Anatolian Journal of Education - No. 1 - The Effects of Environmental Writing Intervention on Early Literacy Skills of PreSchool Children at Risk

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Dipper

Study purpose focuses on strengthening early literacy skills of preschool children at risk due to low socioeconomic status through interactive environmental print. A quasi-experimental design was used with an experimental and control group formed by 20 children each (11 girls, 9 boys). Pre- and post-tests used TELD receptive language measures, a print awareness control list, and a letter and name writing test. The 8-week intervention, 30 minutes per session, five days weekly, significantly supported receptive language and early literacy outcomes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Early literacy and pre-literacy skills

Importance of print awareness and environmental print

Anatolian Journal of Education No.1 e-ISSN: 2547-9652 April 2021 ● Vol. 6, [www.e-aje.net](www.e-aje.net)[ ](www.e-aje.net)pp. 91-102 The Effects of Environmental Writing Intervention on Early Literacy Skills of PreSchool Children at Risk Özlem Altındağ Kumaş Dicle University, Ziya Gökalp Education Faculty, Special Education Department, Turkey, [ozlemmaltindag@gmail.com](ozlemmaltindag@gmail.com) The purpose of this study is to improve the early literacy skills of children from the low socioeconomic level by having them interact with environmental print. Based on the objectives, the study adopted a quasi-experimental research model. The study group comprised children, who attend kindergartens that are affiliated to the Turkey- Ministry of National Education in Diyarbakır city center in the educational year of 2018-2019 and are also from the low socioeconomic status. Either groups (experimental and control) were formed by 11 girls and 9 boys, 40 children in total. Test of Early Language Development (TELD) recipient language test, print awareness control list and letter, and name writing test was administered as pre-test and post-test to experimental and control groups to evaluate early literacy skills of children The duration of the study was 8 weeks and each practice were conducted for approximately 30 minutes, 5 days of the week. The study concluded that environmental print practices strongly supported the receptive language and early literacy performances of children from the low socio-economic level. Keywords: early literacy, print awareness, environmental reading, preschool period, children INTRODUCTION "Early literacy skills", which are also known as pre-literacy skills, include phonological awareness, letter knowledge, oral language, print awareness and comprehension skills (Whitehurst &Lonigan, 1998) . Many studies concluded that early literacy skills influence future literacy skills (Lonigan, Burgess & Anthony, 2000; Molfese, Beswick, Molnar & Jacobi-Vessels, 2006; Neumann, Hood, Ford & Neumann, 2012; Storch & Whitehurst, 2002) . For this reason, foreign studies started to focus more on how to teach pre-school children early literacy skills since they help improve future literacy skills (Snow, Burns & Griffin, 1998) . Although literacy skills continue to develop throughout life, early childhood years (0 to 8 years) that include the beginning of literacy education, are considered the most important period in literacy development (Baydık, 2004) . Children, who do not receive enough stimulus during pre-school period, are at risk in terms of cognitive development, academic performance, and social and emotional aspects (Brooks-Gunn & Duncan, 1997; Pines, 1982) . The fact that children from a low socioeconomic level are not exposed to enough stimulus creates an adverse impact on their pre-literacy skills and future reading performances (High et al. 2000) . The research found that children from higher SES families had better literacy skills than from lower SES families (Burchinal et al., 2002; Salaway, 2008) . Speech and language therapist” pointed out that it is important to develop early literacy skills in minimizing literacy and language-related problems of children from low socio-economic status in the future (Menyuk&Chesnick, 1997; Van Kleeck &Schuele, 1987) . Children start discovering and using prints around them before primary education. These attempts of children are not pre-literacy skills but the first step of their life-long literacy development (Whitehead, Citation: Kumaş, Ö . A. (2021) . The Effects of Environmental Writing Intervention on Early Literacy Skills of PreSchool Children at Risk. Anatolian Journal of Education, 6(1), 91-102. [https://doi.org/10.29333/aje.2021.617a](https://doi.org/10.29333/aje.2021.617a) 92 The Effects of Environmental Writing Intervention on … 2007) . Print awareness involves the child realizing that oral language can turn into written language, print i

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the study?

The study aims to improve early literacy skills of children from low socioeconomic backgrounds by having them interact with environmental print.

How was the study designed and what groups were included?

The research adopted a quasi-experimental model with an experimental group and a control group, totaling 40 children (11 girls and 9 boys).

What tools measured outcomes and what did the study conclude?

Outcomes were measured with TELD receptive language tests, a print awareness control list, and letter and name writing tests before and after the 8-week intervention. Environmental print practices strongly supported receptive language and early literacy performances.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Dipper