Phonics and play-literacy: Parental expectations of an early childhood literacy program

Abstract

Parental pressure to include formalised school-type literacy lessons has been reported as a factor influencing the types of phonics instruction young children encounter in the prior-to-school years. Parents and early childhood teachers support effective phonics instruction through guided play-based learning in the prior-to-school years. Few studies have examined parental beliefs about phonics instruction in early childhood settings. This survey research investigated parental perceptions of phonics instruction and code-related literacy learning in six early childhood services in Queensland, Australia. Drawing on theories about phonics learning as a key predictor for later reading success, and defining parent beliefs about literacy, this study found the majority of parents valued both play-literacy practices and phonics instruction. A one-way ANOVA and descriptive statistics were used to analyse three different independent groups i) early learning centres, ii) long day care and iii) standalone community kindergarten, to identify relationships between the dependent variables. The Likert-scale and open-ended question survey found parents were divided in their reported views on the level of emphasis placed on explicit systematic phonics instruction and commercial phonics program use in the years prior to formal schooling. Parents with children attending school-based early learning centres (children aged three-to-twelve) were more likely to place higher importance on phonics and name writing and less likely to view adult-child shared reading as playing an important phonics instructional role, than parents of children in a community based kindergarten (children aged three-to- five) and standalone long day care centres (children aged birth-to-five). Parents with children who attend a community-based kindergarten were less likely to agree that phonics should be the focus of an early childhood literacy program. Most parents reported engaging in phonics practices at home, with many (88%) placing value on their child learning the alphabet-song. Approximately one-quarter of parent respondents reported using commercial phonics programs in the home environment. This study highlights parental expectations placed on early childhood teachers to teach phonics and parental perceptions of play-literacy learning in the early childhood curriculum.