224 Using Parents’ Perceptions to Gain Insights into a Young Child’s Emergent Literacy Journey: A Phenomenological Case Study Mona W. Matthews Caitlin McMunn Dooley Karen Cziplicki Georgia State University Emergent literacy theories place the beginning of children’s literacy journey at birth (Clay, 1991; Teale & Sulzby, 1986). These theories replaced ones suggesting that children had to be determined “ready to learn” to read before they received reading instruction (Teale & Sulzby, 1986). In response to this expanded conception of literacy learning, many emergent literacy researchers turned their attention to the contexts in which children spent most of their time for insights into the experiences children participated in that supported their literacy learning (for example, Teale, 1986). This is the context of the study reported herein. Specifically, the study provides a detailed analysis of interviews with the parents of one young European American literacy learner, Darin (a pseudonym), conducted across three years beginning when their son was two years old and ending when he was five. The interviews were part of a three-year longitudinal investigation, conducted in two child development centers, that focused on how young learners make literate meaning, a process we reference as emergent comprehension (Dooley & Matthews, 2009). From these interviews, we gained insights into the ways the family spent time together and their son’s interest and participation in these family events. To guide our analysis of the interviews, we merged precepts from socio-cultural theories with insights from family and emergent literacy studies. Then, we used Alexander’s (2006) lifespan model of reading to map Darin’s non-print interactions within a favorite family event, onto elements considered essential for print-based literacy development. In the next section, we describe the theories and research that ground our study. THEORETICAL FRAMES AND RELEVANT LITERATURE Why examine young children’s experiences with families and other important others for insights into literacy development? Clay’s (1991) “emergent literacy” theory proposes that literate behaviors, such as the ability to recognize letter names and sounds or the ability to know how to hold a book, emerge over time with multiple experiences. She (2001) further theorizes that children, during their early years, develop processing systems for understanding their world. These include the syntax of oral language; meanings of words; knowledge of the visual forms of objects, pictures, scenes; the sense of daily activities; and understanding stories. The content and form of those processes reflect children’s unique life experience; histories that Clay asserts should function as a bridge to formal school literacy instruction. Emergent literacy researchers who assume a socio-cultural stance place the beginnings of literacy within the home and community in which the children live (Clay, 1991, 2001). Within the home, children’s approaches to literate activities begin as approximations of activities they witness