الكاتب/ة الباحث/ة
Dr Fathi Ahmadieh
الناشر/المؤسسة
Routledge
تاريخ الإصدار
2015
الدولة
GCC COUNTRIES
This study was designed to examine teachers’ reported use of evidence-based
strategies to support children’s emergent literacy in Arab countries of the Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC). The study participants comprised 644 kindergarten
teachers from four countries, including Saudi Arabia (n = 154), Qatar (n = 105),
United Arab Emirates (UAE) (n = 190), and Oman (n = 195). The researchers
designed a 29-items questionnaire that addressed five dimensions, examining
evidence-based strategies that support emergent literacy: phonological
awareness, knowledge and understandings of books and other texts, print
awareness, knowledge of letters and words, and early writing. The results showed
that teachers reported higher use of strategies concerning knowledge of letters
and words, followed by those concerning print awareness. In addition, they
reported lower use of strategies concerning early writing. Moreover, teachers in
the UAE reported higher use of strategies in support of emergent literacy followed
by teachers in Qatar and Oman, whereas teachers in Saudi Arabia reported lower
use of evidence-based strategies. Finally, statistically significant differences were
found regarding teachers’ use of emergent literacy strategies due to teachers’
demographic background. Implications for future research are discussed, and
they include highlighting evidence-based emergent literacy strategies in early
years settings in the GCC countries as well as expanding the scope of the study
to include samples from different contexts.