Children’s Emergent Literacy Skills: The Concept of Letter Knowledge and the Alphabetical Principle
Abstract
Alphabet knowledge is an important skill in children’s emergent literacy. It involves letter-shape, letter-name and letter-sound knowledge. The objective of this study was to examine the influence of learners’ alphabetical knowledge on the performance of English reading in grade one. The geographical locale of the study was Keiyo Sub County, Kenya. This was a mixed-method study. Stratified and random sampling techniques were used to select the 26 schools and 78 teachers. Fifty- two (52) pupils of Grade one were selected (a boy and a girl in grade one of a sampled school) using simple random sampling and assessed. The data collection instruments used were questionnaires for ECDE and Grade one teachers and EGRA checklists for Grade one learners. The research results accepted the null hypothesis which stated that there existed no significant relationship between a learner’s ability to recognize letters of the alphabet and performance of English reading in Grade one. This was interpreted to mean that though it was important to teach the letter names and shapes of the alphabet, it does not necessarily impact on the reading ability of the child. Given the importance of the alphabetic principle in learning to read, this study recommends that teachers should not ask learners to write their names before they acquire alphabetic knowledge.
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References
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Copyright (c) 2019 Agnes Chepchumba, Alice Limo, PhD, Rachel Koross, PhD
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