Framework for Literacy Skills Presented in Videos
Listening Component
Listening is the first literacy/language component children acquire, and it provides a foundation for
language and literacy development. As a precursor to reading, listening provides children the
vocabulary foundation necessary to understand the printed word. As a child’s exposure to
language increases so does their understanding. Young children who are immersed in rich
language regularly are less likely to have reading difficulties in school. Exposure to the sounds of
language, as well as many kinds of stories, poems and rhymes, helps children become familiar with
the language of books and various literature forms and genres. In order to become successful
readers, children need to spend large amounts of time engaged in listening and speaking activities.
Skills/Categories of Activities
*Attention Span (develops ability to listen to texts read aloud or oral story telling)
*Eye Contact (provides eye contact to individuals who are speaking)
*Directions (listens to and follows simple, multi-step directions)
*Listening Comprehension (confirms text understanding by asking and answering questions and
acting out or retelling nursery rhymes and stories after hearing them told or read aloud)
*Questioning (responds appropriately to questions that use who, what, when, where, how; asks
questions in order to seek help, get new information, or clarify something that is not understood)
Speaking Component
Through speaking, children utilize sounds, words and language that provide a foundation for
hearing and recording sounds in words, understanding text, and writing to communicate. As their
speaking skills increase, children become increasingly able to describe their wants and needs, carry
on a conversation, and share information. They become more adept at using language for
different purposes.
Skills/Categories of Activities
*Collaborative Conversation (engages in extended conversations; listens and responds to others)
*Sentence Structure/Usage (uses complete sentences of four or more words)
*Meaningful Elaboration (uses a variety of words to describe people and places and to retell
stories; verbalizes what pictures in stories represent)
*Retelling (talks about what a story is about and what is learned from an informational text)
*Questioning (understands and uses question words such as who, what, when, where, why, how;
responds appropriately to others’ questions)
Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Component
Children’s ability to think about individual words as a sequence of sounds (phonemes) is important
to their learning how to read an alphabetic language. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in
spoken words.
Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize the sounds in spoken language and how they can
be segmented (pulled apart), blended (put back together), and manipulated (added, deleted, and
substituted). Phonemic awareness is the most sophisticated level of phonological awareness
involving blending, segmenting, and manipulating individual phonemes. The beginning reader
must develop an understanding that the spoken language is made up of a sequence of small
sounds. This understanding leads to awareness that the sounds of the spoken word can be
represented in written form. Children who can blend and segment spoken sounds have an easier
time when it comes to decoding print and spelling/writing. Hearing sounds in words and
understanding that the sounds are in a specific sequence in a word is a huge step in a child’s
literacy development. The National Reading Panel (2000) identified phonemic awareness and letter
knowledge as the two best school-ready predictors of how well children will learn to read during
the first two years of instruction.
Skills/Categories of Activities
*Rhyming (develops awareness of similarities/differences in sounds of words)
*Alliteration (develops ability to recognize and produce words that begin with the same initial
sounds)
*Sentence Segmenting (develops understanding of the concept of a word and recognition of
individual words in a spoken sentence)
*Syllable Blending/Segmenting (develops recognition that words are made up of multiple sounds;
children who can blend and segment spoken sounds have an easier time when it comes to
decoding print and spelling)
*Onset-Rhyme Blending/Segmenting (develops understanding that there are segments of sounds
within syllables)
*Blending and Segmenting Individual Phonemes (develops an understanding that words can be
divided into a sequence of phonemes)
Concepts about Print Component
As children learn to enjoy books and stories, they develop an awareness of how the printed
language works. They recognize the difference in pictures and words and grasp that the print tells
the story. As their concepts about print develop, children understand that printed language is
related to oral language and that what is written can be spoken and read.
Skills/Categories of Activities
*Print Awareness (develops awareness that print represents spoken language)
*Book Handling (develops knowledge of book orientation, an awareness of a book’s cover, title
and author, as well as how to hold a book and turn pages)
*Text Features (utilizes “picture walks” of books with support to increase text understanding)
*Directionality (develops an understanding that we read from left to right and from top to bottom,
that readers use a return sweep, and grasps the concept of first and last)
*Language Structures (develops an understanding that written language structures differ from
spoken language structures)
*Name Recognition (recognizes own name in a variety of printed contexts)
*Environmental Print (develops ability to read some signs and logos)
*Word Awareness (develops the concepts of letter, word, sentence, one to one correspondence,
word separation by spaces, basic punctuation, as well as a consciousness of individual words
including their appearance and their length)
*Emergent Reading (displays early reading behaviors with purposeful “pretend reading”)
Letter Knowledge/Alphabetic Recognition Component
Letters are the building blocks of written language. Knowledge of letters (graphemes) leads to
success with learning to read. Children need to be able to identify letters, as well as understand
their use, purpose and function and understand the predictable relationships between sounds and
letters. Typically children first learn letter names, then letter shapes, followed by the sounds the
letter represents. Connecting a sound with a letter and then using the letter helps children see the
relationship between letters and sounds.
Skills/Categories of Activities
*Letter Concept (develops an understanding of the concept of a letter and that letters are
different from numbers)
*Alphabetic Awareness (develops an understanding that printed words are made up of patterns of
letters)
*Alphabetic Knowledge (recognizes names of letters and basic words that begin with specific
letters)
*Alphabetic Principle (begins to associate some basic consonant letters with their corresponding
sounds)
*Letter Formation (demonstrates the ability to recognize basic shapes found in letters such as
circles, lines, dots and to form letters)
Phonics and Word Recognition Component
The development of automatic word recognition skills is critical to reading fluency. Children must
learn to use their knowledge of letters and the associated sound/letter relationships to quickly and
automatically translate written words into speech sounds. Quick, effortless decoding allows
readers to focus on meaning. Recognition of key sight words such as the child’s individual name
and environmental print begins the process of a sight word bank development.
Skills/Categories of Activities
*Sound-Letter Relationships (develops an understanding that letters and combinations of letters
represent specific sounds)
*Sight Word Bank (begins to recognize very basic words: own name and some environmentally
supported print)
*Auditory Discrimination (begins to distinguish whether spoken words/sounds are the same or different)
Vocabulary Development Component
Children’s vocabulary development is largely dependent upon interactions with adults. Vocabulary
knowledge reflects children’s previous experiences and growing knowledge of the world around
them. A child’s understanding of word meanings contributes heavily to their academic success. A
well-developed vocabulary positively impacts a child’s reading comprehension, allows children to
express their ideas verbally and in writing, and provides a foundation for learning about new
concepts. Literate high school graduates need to know about 60,000 words. The average student
enters school with 5,000. Thus they need to learn about 4,000 words a year or 70 a week while in
school. (Nagy, William, 1988) One of the most powerful tools for contributing to school success is
vocabulary development, and early vocabulary development is a key indicator of future reading
comprehension skill.
Skills/Categories of Activities
*Labeling (demonstrates an understanding of a wide variety of words to label and describe people,
places, objects and actions)
*Word Meaning Awareness (shows an interest in learning the meaning of unfamiliar words)
*Categorizing (shows understanding of how words/objects relate to one another by sorting and
categorizing common objects by shape, color, animals, foods…)
*Speaking vocabulary (acquires and uses new words daily in conversation)
Emergent Writing Component
Reading and writing are reciprocal processes. The more a child reads the better the child writes,
and the more a child writes the better the child reads. Developing an understanding that thoughts
can be represented on paper via the written word is a huge step in a child’s literacy development.
Skills/Categories of Activities
*Purpose of Written Language (understands that what can be spoken can be written; attempts to
write by scribbling)
*Detailed Drawing (develops awareness of details by adding to drawings and other visual displays
based on conversations and descriptions in stories read aloud)
*Writing Production (produces writing with support that includes a combination of drawings,
dictations, and attempted letter formations)