The multiple dimensions of emergent literacy skills in pre-schoolers

The objective of this dissertation was to provide a broader and more varied framework for the development of emergent literacy skills among Italian pre-school children. The pre-school period is an important transition period for the development of the child's subsequent skills. In Italy, from an educational point of view, this period corresponds to the transition from pre-school to primary school—the time of transition from emergent literacy to formalised literacy during which the child learns conventional forms of reading and writing. This dissertation answers the questions: What is emergent literacy? What are the variables with which it interfaces? Is it susceptible to change? In relation to these three theoretical cores, three studies are illustrated. The first ‘What is the relation between numerical representational skills, alphabetical representational skills, and pictorial representational skills in 3-, 4- and 5-year-old pre-schoolers?’; the second ‘The direct and mediated contribution of SES to emergent literacy skills in pre-schoolers: a longitudinal study’; and the last ‘The impact of music education program on emergent literacy and meta-musical skills in pre-schoolers’ The three studies conducted for this dissertation have brought to light three fundamental aspects: (1) to study emergent literacy and numeracy skills, it is necessary and useful to study their relationship to other related individual skills, such as executive skills; (2) it is necessary to consider the contextual and family characteristics from which the child comes, for example, home literacy opportunities and school teaching; (3) these skills can be enhanced both directly, with interventions targeted on specific emergent skills, or indirectly with interventions on other domains that are not specific to the skills to be promoted. The results of these studies suggest that paying attention to the children's early skills allows us to focus on improving evaluation tools and interventions. And, the roles of all stakeholders in the process must be considered in order to support children’s transition from pre-school to primary school.