Concepts of Print

Concepts of Print
Definition
Concepts of print refers to the ability of a child to know and recognize the ways in which print works for the purposes of reading, particularly with
regard to books.

Components of concepts of print for the English language:

Concepts to know for a text as a whole
The print, the words on the page, is what is read in a book
Illustrations are not read, but are related to the print
Print represents spoken language
Print has many purposes (or genres)
The same text will have the same words at all times, print does not change
Concepts of how text is read
Words are read from left to right
A line of text on a page is read word by word from left to right
Lines of text on a page are read from top to bottom (unless the text is meant to be read differently)
Return sweep- at the end of a line of text reading continues on the next line down at the left side again
Concepts of identifying parts of print
Space separates words from each other
Words, sentences, and texts have a beginning and end
Each word has a first letter, last letter, and middle letters
Concepts of print orientation
Orientation of letters is important (ex: p, b, q, and d have the same physical shape but are oriented in different ways)
Print has a distinct right side up
Books are held a certain way and opened a certain way
Pages of a book are turned from left to right
Concepts of parts of a book
Identifying the front and back of the book
Books have covers
Identifying the name of author and illustrator
Other parts of books including an index, table of contents, glossary, etc.
Knowledge of upper-case and lower-case letters and their roles, and punctuation can also be considered in concepts of print
Alphabetic principle- a concept of print defined as the understanding that by putting different letters together in different ways, words are made
(Bennett-Armistead, Duke, & Moses, 2005).

Importance of concepts of print:

Knowledge of these concepts are essential to conventional reading and writing in English
The concepts of word are predictive of how well a student will be able to read in the early grades
Early elementary instruction often relies on the assumption that most children understand concepts of print. Students can struggle and fall
behind if they do not have knowledge that the teacher assumes for them to have, especially if that discrepancy goes unnoticed

How concepts of print develop:

Develop very early, some concepts of print can be seen from as early as a year old
Some concepts may still be developing into elementary school age
Some concepts of print develop before others (ex: how to hold a book learned before orientation of letters)
Children often develop their own ideas about how print works with exposure to different texts, as they develop the knowledge of how print truly
works
A childs progress with concepts of print can be seen through observation of how they interact with books, draw, write, etc.
Overview of ways to assist children in developing concepts of print:
Point to words when reading to children
Write in front of children so that they can read what is being written, and say the words as you write
Frequently refer to terminology of parts of a book front, back, author, illustrator, cover, etc.
Tell children explicitly about different concepts of print when the opportunity arises
Ask children to point out different concepts of print to check their knowledge
Shedd, 2008a

Issues for Second Language Learners:

 Different types of writing systems exist for different languages
Alphabetic: Letter symbols stand for different phonemes, ex: English, Spanish, French, Italian (while the same Latin letters are used for
these different languages, phonemes are different), Greek, Russian
Syllabic: Written symbols stand for individual syllables instead of phonemes, ex: Japanese, Cherokee, some Indian languages
Logographic: Written symbols stand for each unit of meaning in the language, ex: Chinese, parts of Japanese and Korean
Some different languages have different concepts of print, therefore in learning English, not only must students learn the vocabulary and
grammatical structure of English, but must also adapt to the new concepts of print as well
Strickland & Snow, 2002

MLPP Concepts of Print Assessment

This assessment tests whether or not a child is able to identify certain components of concepts of print. The child is given a book and is asked a series of
questions about these components from a list provided in the assessment about the orientation of a book, the direction text is read, and even certain
specifics about the text such as identifying capital and lower-case letters and punctuation marks. The test is scored on a point system based on the
number of correct answers the child gives for the questions.
Michigan Department of Education Early Literacy Committee, 2001

Resources
Bennett-Armistead, V.S., Duke, N.K., & Moses, A.M. (2005). Literacy and the youngest learner: Best practices for
educators of children from birth to five. New York: Scholastic.

Michigan Department of Education Early Literacy Committee. (2001). Michigan Literacy Progress Profile. Lansing, MI: Department of Education.

Shedd, M. (2008). Concepts of print and genre. Presentation for TE 301 (a), East Lansing,
MI.
Strickland, D., & Snow, C. (2002). Preparing our teachers: Opportunities for better reading
instruction. Washington, D.C.: Joseph Henry Press.