A Decade of Early Literacy Research Trends in Turkey: A Thematic Review

Year 2018, Issue: 13, 13 - 32, 25.01.2018

Dilek Altun , Burcu Sarı

Abstract

Early literacy
skills, which are the processors of literacy skills, set down roots during the
early childhood period. In general, the developed countries apply home-based
and school-based programs for the purpose of raising the next generations as
competent literate individuals in the preschool period. Many studies have been
performed all around the world in order to monitor the developments of early
literacy skills and to examine the effect of different programs carried out. It
is observed that in Turkish National Preschool Education Programs (PEP), the
importance given to the emergent literacy skills and acquisitions of Turkish
Language activities has been gradually on the increase. While the number of
studies conducted within this field is likewise increasing, to our knowledge,
no studies concerning thematic analyses carried out regarding early literacy
skills were encountered in national context. Therefore, the aim of the present
study is to examine the research trends in the field of early literacy in the
last decade in Turkey. In this study, a thematic review approach was used to
examine the articles and the theses published between the years of 2006 and
2016 regarding early childhood education programs. The study sample consisted
of 99 theses and 112 articles. A publication classification form was used to
examine the studies. The publication classification form consists of three
dimensions: descriptive characteristics, methodological features, and content
features. Whitehurst and Lonigan’s (1998) conceptual model was used to examine
the content of the articles and theses. The
findings showed that the number of early literacy studies has increased in the
last decade. Those skills identified as “inside-out” have been studied more in
recent years, however there are fewer studies in general. The findings are
discussed in the related literature and recommendations were addressed for
further studies.

Keywords

early literacy skills, thematic review, early childhood education programs

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