Which statement best describes the contribution of discourse to early literacy?

• A. Discourse only addresses spoken language
• B. Discourse helps learners recognize how sentences and ideas connect to form coherent texts
• C. Discourse is unrelated to understanding context
• D. Discourse replaces the need to teach vocabulary

Answer: (B)

Discourse in early literacy is about how connected talk and writing show the flow of ideas across sentences to form a coherent whole. When children listen to stories or read texts, they learn that sentences link ideas through sequence, cause and effect, and transitional signals like then, because, or therefore. This awareness helps them predict what comes next, retell what they’ve heard or read, and understand the overall message or argument. As they grow, they start to apply this understanding to their own writing, organizing ideas so sentences support a clear, logical text rather than a string of unrelated thoughts. Discourse also brings context into meaning—who is speaking, why, and to whom—which guides how language is interpreted and produced. This makes literacy a social and purposeful activity, not just decoding words. Vocabulary matters here too, but discourse isn’t about replacing word knowledge; it uses and builds on it to help learners see how texts are structured and how ideas connect across sentences to create coherence.