Long before children decode their first written word, they are building a complex set of pre-literacy skills that will make reading and writing possible. Understanding these foundational skills helps parents and educators provide the right experiences at the right time, and reassures everyone that reading readiness is a gradual process, not a switch that flips at a particular age.
The Six Pre-Literacy Skills
Research identifies six key pre-literacy skills. Print motivation is a child’s interest in and enjoyment of books. Print awareness is understanding that print carries meaning and that books are read from left to right, top to bottom. Letter knowledge is recognising letters and understanding that each has a unique name and sound. Vocabulary is knowing the names of things, which directly supports reading comprehension. Narrative skills involve the ability to describe events, tell stories, and understand story structure. Phonological awareness, the most critical pre-literacy skill, is the ability to hear and manipulate the sounds of language (rhyming, syllable counting, identifying starting sounds).
How These Skills Develop
Pre-literacy skills develop naturally through everyday language-rich experiences. Conversations build vocabulary. Shared reading builds print awareness, narrative skills, and print motivation. Singing songs and reciting nursery rhymes build phonological awareness. Playing with magnetic letters, writing with chalk, and seeing print in the environment build letter knowledge. Telling stories, with or without a book, builds narrative skills.
The Educator’s Role
In early childhood settings, educators support pre-literacy development by reading aloud daily, engaging children in rich conversations, providing a print-rich environment (labels, signs, books, writing materials), incorporating songs, rhymes, and word play into routines, and creating opportunities for children to experiment with writing and drawing.
Tracking pre-literacy development alongside other domains helps educators plan targeted literacy experiences. Personhood360 supports this by enabling educators to document emerging literacy behaviours and link them to developmental profiles, ensuring that every child’s pathway to reading is supported intentionally.