| Access to books and printed material is also important in the early childhood care and education environment (National Research Council, 1998). Preschool classrooms with play settings that contain print and where children are encouraged to interact with it are associated with better emergent literacy (Neuman & Roskos, 1993). Furthermore, the amount and quality of one-on-one or small group interactions between teachers and children is highly related to measures of language development (National Research Council, 2000).
Early childhood care and education interventions suggest that a combined approach of child-engaging book reading and phonological training is effective in improving emergent literacy skills (National Research Council, 1998; Whitehurst et al., 1994; Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998). Teaching letter-sound knowledge has also been shown to help children learn to read (National Research Council, 1998).
|
