ABSTRACT
The defi nition of early literacy has always been dependent on social views about the nature of mature literate competence. That is, a view of the future adult and how he or she will read, write, and communicate has reached down to shape the education system’s approach to inculcating young children into literacy and, consequently, parents’ understandings of how to prepare their children for literacy instruction. The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has called for a redefi nition of the requirements for literate citizenship: “Because technology has increased the intensity and complexity of literate environments, the twenty-fi rst century demands that a literate person possess a wide range of abilities and competencies, many literacies” (NCTE, 2008).
