One of the hallmarks of the pre-alphabetic stage of reading is a heightened interest in books and words. Generally at some point in the preschool years, children notice that books contain stories or information and that others can read the groups of letters on the pages. Many children aspire to this seemingly magical skill and begin to focus mental energy on unlocking its secrets.
Children at the pre-alphabetic stage understand the connection between printed and spoken words, but do not understand the connection between letters, letter sequence and sounds. At this stage, they learn to recite or sing the alphabet by rote memory. The students do not understand that each letter makes a sound or that letters grouped together tell the reader how to read the word. Attempts to teach phonics skills or "sounding out words" at this stage will generally be futile.
In spite of not yet making connection between the printed letter and the sounds that make up words, children at this stage of development begin to notice that words are made up of sequences of sounds. Prior to this point, words were perceived as whole units. Children begin to hear the small differences between similar words during the pre-alphabetic stage and build an understanding that words are composed of sequences of a small number of discrete sounds.
The pre-alphabetic stage is typical of preschool children. By the time they reach kindergarten age, children should be moving into the early alphabetic phase of learning where they make connection between letters and sounds and begin to build and decode words. Teachers, parents, care providers and mentors can encourage this transition by nurturing phonemic awareness. This is the ability to hear and differentiate the sounds of words. Auditory and oral activities that involve recognizing and generating rhymes, grouping words by similar beginning, ending and medial sounds, and counting, adding or removing sounds and syllables from spoken words will help children become ready to make the transition from the pre-alphabetic to the early alphabetic level.