ABSTRACT
This chapter will introduce the book and give an overview of the range of literacy skills and strategies that will be explored within the text. It will also highlight one of the central tenets of this book, which is that literacy skills are best developed through meaningful contexts. While individual literacy skills are outlined in detail, the teaching approach in this book is holistic in nature; for example, it recommends that phonics be taught using a large-format text in conjunction with synthetic phonic programmes, and it recommends that children be taught to write in order to communicate (and not just to practise forming letters or copying words) from the earliest possible juncture. The book also advocates a ‘balanced literacy approach’, where multiple types of reading and writing instruction are combined to develop holistic practice. This approach is deemed research-based best practice, and the arguments for such an approach will be discussed in this chapter. This chapter will also emphasise the central role of oral language in all literacy activities, and this idea will be further developed in each chapter.
