THE PRE-SCHOOL TEACHERS’ UNDERSTANDING ON EARLY LITERACY: IMPLEMENTATION AND OBSTACLES IN TEACHING-LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Abstract

Early literacy plays a key role in enabling the kind of early learning experiences that research shows are linked with academic achievement, reduced grade retention, higher graduation rates and enhanced productivity in adult life (Strickland & Riley-Ayers, 2006). This case study focused on pre-school teachers’ understanding on early literacy policy, and the basic concepts. It also investigated the implementation of early literacy concept in teaching-learning activities, and also the difficulties the teachers encountered during the implementation. This study employed a qualitative design. Ten pre-school teachers were involved in this study. They came from several pre-schools in suburb areas. For validity purpose, data triangulation was applied. Therefore, this current study used several instruments, including open-ended questionnaires, non-participant classroom observations and semi-structured interviews conducted immediately after the completion of all activities in the classroom observations. It was found that the preschool teachers’ understanding on early literacy policy and concept still needs to be improved. It can be seen from the partial implementation of the concept in teaching-learning processes, most pre-school teachers considered that early literacy only covered pre-schoolers ability to read and to write printed material. Some obstacles were also found in the implementation of the right concept related to the early literacy, those obstacles were mainly caused by the teachers’ unsuitable education level, parents’ high expectation, and also lack of facilities. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the early literacy policy and concepts should be comprehended thoroughly by pre-school teachers immediately to enhance the quality of the teaching-learning to young learners. It is also recommended that further study include more participants and broader scope.