Preschool Text Practices: Method Development and Reflection Based on Scientific Grounds and Proven Experience

The project is a practice-oriented initiative (ULF project) conducted in collaboration between Örebro University and Örebro Municipality/education providers. Its aim is to develop models for systematic and didactic approaches to specific read-aloud and text practices in preschool education, with the purpose of fostering children’s (multi)lingual development through meaning-making in texts, their messages, and content. The teaching is intended to establish a goal-oriented approach in which preschool staff employ dialogic and interactive reading, adopt an intercultural perspective, and utilize diverse literary genres that stimulate conversation. Furthermore, books are to be regarded as a bridge for developing practices that support children with varied experiences of read-aloud activities.

This practice-oriented project encompasses professional knowledge development for 26 knowledge leaders/preschool staff and 10 preschool principals. At the same time, it constitutes a research study in which preschool staff’s didactic strategies and goal-directed processes concerning read-aloud and writing practices serve as the objects of investigation.

Overall Aim and Research Questions:

The purpose of the study is to develop models for preschool teaching that support children’s (multi)lingual development and meaning-making in texts, their messages, and content. The models are to be grounded in an intercultural perspective, ensuring that all children’s experiences of diverse (multi)lingual practices are included to promote their literacy learning. These models should contribute knowledge, concrete examples of methods, and didactic strategies that, based on scientific evidence and proven experience, are applicable within preschool education.

The overarching research question is:

How can literacy teaching in preschool be planned and didactically implemented on the basis of scientific evidence and proven experience?

• How can read-aloud practices in preschool be designed to support all children’s (multi)lingual development and meaning-making during reading, across different text genres?
• How can writing practices in preschool be designed to support all children’s (multi)lingual meaning-making in relation to narratives, symbols, and texts?