Learning about letters, and how they differ from pictures, is one important aspect of a young child’s print awareness. To test the hypothesis that parent speech provides children with information about these differences, we studied parent–child conversations in CHILDES (MacWhinney, 2000). We found that parents talk to their young children about letters, differentiating them from pictures, by 1–2 years of age and that some of these conversational patterns change across the preschool years in ways that emphasize important features of letters, such as their shape. We also found that children talk about letters and pictures in distinct ways, suggesting an implicit understanding of some of the differences between letters and pictures at an early age. Some differences in parent–child conversations about letters were found as a function of socioeconomic status: Lower SES families appeared to focus more on alphabetic order than higher SES families. The general letter knowledge expressed in these conversations suggests that everyday interactions are an important component of the home literacy environment and that they differ, in some respects, as a function of child age and family background.

To investigate preschoolers’ knowledge about symbol systems, we compared the written and drawn productions of 2–5-year-old U.S. children. In Study 1, children (N = 88) wrote and drew four targets, including their own name and a picture of themselves. Children differentiated writings from drawings in the implements they used, the size of their productions, and use of recognizable letters. Some distinctions were present in the youngest children and others became more prominent with age. In Study 2, adults (N = 16) who judged whether the productions were writings or drawings performed above the level of chance for all age groups. Adults did better for children’s names and self-portraits than for other targets, suggesting that the name plays a leading role in U.S. children’s learning about writing. Overall, the results show that children begin to learn about formal differences between writing and drawing at an early age.

According to the differentiation hypothesis, young children's attempts to write show characteristics common to all writing systems, such as linearity. Characteristics that are specific to the writing system of the child's culture emerge only later. We tested this hypothesis by presenting adults who knew both Chinese and English with written productions of Chinese and United States 2- to 5-year-olds and asking them to judge the nationality of the writer. Adults performed significantly above the level expected by chance even with the productions of 2- and 3-year-olds, suggesting that knowledge of language-specific characteristics emerges earlier than previously thought. Children appeared to show more language-specific characteristics in their names than in other writings, for adults performed better with children's names than with other items. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Children's early attempts to write may show general properties of writing, such as linearity. Knowledge of language-specific features is thought to develop later. What does this study adds? Adults judged whether a writer was an United States or a Chinese child. Adults performed above the level of chance even with the productions of 2- and 3-year-olds. Children begin to learn about language-specific features earlier than previously thought.

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