Preschool staff's view of emergent literacy approaches in Swedish preschools

Abstract

This study aims to investigate preschool staff's view of emergent literacy approaches in Swedish preschools with the following research question: How do preschool staff describe and explain the approaches they use in the emergent literacy environment of preschool? Focus-group interviews were conducted with 52 participating preschool units. Manifest content analyses were used and the interviews were systematically analysed relying on socio-cultural theory and the ecological development approach [Barton, D. (2007). Literacy an introduction to the ecology of written language. London: Blackwell; Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language. Boston, MA: MIT Press], in accordance with Whitehurst and Lonigan's [1998. Child development and emergent literacy. Child Development, 69, 844–872] components of emergent literacy. The results show that preschool staff apply both outside-in and inside-out approaches; however, outside-in approaches such as play and supportive communication are described most frequently in the focus-group interviews.

Keywords:

• emergent literacy
• language
• preschool staff
• interaction
• communication

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by The Swedish Research Council 2008-31337-61896-69.

Notes on contributor

Martina Norling is a PhD Student in pedagogy at the School of Education and Communication at Jönköpings University. She is also working as a lecturer of Culture and Communication at Mälardalen University. She is interested in children's learning and development, as well as the preschool as children's physical and social language environment.