Vygotskian theory (1978) supports the
premise that adults can influence children’s
emergent literacy development by
scaffolding children’s understanding—
that is, by working with children to
enable them to achieve more than they
could independently. Scaffolding in
teachable moments is widely believed to
be the best way to show children how
words sound and look alike, how to talk
about new words, and how to understand
stories (Cabell, Justice, Vukelich, Buell
& Han, 2008). Effective scaffolding is
practised by skilled teachers, but how
does this complex skill emerge for new
professionals?