Investigation of the narrative skills and early literacy skills of children living in socioeconomic disadvantaged regions

The aim of this study is to examine in detail the early literacy and storytelling skills of socioeconomically disadvantaged preschool children's and to investigate the relationship between narrative skills and early literacy skills. While it has been proven that children's early language skills predict literacy skills, little is known about the role of preschool verbal narrative skills in the relationship between language and early literacy. In addition, the effects of these skills on children's future academic success and literacy skills have been proven by studies. The study group of the research consists of children attending an independent kindergarten affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in a socioeconomically disadvantaged region in Altındağ District of Ankara. This research started to prepare and implement a training program to support children's narrative skills and early literacy skills, but the 8-week training program, which was implemented for 4 weeks, was terminated due to the Pandemic (Covid 19) process. The sample of this study consists of 43 (girl=22, boy=21) children in the experimental and control groups created to implement the education program. In this study, children's early literacy skills measured with "Early Literacy Test (EROT)" developed by Kargın, Ergül, Büyüköztürk and Güldenoğlu and "Early Literacy Skills Assessment Tool" developed by Karaman. The picture-free book "Frog Where Are You" created by Mercer Mayer (1969) were used to get children to tell stories. For the analysis of children's narratives, the "Story Telling Evaluation Form" developed by Işıtan (2010) was used. As a result of the research, it was seen that the narrative skills and early literacy skills of the children from the lower socioeconomic level were affected by the mother's education level and socioeconomic conditions. In addition, a positive relationship was found between children's narrative skills and early literacy skills.