This article is set against the background of the practice in literacy development to focus on features of the text. It starts from an alternative view: literacy as sociocognitive behaviour. This view sees features of text as that with which the individual interacts, the processes of interaction are mental and are acquired as a byproduct of the cognitive development fostered by social interactions. This view of literacy forms the bases of the interpretation of the data from an ongoing project. The data are drawn primarily from work with children ages 3 years to 6 years and 4 months, in four main locations: a new urban dormitory type, a deep rural area with access to a town but somewhat independent of it, and a tourist resort town. All the children were in regular school settings where the focus of instruction was on letter-name and phonic knowledge. The conclusion from my interpretation suggests that the relevance and effectiveness of such a focus in instruction is determined by the level of symbolic process ing which learners' experience makes available to them. It offers support for an alternative which is consistent with the sociocultural offerings that the children bring to the learning-to-be-literate situation. It implies a need for teachers to review their approaches to literacy development.