1. Project Description
Understanding Childhoods
through Literacy Development
Eunhye Park(PI), Ewha Womens University
Jeonghyo Kim, Ewha Womens University
Jihyun Lee, Konkuk University
Hong-Ju Jun, Paichai University

2. Definition of literacy in Korea
• 문해 [ literacy , 文解 ]
• Ability to read and write official
language (Han-Gul, the Korean
Language)
• „literate‟: among over 12 years old,
those who can read and write simple
sentences written in Korean

3. Literacy rate of Korean People
• 98.3% (2008)
• 100% (20-40 year olds)
• The „illiterate‟ has almost disappeared
- a crusade against illiteracy which started
right after independence from Japan in 1945
- spread of compulsory education since 1960s
• Recent illiterates are mostly the olds, who live
in the countryside such as farming and fishing
villages

4. Current Issue on Literacy
ECE
Teachers
The earlier,
the better
Parents Children

5. Overview of school system in
Korea
age 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Childcare center
School Middle High
Elementary school
system school school
Kindergart
en
Grade 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 1 2 3
Compulsory
education

6. The project: overview
• Title: <Understanding Childhoods through literacy>
• Funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea
• 2 years: 2011. 5. 1 ~ 2013. 4. 30
• Research team
- Early childhood education: Eunhye Park(PI), Hong-Ju Jun
- Elementary education: Jeonghyo Kim
- Literacy education: Jihyun Lee

7. The project: research questions
1. In what ways is literacy taught in
kindergarten and elementary school?
2. What do children experience regarding
literacy in their transition from kindergarten
to elementary school?
3. How do children, teachers and parents
conceptualize “becoming literate” ?
4. Is there any gap between curricula and
actual practices of literacy education?

8. The Project: structure
Providing practical implications
Understanding “childhoods” for articulation between early
focusing on literacy childhood education and
elementary education

9. The project: 8 studies
Subjects/p
Stages Topics Methods
articipants
1. Current state of literacy education in ECE
Current kindergarten/childcare centers teachers Questionnair
state e
2. Current state of literacy education at homes Parents
3. Teachers’ beliefs and expectations on literacy ECE
development and methods of education teachers
Expectatio Interview
ns & 4. Parents’ beiefs and expectations on literacy using
Parents
meanings development and methods of education images
5. Children’s perspectives on literacy education Children
6. Curricula analysis: National Kindergarten Curricula Document
Curriculum and Elementary Curriculum document analysis
Transition
ECE
from
7. Comparative study of literacy teaching teachers Interview
Kindergart
practices of kindergarten and elementary school Elementary using videos
en to
teachers
elementary
education 8. Children’s experiences of literacy in the
Ethnography
transition period from kindergarten to elementary Children
school

10. Research 1 & 2
• Understanding current state of literacy education
• Developed questionnaires for parents and ECE
teachers
• Consisted of questions asking environment for
literacy education, current state, and
expectations
• Plan to distribute the questionnaires to 1500
parents of young children and 1000 ECE
teachers across Korea
• Data collection will be done by mid-Oct

11. Research 3, 4, 5
• Understanding expectations and meanings that
teachers, parents and children have regarding
“becing literate”
• Understanding what parents and teachers expect to
each other regarding literacy education
• 60 people for each group
• Methods:
- interviewing using pictures (making use of visual
ethnography)
- Individual interviews, semi-structured

12. Process
took pictures of “literacy on the wall” in a kindergarten
from March through July 2011, twice a month: total of 986 pictures were
collected
interview teachers in the kindergarten
To understand the context of the activities and the environment in the pictures
Ask the teachers to select pictures that they consider to be good practices and bad practices
Based on their responses, 15 pictures to be used for interview were selected
Developed interviewing tools
ECE teachers Parents

13. The pictures

28. Role of the pictures in interviewing
• Teacher-initiated vs. children-initiated
• Activity/play vs. worksheet
• Expectations on literacy development and
education
• role of parents vs. role of teachers

29. In the beginning of the interviews
• Ask parents/teachers to arrange the pictures
in order of the writing levels(stages). Ask why
they think so
• Focusing on the highest level, ask why they
consider it the best (Orthography? Skill?
Attitude? Ability to express thinking?
Understanding diverse forms/purpose of
writing?)

30. Main questions for parents
• Ask parents‟ expectations on literacy level according to
children‟s age: what level children should reach before
they enter elementary school? Why?
• Ask where their own child is located in the spectrum: are
you satisfied? How about his/her peers? Do they care
about it?
• What did the parents do to help children learn to read
and write?
• How would you feel if your child goes to elementary
school without knowing how to read and write? What
would happen?

31. Main questions for teachers
• Where are your students in the spectrum?
• Is there a gap in your class between the highest level and lowest
level?
• How do you teach children who are in diverse level?
• Do the children know where they are? Do they compare each other?
Do children who can write well feel superiority?
• What level do you expect them to reach by the end of this year?
• What efforts do you make to help them to reach there?
• What was the best/worst practices you did in terms of literacy? What
was children‟s reactions?
• Is there any gap between what you learned from your preservice
teacher training and what you experienced as a teacher? How do
you overcome the gap?

32. Where should we go?
• Exploring many possibilities: various ways to
use data
• Moving From literacy to ”childhood”
• Linking the local to global

33. Thank you!