Abstract:

Abstract enImmediately following birth, children begin to experience stimuli from their surroundings. Some stimuli that children experience introduces them to a world associated with reading and writing. As a result, when children reach preschool, it is beneficial if their teachers have a perspective which focuses on providing an adequate literacy environment; for example, effective use of classroom materials for literacy activities can increase children’s interest in reading and writing. Additionally, for teachers to increase their effectiveness in the classroom they should develop a thorough awareness and knowledge of early literacy practices. The aim of the study was to investigate preschool pre-service teachers’ levels of awareness and knowledge relating to early literacy skills. The participants for this study were thirty nine (n=39) 4th year undergraduate students studying preschool education in the eastern Anatolian region of Turkey. Research data was collected from participants’ responses to a prepared questionnaire survey, then analyzed using content analyses, and later codified into specific categorizes. The results of the study yielded that only less than half of these pre-service teachers heard about the early literacy concept. Additionally, not all the pre-service teachers were able to list early literacy skills and less than 1/3 of them were able to list the main skills including; print and phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge and writing skills. When these pre-service teachers asked to define the relationships between early literacy skills and reading-and-writing, twelve pre-service teachers stated that there was a positive relationship between these terms however, they could not explain the nature of the relationship. Furthermore, a majority of pre-service teachers found their undergraduate training was not adequate to teach early literacy to young children. Keywords: preschool period, early literacy, pre-school teacher candidates

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