Facilitating Preschoolers’ Emergent Literacy Development Through a Digital Library

ABSTRACT

From birth to preschool years, before the young children become conventional readers and writers, children are involved in a developmental process known as "emergent literacy," a concept that was coined by Marie Clay (a New Zealand scholar) in 1966. During this stage, children engage naturally in unconventional literacy behaviors such as pre-reading (e.g., pretend reading by retelling the story from looking at the illustrations) and pre-writing (e.g., drawing, scribbling, letter-like writing). These emergent literacy behaviors are considered foundational to children becoming competent readers and writers, as needed to succeed in formal schooling and beyond. Thus, the emergent literacy phenomenon has important implications for education practice. This developmental process is best mediated and optimized through positive social interactions with adults (e.g., shared book reading) and exposure to a literacy-rich environment with developmentally appropriate materials (e.g., storybooks). This article examines a preschool teacher facilitated emergent literacy development with her students during COVID-19 pandemic when schools were closed.