Revue internationale

www.sens-public.org Pre-school literacy in the light of european tradition VERONIKA SZINGER Abstract: In the field of kindergarten education there are two predominant, seemingly conflicting views of preschool literacy: reading readiness skills and emergent literacy. In the last decade of the 20th century kindergarten teaching practices moved towards the concept of ’emergent literacy ’ mainly in the United States but also in many countries of Europe. Our aim is to offer a brief survey of preschool and kindergarten curriculum reforms over the past ten years. In the new curricula it is highlited that children should be provided with opportunities to meet written language system. However, besides applying the basic principles of emergent literacy many countries have preserved benefits from the traditional approach