A Phenomenological Approach towards Early Literacy Development Practices of Early Childhood Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to make early childhood teachers acquire an innovative approach towards their early literacy development practices by introducing them the use of three different techniques of creative story-writing and storytelling to be used within their classrooms, making them incorporate these techniques in the implementation sessions by writing and telling their own stories, evaluating the challenges and successes that they faced in the learning-teaching process, and finally, taking a deeper insight into their perceptions towards the use of the techniques within their classroom environment. The qualitative research includes the introduction of three story-writing and storytelling techniques and implementation of them through collaborative group work. The data was comprised of semi-structured interviews, diaries kept by the participants, and observations of the whole workshop program by the researcher which were all video recorded. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. The findings indicated that such new techniques could not only support kindergarten children’s early literacy development but also make it fun for the children which could activate them and increase their engagement within the activities. The techniques also yielded some developmental areas for early childhood teachers together with the strengths they offer when used in storytelling and story writing.