Discovering Literacy is Like Discovering Language
By Lorraine McCune, Ph.D.

It is sometimes said that “writing is talk written down”. If this were true, the major problem in learning to read would be linking up the message on the printed page with something we might express in speech or sign language. While speaking and writing are two modalities for expressing meaning that are clearly linked for adults, children need to actively forge this link as they learn to read, since they will not immediately grasp the connection. Like the initial discovery of language, literacy is a discovery of its own.

There is a strong analogy between learning to talk and learning to read. Just as infants do not know what language is or even that there is language, pre-readers do not know that there is literacy or that written words are “just like” spoken ones. And just as we cannot teach children that there is language, we cannot teach them that there is literacy. To promote language in infants, we bathe them in sounds, words, song, communication—even in reading! Adults pair words with fun pictures that little children can enjoy; children begin to recognize that the pictures match up with fun sounds that they can mimic at interludes in the story. These experiences lead to the mysterious discovery: “There is language!”. We can only be sure that children have discovered language when they begin pointing to unfamiliar objects and asking, “What’s that?”. And we do not really know how they do it! My guess is that children build the notion of language in their minds and spirits in differing ways. I know what some of the building blocks are, but I believe children integrate the components of language in different ways, even if they are all learning the same language.

Reading is another discovery of mind and spirit. Experienced and successful teachers of Pre-K, Kindergarten and the early grades know this and use a variety of approaches with children in their care. For some children, the route to reading is writing. One preschooler asks her mother how to spell the names of the children in her class, then laboriously writes them all in a row… no spaces between! Another reads off fast food and chain store names as sight words. Both hear stories and pretend to read themselves, telling the stories in picture books. Neither really knows there is literacy. Formal instruction will add structure to these playful efforts, including letter/sound correspondences, writing, reading for fun, learning labels, and a panoply of other activities that teachers know about. The magic moment will come when the child points to a written word, and, like the infant noting an object, will say, “What’s that word?” From this foundation all of literacy can grow.

The best way to help children build literacy is by offering all of the building blocks they might need, and sensitively watching each individual little builder, offering the next tools that they will need on their journey. Since writing is not merely talk written down, but a discovery all its own, there is no need to hesitate in offering the written language of the school to English language learners. For bilingual children, literacy can be a double discovery.#

Dr. Lorraine McCune is a professor at the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education and serves as advisor to educational toy company, General Creation. She can be reached at www.generalcreation.com in the “Ask Dr. McCune” section, or at www.educationupdate.com