What Children Know about Reading before they can Read *

Abstract

This paper examines the characteristic achievements of children who have not yet begun formal instruction in reading but nevertheless have begun to discover the significance of print. The strategies that fourteen children (mean chronological ages 1;9-5;8) employ to extract meaning from assorted visual stimuli and the children's metalinguistic awareness of these strategies are examined. Three principal strategies are identified: meaning, decoding, and memory. All children showed some competence with each approach but most revealed decided, if temporary, preferences for specific approaches. Clear developmental stages were not found, and age proved a poor predictor of performance. It is argued that young children display substantial metalinguistic awareness of their own approaches to print and that the three distinct strategies used in learning to read may develop simultaneously but independently.

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