Literacy Development -- It’s All in the Name -- Learning About Writing Begins Informally -- The Role of Letter Name Knowledge in Early Spelling Development: Evidence from Brazilian Portuguese -- An Eye for Print: Child and Adult Attention to Print During Shared Book Reading -- The Role of Hebrew Letter Names in Early Literacy: The Case of Multi-phonemic Acrophonic Names -- Promoting Literacy at Home and in School -- The Early Childhood Project: A 5-Year Longitudinal Investigation of Children’s Literacy Development in Sociocultural Context -- Early Literacy at Home: General Environmental Factors and Specific Parent Input -- Reading Books to Young Children: What It Does and Does Not Do -- The Making of Literate Families: Considerations of Context and Misconceptions -- Spellings of Words: A Neglected Facilitator of Vocabulary Learning -- Early Schooling and Growth of Literacy in the Transition to School -- Bilingualism -- Acquiring a Second Spoken and Written Language -- Role of Orthography in Literacy Acquisition and Literacy Problems Among Monolinguals and Bilinguals -- Becoming Literate in a Foreign Language -- Rudiments of Inflectional Morphology Skills in Emergent English–Hebrew Biliterates -- Early Identification and Intervention to Prevent Reading Difficulties -- Teaching and Learning -- Whatever Happened to Pedagogical Theory?.

One key measure of a country’s status in the world is the literacy of its people; at the same time, global migration has led to increased interest in bilingualism and foreign language learning as topics of research. Literacy Development and Enhancement Across Orthographies and Cultures reviews international studies of the role of literacy in child development, particularly how children learn their first written language and acquire a second written and spoken one. Comparisons and contrasts are analyzed across eight countries and 11 languages, including English, Spanish, Mandarin, Hebrew, Dutch, and Catalan. Using qualitative and quantitative, established and experimental methods, contributors trace toddlers’ development of print awareness, clear up common myths regarding parental involvement and non-involvement in their children’s literacy, and suggest how the spelling of words can aid in the gaining of vocabulary. For added relevance to educators, the book includes chapters on early intervention for reading problems and the impact of pedagogical science on teaching literacy. Highlights of the coverage: Letter name knowledge in early spelling development Early informal literacy experiences Environmental factors promoting literacy at home Reading books to young children: what it does—and doesn’t do The role of orthography in literacy acquisition among monolingual and bilingual children Gaining literacy in a foreign language Instructional influences on literacy growth Literacy Development and Enhancement Across Orthographies and Cultures adds significant depth and interest to the knowledge base and should inspire contributions from additional languages and orthographies. It belongs in the libraries of researchers and educators involved in cognitive psychology, language education, early childhood education and linguistics.