Status of emergent literacy in preschools of one county, Republic of Liberia: a proposal

Abstract

Emergent literacy is a term used to explain how young children develop skills of prereading and pre-writing before they actually start to read and write. It is believed that young children even from one year old and above can experience emergent literacy through the support of parents, teachers, caregivers, and other adults around them. Through this process, young children can successfully progress from emergent literacy to conventional reading. This study seeks to investigate the status of emergent literacy of preschool children in one county in the Republic of Liberia. The aim of this study is to investigate how preschool children gain emergent literacy experiences in preschool classrooms and the home environment. In order to achieve this aim, Parents, teachers, administrators and caregivers need to be knowledgeable of how to develop emergent literacy practices of preschool children through training programs. The theoretical framework guiding the study is Marie Clay, Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky constructivism theories. The proposed study which will be conducted in one county in the Republic of Liberia will use a mixed method approach. Within this context, a purposive sampling and simple random sampling method will be used. The participants of the study will be parents and teachers from the four districts within the county. Data from the study will be gathered through questionnaire, semi-structure interview, focus group discussions and observation. Data gathered will be analyzed through SPSS (v.22) for quantitative and Excel, while qualitative data from interview, focus group discussion and observation will be analyzed through C-at lerti 75 in the form of themes and categories. Based on the findings from the study, relevant recommendations will be made as to what decisions to take in addressing the challenges of the status of emergent literacy practices of preschool children in the classrooms and home environment.