Print Awareness

     Awareness of print can be apparent in children as young as two. They can voice their understanding that print has meaning in their guesses about what it says. In the article by Gretchen Owocki and Yetta Goodman, an example is cited in which a child of 30 months points to her written name on her lunchbox and guesses that it says "My Lunchbox." (2002, p. 27). They recognize print and symbols from their home environment like food labels, places such as where their parents work, or toys. Their personal experiences and background influence their knowledge of environmental print. The video below demonstrates how one individual's home environment influenced her awareness of print. Children observe the prevalence of print in society and cultivate hypotheses in order to decode its meaning and purpose.
  
     Before realizing that letters make individual sounds or phonemes, some children create hypotheses based on the visual aspects of the word. They may hypothesize that long words represent big things while short words are indicative of small things (Owocki & Goodman, 2002, p. 28). Their hypotheses have yet to become alphabetic in which they learn that letter patterns relates to sounds. Other children use a syllabic hypothesis in which they infer that "that a spoken syllable corresponds with each written symbol" (Owocki & Goodman, 2002, p.30).
     When evaluating print awareness in children, teachers look at knowledge of print in local environment, hypotheses that have been formed, understanding about the uses of written language, and views of self as a literate individual. They may do a formal evaluation or use observations made during the daily routine.


Sources:
Owocki, G & Goodman, Y. (2002). Kidwatching: Documenting children's literacy development. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.