There are a number of interacting influences on children's transition into literacy. Evidence identifies children's oral language competencies as a key factor among these influences, which also include children's grasp of the concept of print, their expressive vocabulary, their sentence and story recall skills, and their receptive and expressive language, phonological awareness and letter-naming skills. Two studies have recently explored the nature of the competencies that underpin young children's transition into early literacy. This article reports on the studies, and examines the relationships between children's language development, their alphabetical knowledge as an indicator of initial reading, their in-class behaviour, and their SES.