Investigating the effects of the Discovering Print through Play Program on print awareness skills of preschool children

In this study, the effect of the Discovering Print through Play program on preschool children's print awareness skills was examined. The research employed a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design. The study sample consisted of 26 children aged 5 to 6 years (16 in the experimental group and 10 in the control group) enrolled in a kindergarten class at a public school in the city center of Konya. For data collection, a personal information form was used to gather demographic information about the children and their families, and the Print Awareness subscale of the Early Literacy Skills Assessment Tool was employed to assess children’s print awareness skills. The pretest and posttest scores of children in both the experimental and control groups, as well as the follow-up test scores of the experimental group, were obtained using this tool. Children in the experimental group participated in the Discovering Print through Play program, developed by the researcher, for eight weeks, three days a week, with each session lasting approximately 45 minutes. During this period, children in the control group continued their education under the standard preschool curriculum provided by the Ministry of National Education (MoNE). According to the study’s findings, the posttest scores of the children in the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the children in the control group. This statistically significant improvement in the posttest mean scores of the experimental group compared to the control group indicates that the Discovering Print through Play program is effective in supporting preschool children's print awareness skills. Additionally, to determine whether the effects of the program were sustained over time, the Print Awareness subscale of the Early Literacy Skills Assessment Tool was re-administered to the experimental group eight weeks after the completion of the program as a follow-up test. No statistically significant difference was found between the posttest and follow-up test scores. Based on this finding, it can be concluded that the Discovering Print through Play program has a lasting impact on the development of print awareness skills in preschool children.