| Abstract: | Observations of the spontaneous behaviors and comments of one child aged 24 to 36 months pertinent to emergent literacy are reported. The child was not an early reader. The following areas were addressed: letter/numeral naming, the meaning of print, the communicative function of print, conception of meaning-units or words, language games, awareness of the sound of language, and the relationship between spoken words and specific characteristics of print. The child's responses at the age of 34 months to testing, on some of these topics, are described. Discussion treats cultural aspects, as the child was not exposed to book reading or television. An obstacle the child must overcome in order to understand print, to grasp that letters in text are sequentially ordered, is also discussed. |
