Preschool staff's view of emergent literacy approaches in Swedish preschools

Abstract

This study aims to investigate preschool staff's view of emergent literacy approaches in Swedish preschools with the following research question: How do preschool staff describe and explain the approaches they use in the emergent literacy environment of preschool? Focus-group interviews were conducted with 52 participating preschool units. Manifest content analyses were used and the interviews were systematically analysed relying on socio-cultural theory and the ecological development approach [Barton, D. (2007). Literacy an introduction to the ecology of written language. London: Blackwell; Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language. Boston, MA: MIT Press], in accordance with Whitehurst and Lonigan's [1998. Child development and emergent literacy. Child Development, 69, 844–872] components of emergent literacy. The results show that preschool staff apply both outside-in and inside-out approaches; however, outside-in approaches such as play and supportive communication are described most frequently in the focus-group interviews.