Research on the relationship between early childhood literacy experiences and subsequent reading acquisition is reviewed, with a focus on awareness and knowledge of print. Research studies included children, preschool age to age 7, who were identified as normally achieving, at risk, and linguistically diverse. One of the studies involved children with cognitive, physical, emotional, behavioral, learning, and developmental disabilities. Definitions of emergent literacy are presented, and common approaches for studying literacy development are identified. The following topics from the research literature regarding emergent literacy are considered: awareness of print, relationship of print to speech, comprehension of text structures, phonological awareness, and letter naming and writing. Attention is also directed to general areas of literacy experiences which facilitate knowledge, including cultural communication practices and community/home literacy experiences, and the contributions of interactive dialogue, storybook reading, and symbolic play to literacy knowledge. A chart identifies study author(s) and year, number and type of study participants, the emergent literacy dimension, and the study purpose. (Contains 26 references and 1 table.) (SW)