The purpose of this study is to examine the 5-year-old children's reading and writing in the daily routine at kindergarten, analyze profoundly the characteristic behavior which has appeared in reading and writing and investigate the educational implic...
The purpose of this study is to examine the 5-year-old children's reading and writing in the daily routine at kindergarten, analyze profoundly the characteristic behavior which has appeared in reading and writing and investigate the educational implication of reading and writing education. The study analyzed the children's reading and writing type and the characteristic behavior which has appeared in reading and writing with an ethnographic method. For that purpose, the research questions of this study are as follows.
1. What is the type of reading and writing in the daily routine at Haneul kindergarten?
2. What is the characteristic behavior which has appeared in reading and writing at Haneul kindergarten?
The research was conducted at Gureum class, a time extension class of Haneul kindergarten, which is located in Seoul. Twenty-eight 5-year-old children and two teachers were the subjects of the research. The data for this research were collected from September first, 2011 to October 11th, 2011, using 20 participating observations, formal and informal interviews, documentation, photographing, videotaping, audio recording and survey from parents. The contents of participant observations and interviews were transcribed in field notes. Collected data were encoded, categorized, and analyzed as Bogdan and Bikein(2007)'s suggested.
The results from the research are as follows:
First, Gureum class children at Haneul kindergarten read and wrote to communicate or share information each other and express their own thought or feelings and so on. They read and wrote to distinguish themselves from others, get some information on daily routine and play in free-choice activities. They also read and wrote to participate in teacher-initiated activities.
Second, Gureum class children simply imitated letters and kept each other in check while reading and writing. They shared each other's knowledge or information through letters. When children in Gureum class were in need of help, they helped each other in reading and writing letters. They also expressed self-confidence when they satisfied their own ability of reading and writing or felt glad at the result of reading and writing. They seemed under pressure when participating in the educational activities and play related to reading and writing. They also felt some pressure when somebody watched their reading and writing. Lastly, they interfered peers' reading and writing process although they weren't asked for help.
The children in Gureum class have shown the reading and writing in free-choice activities as well as teacher-initiated group activities during their daily routine. It means that teachers need to suggest systematic reading and writing teaching method through playing and educate children actively. From the result of observing children‘s reading and writing during teacher-initiated group activities, it was found that children needed teachers' direct teaching though they obtained reading and writing skills naturally in playing. Therefore teachers should provide children abundant reading and writing opportunities naturally in their daily routine as well as teacher-initiated group activities. They should also try to develop creative and various teaching method applying the principle of Korean alphabet. Children in Guruem class have got educational experience about a written language through reading and writing. At the same time they expressed their own thought, intention, feelings through them. Teachers should try to understand children's thought and feelings by observing them carefully in daily routine. Teachers should make good use of understandings educationally.