Teacher question:    

With all the talk about the science of reading (phonics, phonemic awareness, knowledge building, etc.), I’m not hearing anything about print awareness. Should we still teach that and, if so, how do we do that?

Shanahan response:  

I don’t hear much about print awareness these days either, though I think it is included in every set of state educational standards. But I never (until now) get asked about it.

I think there are many reasons for the lack of interest.

First, is its transience. It only matters for a brief window of time. Once kids are reading, print awareness can be assumed and there’s no more reason for concern.

Also, it is kind of a grab bag. “Print awareness” or “concepts of print” are terms used to describe a disparate collection of knowledge and skill:

• Recognition that print (not pictures) tells the story,
• Print represents words,
• Words are made up of letters,
• Blank spaces separate words,
• Words don’t include numbers,
• Print has orientation,
• Directionality,
• What to do at the end of a line of print,
• Distinguishing front and back book covers,
• Etc.

Some schemes even toss letters and letter names into this pot. Print awareness lacks conceptual clarity.

My first foray into research – more than 50 years ago – was of print awareness. It wasn’t a great study (maybe not even a good one), but I did come to understand that not all those skills are essential to learning to read. Some of them are probably more like side effects or trivial outcomes of learning to read. Honestly, I don’t think distinguishing book covers or recognizing that words don’t include numbers play an important role in reading development.