A study of teachers' perceptions of early childhood language and literacy education: Importance-performance analysis

This study analyzes kindergarten teachers' perceptions of the importance and performance in early childhood language and literacy education in hopes of identifying practical ways to support early childhood language and literacy development. The research questions were as follows. First, how do kindergarten teachers’ perceptions of the importance differ from their perceptions of performance in early childhood language and literacy education? Second, what does an IPA analysis reveal about kindergarten teachers’ importance- and performance-related perceptions of specific areas of early childhood language and literacy? Analyzing a sample of 200 kindergarten and daycare teachers responsible for classes of 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds, we examined differences in importance- and performance-related perceptions regarding early childhood language and literacy education. Our analysis focused on four areas (listening, speaking, reading, writing) in 22 sub-items. The results revealed similarities and differences between kindergarten teachers’ importance- and performance-related perceptions of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The IPA analysis showed that Quadrant 1 had a high proportion of listening, speaking, and reading, mainly featuring elements related to attitude and comprehension, while Quadrant 3 had a high proportion of writing, mainly featuring elements related to the technical aspects of language, such as phonemes, fluency, and accuracy. Exploring the extent to which teachers' perceptions of the importance of each area of early childhood language and literacy education are connected to practice, the results of this study highlight the need for specific support and education in areas where discrepancies exist between perceptions and implementation.