The role of early childhood education in promoting early literacy

This chapter provides a comprehensive review of the research on early childhood education, the home literacy environment and early literacy intervention programmes, as well as their relations to children&s;s early literacy development. It begins with a description of the importance of early childhood education in language and literacy learning and discusses how early childhood education influences children&s;s literacy skills. The chapter also reviews home learning environment and the effects of early literacy intervention programmes across orthographies on early literacy acquisition. It provides educational implications for parents, caregivers/teachers and policy-makers. The chapter argues that not only is early childhood education enrolment a key factor for early literacy development, but the programme&s;s intensity, quality and type also play vital roles in children&s;s early literacy acquisition. The mechanism by which early childhood education influences early language learning and their relationships with home literacy environment will be investigated in future studies among different age groups across the world.