Becoming Literate: Referential and Phonetic Strategies in Early Reading and Writing

Abstract

Preschoolers' conception of the written system was analysed with respect to their use of referential and phonetic strategies in reading and writing. Referential writing involves writing a word using elements related to the features of the referent (e.g. writing "snake" with more signs than "butterfly" because a snake is longer). Similarly, referential reading involves relating to the graphic features of the written word (e.g. choosing the longer word as representing "snake"). Phonetic strategies relate written words to the sound pattern of spoken words. Children were asked to write pairs of spoken nouns. They were then shown pairs of cards on which these same nouns had been written, and were asked to decide which of the nouns appeared on which of the cards and to justify their decision. As predicted, there was a shift with age from the use of referential to phonetic strategies both in children's writing and in their reading although different referential links to the object's features were established when writing and when reading. The findings are interpreted as an outcome of the different processes involved in reading and writing, and of the particular constraints of the written system.