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Abstract
Emergent literacy consists of the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that are developmental
precursors to reading and writing. This article offers a preliminary typology of children's
emergent literacy skills, a review of the evidence that relates emergent literacy
to reading, and a review of the evidence for linkage between children's emergent literacy
environments and the development of emergent literacy skills. We propose that emergent
literacy consists of at least two distinct domains: inside-out skills (e.g., phonological
awareness, letter knowledge) and outside-in skills (e.g., language, conceptual knowledge).
These different domains are not the product of the same experiences and appear to
be influential at different points in time during reading acquisition. Whereas outside-in
skills are associated with those aspects of children's literacy environments typically
measured, little is known about the origins of inside-out skills. Evidence from interventions
to enhance emergent literacy suggests that relatively intensive and multifaceted interventions
are needed to improve reading achievement maximally. A number of successful preschool
interventions for outside-in skills exist, and computer-based tasks designed to teach
children inside-out skills seem promising. Future research directions include more
sophisticated multidimensional examination of emergent literacy skills and environments,
better integration with reading research, and longer-term evaluation of preschool
interventions. Policy implications for emergent literacy intervention and reading
education are discussed.