Print awareness is crucial for early childhood education and refers to a child’s ability to connect scribbles on a page with sounds. Parents and teachers can help children develop print awareness by reading to them frequently and exposing them to a variety of printed materials. Understanding the context of different types of text is also important. Developing print awareness at a young age can lead to stronger reading skills and greater success in school.
In education, when a child begins to connect the scribbles on a page with sounds, this is referred to as print awareness. Print awareness is a very important part of early childhood education and usually arises naturally, as the child follows the patterns of adults. Both parents and teachers work with children to raise awareness of print, setting the stage for them to learn to read. If a child lacks awareness of print from first grade, they may have a hard time catching up in school. Print awareness should not be confused with the ability to read; it is the ability to understand what the text is.
Most adults read things without really thinking about them. For example, you’re reading this article from left to right and top to bottom because you understand that’s how English text is read. You can also differentiate the ads on the page from the article itself, related links at the bottom, and navigation at the top. You can do this thanks to your awareness of the press. You understand that text translates into sound, you know how text should be read, and you understand the context.
Children, on the other hand, don’t get it by default. They have to learn the order in which a book is to be read and that different text in different contexts means different things. When children discover the rules that govern the use of text, it is referred to as print awareness. Parents are encouraged to read to their children and engage them in interactive activities that will stimulate print literacy, while teachers do the same in the classroom.
A big part of print awareness, after learning the order in which print should be read, is understanding the context. An adult knows the difference between a newspaper, a magazine, a book of fiction and a notebook of poetry. A child, on the other hand, might not. Children begin to demonstrate print awareness when they understand, for example, that a book is generally meant to be read in order, while individual articles in a newspaper stand on their own.
Parents can help their children develop print awareness by reading to them frequently and by exposing the children to a wide variety of printed materials. Parents should explain book covers, title pages, and concepts such as a table of contents and an index. Parents can also ask children to point to words on a page, helping children learn to distinguish between pictures, text, and ornaments. The nature of print is extremely complex, even if it seems second nature to adult readers. Developing print awareness at a young age will make a child a stronger reader, giving them a better chance of success.
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