Abstract
This paper presents results of two consecutive cross-sectional studies (2017 and 2020) focused on mapping performance profiles of the pre-literacy skills of preschool children just before entering the first year of primary school. The conceptual framework pre-literacy skills is developed reflecting international comparative studies by Caravolas and colleagues (2012, 2013 and 2019), where: phonemic awareness, letter knowledge and rapid automatized naming were identified as the essentials for literacy development.
This paper also seeks to point out the possible connection between the structure and quality of pre-literacy skills and the child's home pre-literacy environment (indicated by the child's mother's education and parents' reading with the child). The results of the study 1) provide a structured overview of performance profiles of preschool children in all three key pre-literacy skills, 2) map the size of the deficit level of development of these key pre-literacy skills in typically developing children before entering the first year of primary school and 3) draw attention to different effects the quality of the home literacy environment for individual key pre-literacy skills development.