What Readers Do: Young Children's Ideas about the Nature of Reading.

Abstract

In recent decades, increased understanding of the complex process by which young children acquire spoken language (e.g., Bloom, 1970, 1973; Bowerman, 1973; deVilliers & deVilliers, 1974; Tough, 1977) has come about through investigations of how chil dren learn to read. Reading is no longer per ceived simply a cognitive skill to be learned, but as a complex sociopsycholinguis tic activity (Teale & Sulzby, 1989, p. 2). We now recognize that even very young children engage in the process of accruing the informa tion and skills needed to become readers and