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The purpose of this study is to determine whether practices that they use to support children`s literacy skills at preschool period associated with socioeconomic statuses and materials` types and frequencies differentiate or not. Sample group consists of 250 parents from Süleymanpaşa district in Tekirdağ. 125 of these are in lower socioeconomic status, whose children studying at five different nursery classes included in the primary schools which are located in disadvantageous areas and the other 125 belong to higher socioeconomic status and their children study at four different private kindergarden schools. This study was conducted by descriptive and relational method. The data was gathered by The Family Literacy Questionnaire (FLQ) which was developed by Saracho (2000) and adapted into Turkish by Güleç (2010). The scale was applied to the parents with the purpose of specifying the types and the frequencies of the activities and materials which are used by families to support the progress of the children`s literacy skills at home and out. The scale starts with the demographical information form which was gathered by the researcher to define the families` socioeconomic conditions. The software called SPSS 18.0 was used in transferring and analyzing the acquired data. Also categorical data at intergroup comparisons were gathered by chi square test. The above mentioned study conducted to prove that children`s literacy process are affected by families` socioeconomic level. The results of this study intended for the parents of the children from preschools which are representing both the high and low socioeconomic levels aiming to demonstrate that children’s literacy processes are affected by their families’ socioeconomic level and it is proved that the opportunities for the literacy of the children change according to different socioeconomic levels. Following the searches according to SES which combines the parents` educational backgrounds and professions, the materials, activities and their frequency that parents use in children literacy process differ and it is resulted in favor of the parents in higher socioeconomic level.

Classroom design has claimed to be an important factor in supporting the pre-schoolers’ literacy development. While many studies had focused on improving the overall environment of the classrooms, few studies are established with the focus on design characteristics that enhance early literacy. Comparative studies that reveal similarities and differences of design in different contexts and culture would be a significant attempt to provide a knowledge about the proper physical environment for literacy. This study is set out to compare the appropriateness of classroom design in two private and two public preschools in North Cyprus, by evaluating the necessary design characteristics for literacy activities. The study proceeds by developing an evaluation framework that analyses the design characteristics of classroom in terms of literacy learning, then followed by evaluating the design of each classroom by using this framework. The study is finalized by comparing the findings and discussing the similarities and differences of design in examined classrooms. Findings revealed that the layout of private classrooms were more literacy-oriented in compare to public classrooms, however in none of the classrooms there was any records of specific design considerations with the focus of literacy. In general, it was concluded that in all four classrooms layout of the classrooms lacked a sensitive design with concern of literacy activities. Results also demonstrated that only focusing on classroom will not be enough and considering the support for learning literacy in all the available spaces in preschool will establish more comprehensive results. No sponsor

V diplomskem delu z naslovom Poimenovaje predmetov, začetni glas in tvorjenje besed pri predšolskih otrocih smo v teoretičnem delu predstavili razvoj govora, faze govornega razvoja, pojma pismenost in opismenjevanje, razvoj besednega zaklada, poslušanje in glasovno zavedanje. V drugem delu, t.i. empiričnem delu, smo želeli ugotoviti napredek pri prepoznavanju začetnega glasu in napredek v besednem zakladu pri otrocih starih 4–6 let v obdobju petih mesecev. Z uporabo deskriptivne metode in metode praktičnega dela smo ugotavljali razlike pri poimenovanju sličic, poimenovanju začetnega glasu in številu tvorjenih besed na določen začetni glas (npr. sličica jež, začetni glas »j«, tvorjenje besed jabolko, jezik …) na neslučajnostnem vzorcu otrok starih 4–6 let. Pri prepoznavanju začetnega glasu se je v večini primerov izkazalo, da otrokom ne povzroča večjih težav. Pri tvorjenju besed pa so se kazale precejšnje razlike med posamezniki. Nekaj otrok je precej izstopalo tako po številu tvorjenih besed kot tudi po tem, da so bile nekatere tvorjene besede zahtevnejše. Nekaj otrok pa je imelo pri tvorjenju besed večje težave ali pa so bile tvorjene besede predvsem imena in predmeti, ki so bili tisti trenutek v okolici. Rezultati, ki smo jih pridobili, so pokazali, da se kaže napredek med prvim in drugim preverjanjem v razvoju govora in razvoju besednega zaklada. Pri nekaterih otrocih je bil napredek večji, pri drugih pa manjši. In the theoretical part of my diploma with the title Object description, initial voice and word formation with pre-school children we talk about speech development, the phases of speech development, the terms ‘literacy’ and ‘literacy activities’, the development of vocabulary, listening and sound awareness. In the second, empirical part we wanted to establish the progress of recognizing the initial sound and the progress in vocabulary of children between the ages of four and six in a period of five months. By using the descriptive and the practical methods we established differences in naming pictures, naming the initial sound and the number of produced words starting with a specific initial sound (for example: a picture of a hedgehog, the initial sound h, produced words: hat, helmet, house etc.) in a non-coincidental sample of children between the ages of four and six. Most children didn’t have any bigger problems recognizing initial sounds. On the other hand, in producing words there were significant differences among children. Some children stood out in the number of produced words as well as in producing more sophisticated words. Some children had bigger problems producing words or the produced words were mostly names and objects in the vicinity. The results showed progress between the first and second check regarding speech and vocabulary development. The progress was bigger in some children and smaller in others.

The purpose of the present study is to establish how the quality of kindergarten classroom interactions and the frequency of literacy activities affect reading development among Grade 1 children—both those who are at risk and not at risk of developing reading difficulties. Interaction was assessed in terms of classroom organization, and the level of emotional and instructional support offered in 49 kindergarten classrooms in Finland using the CLASS (Classroom Assessment Scoring System). Kindergarten teachers also recorded the frequency of literacy activities in their classrooms. The phonological awareness and letter knowledge of 515 children (i.e., their pre-reading skills) were assessed at the end of kindergarten, as were their reading skills at the start and at the end of Grade 1. Eighty-seven of these children were identified in kindergarten as being likely to develop reading difficulties. The results showed that emotional support and classroom organization in kindergarten were positively associated with the development of children’s reading skills across Grade 1, especially for those prone to reading difficulties. They also showed that frequent literacy activities in kindergarten were positively related to children’s reading skills shortly after entering Grade 1. All the positive longitudinal associations were stronger for those children seen to be at risk of developing reading difficulties than for those not at risk. peerReviewed

Activities aimed at literacy preparation in the pre-school period are an important factor in the creation of a basis for the teaching of formal reading. This study aims to define the characteristics of education programs that support the development of literacy skills in hearing-impaired children, and are applied in groups in the pre-school period. To this end, a qualitative case study was applied, during which research data was garnered through teacher interviews, participant observations, documentation, records of the validity and reliability committee, and a researcher journal. The study data was analyzed through a descriptive analysis and themes were determined. The research results show that the application of various in-group activities allows the relationship between oral language and print to be emphasized, and these activities can be organized in such a way that they support the use of such tools as sight words, phonological awareness, syntax and semantics.

Students from low income background often fall behind early on their education journey. Without adequate and timely support to address their learning needs they continue to perform poorly. Eventually the students lagging behind, will keep failing to learn the basic literacy and numeracy skills, and most likely will end up dropping out of school illiterate. The majority of Global Education Partnership (GPE) countries have acknowledged in their education sector plans and strategies the need to address the problem of low learning levels, and of students not going efficiently through the public education system, which has resulted in wastage of financial and human resources. Ideally interventions that aimed to improve learning of low performing students should be included in the framework of a country's educational policies in alignment with other institutional arrangements such as teacher training, curriculum, assessment, available pedagogic materials, instructional time, language of instruction (when applicable), among others. However, many of these countries are yet to draft policies that will specifically focus on helping low performers. Currently, it can be concluded that academic improvements from remedial support may help students to pass the grade or yield fast improvements, however such interventions by themselves may have not been sufficient to raise achievement at adequate levels. Remedial education programs will likely be most effective when included as part of a country's overall strategic plan to deliver quality education for all of its students. Overall, the renewed focus on low performers, many times victims of teacher neglect and other social exclusion experiences, by the means of directing programs and resources to address learning gaps is already a huge step towards achieving learning for all.

This thesis examined the relationship between the home environments of 63 kindergarten children and their literacy and vocabulary development. Time parents spent reading with their children and their familiarity with children's books was not correlated with children's reading skills. However, aspects of the home environment predicted modest, although insignificant, amounts of variance on literacy outcome measures after controlling for child ability and interest. The aspects of the home environment that made the greatest contribution to the amount of variance predicted were style of home reading instruction and teaching letter names or sounds in the past. This suggests that the active teaching of reading-related skills is important in reading development. Cognitive ability (i.e., Block Design and rapid automatized naming) predicted significant and the greatest amounts of variance on the literacy measures. In contrast, home environment, cognitive ability, and age predicted significant and approximately equal amounts of unique variance in receptive vocabulary scores.