Language and Literacy · 15 min read
Foundations of Literacy Instruction and Emergent Literacy
The questions in this subarea are rarely simple definitions. Most present a classroom situation: a running record, a student's spelling sample, a short writing piece, or a description of a small group that is struggling. You must decide what the evidence shows and which instructional move is most effective. This section teaches both the content knowledge (how English works and how children learn to read and write) and the teaching knowledge (how to assess, plan, and differentiate) that those questions demand. Throughout, the guidance reflects current reading research, including explicit, systematic phonics instruction, Scarborough's Reading Rope, and the Simple View of Reading, along with practical support for English learners (ELs).
This chapter covers Objective 0001. It explains the research that should drive reading instruction, how reading and spelling develop, the Illinois Learning Standards for English Language Arts, the structure of language, second-language acquisition, text and technology selection, the literacy environment, emergent literacy skills, the phonological awareness continuum, and literacy assessment and differentiation.
The Scientific Basis of Reading Instruction
Decades of research converge on a clear message: most children do not learn to read simply by being surrounded by books. Reading is not a natural process the way spoken language is. Children must be taught how the written code maps onto the sounds of speech, and that teaching works best when it is explicit (the teacher states and models the skill directly), systematic (skills follow a planned sequence from simple to complex), and cumulative (new skills build on and review earlier ones).
Two models organize this research and appear frequently in test items.
The Simple View of Reading states that reading comprehension is the product of decoding (word recognition) and language comprehension. It is often written as RC = D × LC. Because the relationship is multiplicative, a weakness in either component limits comprehension. A student who decodes perfectly but has limited vocabulary and background knowledge will still struggle to understand text; a student with rich oral language who cannot decode will not access the words on the page.
Scarborough's Reading Rope expands the Simple View by showing the strands that make up each component. The word recognition strands are phonological awareness, decoding (alphabetic principle and spelling-sound correspondences), and sight recognition of familiar words. These strands become increasingly automatic. The language comprehension strands are background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures (syntax and semantics), verbal reasoning (inference, metaphor), and literacy knowledge (print concepts and genres). These strands become increasingly strategic. Skilled reading occurs when all the strands are woven together.
The Two Components of the Simple View of Reading
| Component | Includes | Weakness Looks Like |
|---|---|---|
| Word recognition (decoding) | Phonological awareness, phonics, sight recognition | Slow, inaccurate word reading; guessing from pictures |
| Language comprehension | Vocabulary, background knowledge, syntax, reasoning | Reads words accurately but cannot explain what the text means |
| Reading comprehension | The product of both | Breaks down when either component is weak |
Exam Tip: When an item describes a student who reads accurately and fluently but cannot retell or answer questions, the problem is on the language comprehension side. When a student understands a passage read aloud but cannot read it independently, the problem is word recognition. Match the intervention to the weak strand.
Common Trap: Older approaches taught children to identify unknown words by looking at the picture, guessing from context, or checking whether a word "looks right" (three-cueing). Current research shows that skilled readers identify words by decoding them, not by guessing. On the exam, the best answer for an unknown word is almost always to prompt the student to look at all the letters and sound out the word, not to skip it or look at the picture.
Research-based practice also guides instruction for particular groups. English learners benefit from the same explicit foundational skills instruction plus intensive oral language and vocabulary development. Gifted readers need acceleration and complex texts rather than more of the same work. Struggling readers need more intensive, more explicit instruction with more practice and frequent progress monitoring, often delivered through a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS), in which Tier 1 is core classroom instruction, Tier 2 adds targeted small-group intervention, and Tier 3 provides intensive individualized intervention.
Developmental Stages of Reading and Spelling
Linnea Ehri's phases of word reading describe how children move from guessing at words to reading them instantly.
Ehri's Phases of Word Reading
| Phase | What the Child Does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-alphabetic | Uses visual cues, not letters | "Reads" a fast-food sign by its logo |
| Partial alphabetic | Uses some letters, usually first and last | Reads "bag" as "big" or "bug" |
| Full alphabetic | Decodes every letter-sound in a word | Sounds out s-t-o-p and blends "stop" |
| Consolidated alphabetic | Uses chunks such as -ing, -tion, -ight | Reads "nightlight" by chunks |
Ehri's work also explains orthographic mapping, the process by which a reader bonds the sounds of a spoken word to its letters so that the word is stored in memory and recognized instantly. Orthographic mapping depends on strong phoneme awareness and letter-sound knowledge. This is why "sight words" are built through decoding, not through memorizing word shapes.
Spelling develops in parallel. Two common frameworks describe the same progression with different labels. The following table pairs the stages with sample spellings of the words "back," "dress," and "chased."
Developmental Spelling Stages with Sample Spellings
| Stage | Typical Grades | Sample Spellings | Instructional Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emergent (precommunicative) | PreK-K | random letters: BTRL | Letter names, phonemic awareness |
| Letter name-alphabetic (semiphonetic to phonetic) | K-2 | BK, JRS, CAST | Short vowels, blends, digraphs |
| Within word pattern (transitional) | 1-4 | BAK, DRES, CHAESD | Long vowel patterns, vowel teams, r-controlled |
| Syllables and affixes | 3-8 | correct base words; errors at syllable junctures: HOPING for hopping | Doubling, e-drop, inflected endings, syllable types |
| Derivational relations | 5 and up | errors in related forms: COMPOSITION spelled COMPASITION | Roots, Greek and Latin affixes, spelling-meaning connections |
Memory Aid: The spelling stages move from sound to pattern to meaning. Early spellers spell what they hear ("JRS" for dress, because the dr blend sounds like /jr/). Middle spellers learn patterns (silent e, vowel teams). Advanced spellers use meaning (compose and composition share a root, so the vowel stays the same).
Classroom Example: A first grader writes "I wnt to the prk wif mi dad." The student represents most consonants and some vowels and uses "wif" for "with," reflecting how the word sounds. This writer is in the letter name-alphabetic stage. The most appropriate next step is explicit instruction in short vowels and the digraph th, not instruction in vowel teams or suffixes.
The Illinois Learning Standards for English Language Arts
Illinois uses the Illinois Learning Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects, which are based on the Common Core State Standards. They are organized into strands: Reading Literature, Reading Informational Text, Reading Foundational Skills (K-5), Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language. Each grade-specific standard aligns with a College and Career Readiness (CCR) anchor standard, so skills spiral upward across grades. For example, the anchor standard about determining central ideas becomes "retell stories" in grade 1, "determine the main idea" in grade 3, and "determine a theme and summarize" in grade 5.
A comprehensive literacy curriculum built on these standards includes foundational skills (print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, fluency), vocabulary and language, comprehension of literary and informational text, writing in multiple genres, speaking and listening, and literacy across the content areas. The standards also call for a balance of literary and informational text and for increasing text complexity across grades.
Exam Tip: The standards describe what students should learn, not how to teach it. An item asking which practice "best aligns with the standards" usually points to evidence-based reading of complex text, writing from sources, and academic vocabulary.
The Structure of Language
Teachers need a working knowledge of the components of language because literacy is built on oral language.
Components of Language
| Component | Definition | Classroom Example |
|---|---|---|
| Phonology | The sound system of a language | Recognizing that "ship" has three phonemes |
| Morphology | How meaningful word parts combine | un + help + ful = unhelpful |
| Syntax | Rules for ordering words into sentences | "The dog chased the cat" vs "The cat chased the dog" |
| Semantics | Meaning of words and sentences | Knowing "bank" can mean a riverbank or a business |
| Pragmatics | Social use of language in context | Speaking differently to a principal than to a friend |
Language and literacy are reciprocal. Oral vocabulary and syntax support reading comprehension, and wide reading builds vocabulary and syntactic knowledge in turn. Across the elementary years the balance shifts: early on, oral language is far ahead of reading ability; by the upper grades, much new vocabulary is learned through reading.
Second-Language Acquisition and English Learners
Children acquiring a second language move through predictable stages, although the pace varies widely.
Stages of Second-Language Acquisition
| Stage | Learner Behavior | Teacher Support |
|---|---|---|
| Preproduction (silent period) | Listens, points, follows gestures | Total Physical Response, visuals, yes-no responses |
| Early production | One- or two-word answers | Either-or questions, labeled pictures |
| Speech emergence | Simple sentences, frequent errors | Sentence frames, partner talk |
| Intermediate fluency | Longer discourse, fewer errors | Academic vocabulary, extended writing |
| Advanced fluency | Near-native in many contexts | Nuanced academic language, complex texts |
Illinois uses WIDA English language development standards and proficiency levels (Entering, Emerging, Developing, Expanding, Bridging, Reaching) to describe ELs. Several theories explain acquisition. Jim Cummins distinguished basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS), the social language that typically develops in about one to three years, from cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP), the academic language that can take five to seven years or more. Stephen Krashen emphasized comprehensible input (language slightly beyond the learner's current level) and the affective filter (anxiety blocks acquisition). Cummins's common underlying proficiency explains why literacy skills learned in the first language transfer to English.
Common Trap: A student who chats easily with classmates in English may still struggle with academic texts. Fluent social English (BICS) does not mean the student has academic English (CALP). The best answer typically continues academic language support rather than ending it.
The native language is an asset. Students who read in their first language already understand that print carries meaning, and they can transfer comprehension strategies. Teachers can use cognates (words with shared origins, such as "family" and "familia"), invite students to discuss ideas in their home language, and provide bilingual glossaries. Teachers should also anticipate contrastive differences; for example, Spanish speakers may not distinguish short i and long e sounds because Spanish lacks the short i vowel.
Selecting Texts, Materials, and Technology
Text selection weighs several criteria. Quantitative readability measures (such as Lexile measures or formulas based on sentence length and word frequency) estimate difficulty. Qualitative factors include levels of meaning, structure, language conventionality, and knowledge demands. Reader and task considerations include motivation, background knowledge, and purpose. Teachers should also choose culturally responsive texts that reflect students' identities and introduce them to other cultures, sometimes described as "mirrors and windows."
For beginning readers, decodable texts that contain mostly words with taught phonics patterns allow students to practice new skills. Rich read-aloud texts, often more difficult than what students can read independently, build vocabulary and background knowledge.
Technology tools such as digital cameras, interactive websites, class blogs, audiobooks, and online research tools can support literacy when chosen with a clear instructional purpose. A class blog gives writing an authentic audience; digital photos of a field trip support a recount; an audiobook lets a student access grade-level content while decoding skills develop.
A Supportive Literacy Environment
A literacy-rich classroom includes a well-organized classroom library with varied genres and reading levels, labeled materials, word walls organized by sound or pattern, writing centers, and displayed student work. Just as important is the social environment: students feel safe taking risks, their cultural and linguistic backgrounds are valued, and routines support independence. Teachers collaborate with reading specialists, special educators, EL teachers, speech-language pathologists, and families. For struggling readers, decisions are data-based: the teacher uses assessment results to form groups, choose interventions, and adjust intensity.
Emergent Literacy: Oral Language, Print Concepts, and Alphabet Knowledge
Emergent literacy refers to the knowledge and skills children develop before conventional reading. Key components include oral language, concepts of print, alphabet knowledge, and phonological awareness.
Concepts of print include knowing how to hold a book, the front and back covers, the title, that print (not the picture) carries the message, left-to-right and top-to-bottom directionality, the return sweep to the next line, the difference between a letter and a word, one-to-one matching of spoken to written words, and the function of spaces and punctuation. Teachers develop these through shared reading of big books, pointing to words while reading, and interactive writing.
Alphabet knowledge includes recognizing and naming letters (uppercase and lowercase), producing their sounds, and forming them. Letter-name knowledge at kindergarten entry is one of the strongest predictors of later reading. Effective instruction links the letter's name, shape, sound, and formation, and teaches letter sounds explicitly rather than assuming children will infer them.
Classroom Example: During shared reading of a big book, a kindergarten teacher pauses and asks, "Where should I start reading? Show me with the pointer." A child points to the picture. The teacher models: "I start here, at the first word, and I go this way," sweeping left to right. This targets directionality, a concept of print.
The Phonological Awareness Continuum
Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate the sound structure of spoken language. It is an umbrella term. Phonemic awareness, the most advanced and most important level, is the ability to notice and manipulate individual phonemes (the smallest units of sound). Both are oral skills; no print is required. Phonics, by contrast, connects sounds to letters.
The Phonological Awareness Continuum (Simpler to More Complex)
| Level | Task | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Word awareness | Count words in a sentence | "I like dogs" has three words |
| Rhyme | Recognize or produce rhymes | Does "cat" rhyme with "hat"? |
| Alliteration | Identify same beginning sound | "Silly Sam sings" |
| Syllables | Blend, segment, or count syllables | "ba-na-na" has three |
| Onset-rime | Blend or split onset and rime | /c/ + /at/ = cat |
| Phoneme isolation | Identify a single sound | First sound in "fish" is /f/ |
| Phoneme blending | Combine phonemes into a word | /s/ /u/ /n/ = sun |
| Phoneme segmentation | Break a word into all its phonemes | "ship" = /sh/ /i/ /p/ |
| Phoneme manipulation | Delete, add, or substitute phonemes | Say "smile" without /s/ |
Memory Aid: Think "big to small": words, then syllables, then onset-rime, then phonemes. Phoneme blending and segmentation have the strongest link to reading and spelling.
Common Trap: Asking students to circle the letter that makes the /m/ sound is a phonics task, not phonemic awareness, because it involves print. If an item asks for a phonemic awareness activity, look for one done entirely with spoken sounds, such as Elkonin sound boxes with counters (not letters) or "Say the sounds in mat."
Systematic, explicit phonemic awareness instruction is brief (often 10 minutes a day), focuses on one or two skills at a time, and is most powerful when it is connected to letters soon after students can manipulate sounds orally. Elkonin boxes, in which children push a token into a box for each sound they hear, make segmentation concrete.
Literacy Assessment
Different assessments serve different purposes, and test items often ask which type fits a situation.
Assessment Types and Purposes
| Type | Purpose | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Screening | Identify students at risk, quickly, for everyone | Fall benchmark of letter naming and phoneme segmentation |
| Diagnostic | Pinpoint specific skill gaps | Phonics inventory of vowel patterns |
| Formative | Guide day-to-day instruction | Exit slip, observation, whiteboard responses |
| Progress monitoring | Track growth toward a goal over time | Weekly one-minute oral reading fluency probes |
| Summative | Measure learning at the end of a unit or year | End-of-unit test, state assessment |
Assessments can also be norm-referenced (comparing a student with a national sample, reported as percentiles) or criterion-referenced (comparing performance with a fixed standard or benchmark). A valid assessment measures what it claims to measure; a reliable assessment produces consistent results. Every method has limits: a group-administered comprehension test cannot show why a student failed, and a fluency probe does not measure comprehension directly.
A running record is an individually administered record of oral reading. The teacher marks each word read correctly, substitutions, omissions, insertions, and self-corrections, then calculates accuracy.
The error pattern matters as much as the percentage. If the student read "house" for "horse" and "stop" for "step," the errors show attention to some letters but not to vowels. This points to targeted instruction in vowel sounds.
Exam Tip: Assessments for diverse learners must be fair. For an EL, a comprehension test in English may measure English proficiency rather than reading skill; allowing oral responses or using a native-language measure can give a truer picture. For a student with a disability, follow the accommodations in the individualized education program (IEP).
Differentiating Emergent Literacy Instruction
Differentiation adjusts content, process, product, pacing, and text complexity. Examples include small-group phonemic awareness lessons for students who did not meet the screening benchmark, additional modeling and gestures for ELs, multisensory letter formation (tracing in sand, skywriting) for students with fine-motor or attention needs, and enrichment with more complex texts for students who already read. The key is that grouping is flexible and driven by data.
Key Takeaways
The Simple View of Reading (decoding × language comprehension) and Scarborough's Reading Rope explain why both word recognition and language comprehension must be taught.
Effective foundational instruction is explicit, systematic, and cumulative; guessing from pictures or context is not a reliable word-reading strategy.
Spelling develops from sound to pattern to meaning, and a student's spelling errors reveal the next instructional step.
Phonological awareness is oral; phonemic awareness is its most advanced level; phonics connects sounds to print.
Screening, diagnostic, formative, progress-monitoring, and summative assessments serve different purposes, and running records yield accuracy rates and error patterns.
English learners need explicit foundational skills plus sustained academic language support; social fluency (BICS) is not academic proficiency (CALP).
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