Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1995

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Education

Major Professor

J. Amos Hatch

Committee Members

Phyllis Huff, Lester Knight, Glenn Estes

Abstract

The study was a descriptive study of literacy instruction in kindergarten and the influences on teachers' planning and implementation of literacy instruction. Passive participant observation, interviewing, and unobtrusive data collection were the data gathering methods used in the study. Data for the study were collected over a three month period and included field notes of the literacy instruction in 12 kindergarten classrooms and transcripts of 14 interviews with kindergarten teachers. The goal of the study was to provide a description of the literacy instruction of one group of kindergarten teachers and the influences on their planning and implementation of literacy instruction. Findings from data collected on literacy instruction were reported as descriptions of reading instruction and writing instruction. Data analysis revealed three areas of influence on teachers' planning and implementation of literacy instruction: (a) curriculum influences, (b) personal philosophy influences, and (c) time influences. The following general conclusions were drawn from the findings: (a) Literacy instruction in kindergarten is alphabet driven; (b) Literacy activities utilized by the teachers reflected both reading readiness practice and emergent literacy practice; (c) Teachers based literacy instruction on curriculum influences, personal philosophy influences, and time influences rather than on a particular formal philosophy; (d) Developing a personal teaching style is an idiosyncratic, dynamic process.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS