you think she feels, and why?”	Promote conversation and deeper thinking.
Wh- questions	Focus on who, what, where, when, and why.	When reading Where the Wild Things Are, a caregiver might ask, “Why did Max’s mother send him to his room?”	Help develop reasoning skills and comprehension.
Distancing prompts	Connect the story to the child's real-life experiences.	If reading a book about animals, an adult might ask, “Have you ever seen a dog like this before? Where did you see it?”	Encourage children to make connections between books and their own world, which enhances engagement and understanding.

Learning to Write

As children's language skills grow, they begin to express themselves through writing. Early writing starts with scribbles and letter-like shapes before evolving into recognizable letters and words. One of the first steps in writing development is invented spelling, where children attempt to write words based on their phonetic understanding. For instance, a child might write “CT” for “cat,” demonstrating their awareness of letter-sound relationships (Puranik & Lonigan, 2011). Encouraging children to engage in writing activities, such as drawing stories, labeling pictures, or dictating sentences to adults, strengthens their ability to communicate through written language.

Table \(\PageIndex{2}\). Basic stages of writing, description, and examples.

Stage of Writing	Description	Example
Pre-Emergent writing (scribbling and drawing)	Children explore making marks on paper. The goal is to develop fine motor skills and understanding of the symbolic nature of writing.	Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)a. Controlled, directional scribbling and drawing in purple and pink markers. Image by Heather Carter is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Emergent writing	Children begin to recognize and attempt to form letters. May start to write simple words or sentences, but not in a conventional manner.	Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)b. Mock letters of N, B, and indiscriminate in purple and pink markers. Image by Heather Carter is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Transitional writing	Children use knowledge of letters and sounds to spell words phonetically. Sometimes, spelling is invented. Begins to show an understanding of basic sentence structure.	Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)c. "I am a kid. The tip of my pencil is sharp. I jab the Grinch!". Image by Heather Carter is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Fluent writing	Includes conventional spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Children can produce longer, more complex texts.	Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)d. "HAPPY Birthday Ben". Image by Heather Carter is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Mathematics

Just as language supports literacy, it also provides the foundation for early numeracy. Before children formally learn arithmetic, they develop an understanding of numbers through everyday experiences, such as counting objects, recognizing patterns, and comparing quantities. Number sense, the ability to understand and manipulate numbers, emerges in early childhood and is crucial for later mathematical achievement. For example, a child who understands that “four” represents a specific quantity, regardless of whether it refers to four apples or four blocks, is demonstrating number sense (Jordan et al., 2009).

Children also develop early arithmetic skills through one-to-one correspondence (matching objects to numbers), cardinality (understanding that the last number in a count represents the total amount), and subitizing (recognizing small quantities without counting). Just as dialogic reading promotes literacy, engaging children in conversations about numbers—such as asking them to count objects in a book or compare quantities in a grocery store—enhances their mathematical thinking.

References, Contributors and Attributions

Jordan, N. C., Kaplan, D., Ramineni, C., & Locuniak, M. N. (2009). Early math matters: Kindergarten number competence and later mathematics outcomes. Developmental Psychology, 45(3), 850-867.

Lonigan, C. J., Schatschneider, C., & Westberg, L. (2009). Developing early literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel. National Institute for Literacy.

Mol, S. E., Bus, A. G., de Jong, M. T., & Smeets, D. J. (2008). Added value of dialogic parent-child book readings: A meta-analysis. Early Education and Development, 19(1), 7-26.

Puranik, C. S., & Lonigan, C. J. (2011). From scribbles to scrabble: Preschool children’s developing knowledge of written language. Reading and Writing, 24(5), 567-589.