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

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.