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Transitions to Early Care and Education pp 45–55Cite as

Early Literacy

Connections and Disconnections Between Oral Language and Literacy

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Part of the book series: Educating the Young Child ((EDYC,volume 4))

Abstract

This chapter explores the connections and disconnections between children’s oral language and early literacy . It begins with studies of oral language as a predictor of early literacy and then moves on to exploring early literacy development in homes, early education and care, and the first years of school. Examples of pedagogies incorporating children’s ‘funds of knowledge’ from homes and communities are considered. Play-based programs are suggested as a way children begin to understand that language—written, spoken, visual, or multimodal—is an object which can be explored within a particular situation and context. Once children see that language itself can be explored then language can be investigated metacognitively as an ‘object of contemplation’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of South Australia, 5001, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Susan Hill

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  1. Susan Hill
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Correspondence to Susan Hill .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Professional Studies in Education, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, South Eleventh Street 570, Indiana, 15705, Pennsylvania, USA

    DeAnna M. Laverick

  2. Studies in Education, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, College Lodge Rd. 654, Indiana, 15701-4015, Pennsylvania, USA

    Mary Renck Jalongo

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Hill, S. (2011). Early Literacy . In: Laverick, D., Renck Jalongo, M. (eds) Transitions to Early Care and Education. Educating the Young Child, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0573-9_5

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