1. What is Print Awareness?
Print awareness is a child’s understanding that print has a
function. As children develop print
awareness they begin to understand the connection between
oral and written language. When
developing print awareness children learn that print carries
meaning, is organized in a specific way, and
that there rules for how you read and write.
Several of the many ways children can demonstrate print
awareness are:
● When a child holds a book the right way.
● When a child distinguishes between letters and words.
● When a child writes scribbles on paper and ask you to read
what they wrote.
2. Why is Print Awareness Important?
Print awareness is important because it represents a group
of skills that are necessary for children
to become successful readers. Children begin to develop
print awareness as early as infancy and
continue to develop print awareness throughout early
childhood. Children from the ages of 35 rapidly
develop print awareness when adults engage in activities to
build their early literacy skills. Without print
awareness children
will not develop lettersound correspondence, word reading skills, or the ability
to
read and understand text.
3. Print awareness is important because:
● Print awareness is a prerequisite for learning to read.
● Children can rapidly develop print awareness when adults
engage in literacy activities with them.
● Without print awareness children will struggle to develop
other literacy skills such as lettersound
correspondence, spelling, and comprehension.
4. What does the Research Say about Print Awareness?
Print awareness is a necessary foundational skill that
children must possess in order to become
proficient readers. Print awareness is developed through
daily adult/child interactions with print in the
child’s environment and through shared reading experiences.
Print awareness can be increased with
structured adult/child shared readings that include an
explicit focus on print using both verbal and
nonverbal cues. Research shows that shared reading, with
prompts to focus on specific aspects of print,
accelerates preliteracy skills for children who are
typically developing and those who are atrisk for later
reading difficulties.
Research has linked the use of consistent and sustained
print referencing during shared reading to
later literacy achievement. Preschool students whose
teachers used shared reading with explicit print
references demonstrated higher achievement, in kindergarten
and first grade, in the areas of
letterword ID, spelling, and comprehension than those
students whose teachers used a more
traditional approach to shared reading. By embedding
explicit print referencing within preschool
curriculums teachers are able to significantly reduce risk
for later reading failure for many
students. Using explicit print referencing during shared
reading is a particularly powerful strategy for
increasing children's early literacy skills because it
requires few resources and can be easily embedded in
existing instruction. And, with little formal training
parents/caregivers can increase their child’s print
awareness by engaging in shared reading activities that
include print referencing.
5. The Research Says:
● With little formal training parents and caregivers can
increase their childs print awareness by
engaging in shared reading activities that include print
referencing.
● Teachers, parents, and caregivers are able to
significantly reduce risk for later reading failure
when they use explicit print referencing.
● Shared reading, with prompts to focus on specific aspects
of print, accelerates print awareness for
both typically developing children as well as children
atrisk for later reading failure.
● The consistent and sustained use of print referencing, by
preschool teachers, during shared
reading is linked to increased reading achievement in
kindergarten and first grade.
6. Examples of how to Increase Print Awareness
Print awareness is best developed by both parents and
caregivers as well as teachers. Some
ways to increase children’s print awareness include:
● Reading to a child and talking about the print. This is
the first word on this page. I am going to
start reading here, at the top of this page.
● Pointing out print in the child’s environment. Look at
this sign, it says welcome.
● Discussing the form and function of letter and words.
“This is an uppercase S, how is it
different from this lowercase s? This is the word “to”. We
read the word “to” all of the
time, can you help me find the word “to” in this book?
References
Justice, L. M., & Ezell, H. K. (2002). Use of storybook
reading to increase print awareness in atrisk
children. American Journal of SpeechLanguage Pathology,
11(1), 1729.
Piasta, S. B., Justice, L. M., McGinty, A. S., &
Kaderavek, J. N. (2012). Increasing young children’s
contact with print during shared reading: Longitudinal
effects on literacy achievement. Child
Development, 83(3), 810820.
Whitehurst, G. J., Epstein, J. N., Angell, A. L., Payne, A.
C., Crone, D. A., & Fischel, J. E. (1994).
Outcomes of an emergent literacy intervention in Head Start.
Journal of Educational Psychology,
86(4), 542.
