The Pathway of Pre-Literacy into Early Literacy

Schools will have literacy results maximized over the long-term when they systematically plan how students progress from pre-literacy (or emergent literacy skills) into their early literacy skills. The two primary areas that will facilitate a smooth transition into early reading and spelling are:

• Phonemic awareness (and specifically blending for early reading and segmentation for early spelling and writing)
• Alphabet sound knowledge

Research reminds schools that teaching in each of the above areas is reported to be most effective when skills are taught explicitly and it is systemically; when the order of the skills are strategically planned and when the learning rate is carefully monitored. Researchers remind schools that it is the system that is more important than the quantity of instruction being delivered. The tracking of the student skill acquisition is paramount.

• Download the associated Early Years screening tool 
• Download the associated Foundation pre-literacy screening tool 
• Download the associated Foundation early reading screening tool

This download is adapted for schools which have an Early Years and Foundation program (option 1) or in contrast when schools do not have a 4/5 year old program and are relying upon a Foundation program only to develop pre-literacy skills and then to facilitate early reading, spelling and writing in the students.

The Whole School Literacy Strategy provides an outline of option 1 on pages 5, 8 and 9 and option 2 on pages 8 and 9.

Getting this right in schools is imperative, as most researchers agree that prevention is easier than later remediation and in fact, most students who get off to a poor start in literacy rarely catch up.

If you have further questions, contact the PLD office: [email protected]