Views and practices of preschool teachers on the use of dialogic reading in supporting early literacy skills

This study was conducted to examine the views and practices of preschool teachers regarding the use of Dialogic Reading in supporting early literacy skills. This study, which was conducted with phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research methods, was conducted with 9 preschool teachers working in preschools or kindergartens affiliated to Ankara Ministry of National Education in Turkey, in the 2022-2023 academic year, selected by the criterion sampling method within the scope of purposive sampling. The qualitative data obtained from the study were collected through the Semi-structured Teacher Interview Form on the Use of Dialogic Reading in Supporting Early Literacy Skills and the Dialogic Reading Practices Review Form on Supporting Early Literacy Skills, which were created by the researcher through a literature review. Inductive content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. After the analysis, three themes were reached: Preschool Teachers' Views on Dialogic Reading in Supporting Early Literacy Skills, Preschool Teachers' Views on Dialogic Reading Method and Dialogic Reading Strategies, and Characteristics of Dialogic Reading Practices Performed by Preschool Teachers. It was understood that the preschool teachers who participated in the study mostly thought that Dialogic Reading supports early literacy skills, contributes to child development and provides active participation. It was seen that the most frequent opinions of the teachers about what was done during the preparation for Dialogic Reading were book selection and the pre-reading practice step related to the implementation stages, and that they also needed trainings that Dialogic Reading Intervention. In the video recordings of the teacher interventions analyzed, it was determined that all of the intervention were carried out in large groups and almost all of them carried out the process with a "U" seating arrangement, and the intervention related to supporting the lower dimension of early literacy skills were limited. In line with the findings and results obtained, suggestions were presented to teachers, field experts and researchers.