CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1.IntroductionEducation and literacy is an element of fundamental human right, and it is recognized asan indispensable agenda of the UNESCO's mission since 1964 (UNESCO, 2003).
Literacy starts developing before children enroll in formal school, but it can accelerate by theearly childhood education program (Crim, Hawkins, Thornton, Copley, & Thomas, 2008). Thefive or six year's old children are ready for learning to read and write (Hall, 1994; Clay, 1967).Research indicates that most children systematically grasped the concept of print and theconventional understanding of alphabets as a coding structure before they enroll in schools(Riley, 2006). It certified that children develop the concept of print and literacy at a younger ageof development, evidenced by children's understanding of print, texts, and concepts. Studentscontinue to learn how to use knowledge of symbols, combining oral language skills, andinterpreting pictures as well as print decoding to denote print in numerous ways (Neuman,Copple, & Bredekamp, 2000).
The evidence from the country that embeds reading instruction in their curriculum for thechildren from the age of five indicates the reading success among children (Harris & Spray, 1990)and these children perform much better in the sixth grade than their peers who have notexperienced early reading training (Durkin, 1966).
Effective pedagogy will positively influence the outcome of teaching because the learningenvironment depends mainly on how pedagogy is employed (Wall, Litjens, & Taguma, 2015).The focal-point of the pedagogy is to involve the children to realize developmental objectivesand what drives their approaches. (Wall, Litjens, & Taguma, 2015). Formal instruction helpsstudents to learn things easily, and quickly. Usually, the reading instruction encompasses a basisfor learning to acquire language and emergent literacy (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). It isclearly shown that exposing children to formal instruction will enhance children learning quicklyand effectively. As Carroll (1989. p. 26) observed, "learner must be told what they are to learn,they must be put into in the adequate contact with learning materials, and the step in learningmust be carefully planned and ordered."
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1.2.Value of Khmer Literacy
Commonly, it clearly proved that Khmer language literacy plays a significant role in living inCambodian society because it is the official language used by more than 90 percent of thepopulation (UNESCO, 2005). Children’s mother tongue should be provided as the medium ofinstruction because it can strengthen their confidence and self-esteem (UNICEF, 1999) and alsobuilds a strong foundation for children in order to grasp the second language effectively (Dutcher& Tucker, 1996). Learners are easy or quick to master other skills in their language and seem tolearn the other language faster than those who are taught in an unfamiliar language (UNICEF,1999).
The Khmer Language is a medium used in teaching instruction from preschool/kindergarten tosecondary school. Khmer language also used by some universities, especially public universities,except those which English-based instruction. In order to be a teacher, they need to pass an examwritten in the Khmer language. The critical information such as news, newspaper, magazine ispublished in the Khmer language. One major point is that the Khmer language is Cambodianidentity. Khmer literacy is essential for living in Cambodia because they need to use it tocommunicate, gather information, ask the question, negotiate, study, work, etc.
Moreover, The Minister of Education Hang Chhoun Naron and the UNESCO representative inCambodia, Anne Lemaistre wrote in the Phnom Penh Post that there is a connection between[Khmer] literacy and job, arguing that the more literate the people are, the more job opportunitiesthey can have (Naron & Lemaistr, 2017). The illiterate people tend to be lobbied by the unethicalthat undermine their time, conscience, or vote (Dallman, Rouch, Char & Deboer. 1982). Theability to read has enabled us to make rational sense of what is going on through various means,such as reading books and printed and online news (Dallman, Rouch, Char & Deboer. 1982).
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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1.Introduction
This chapter offers various literature reviews relevant to this study. The main point of this studyneeds to explore teacher challenges in teaching Khmer literacy to rural preschooler. Because oflimited research done on this field, especially in the context in Cambodia, this study will do aliterature review based on research pieces of literature often done in other cultures. This chapter willreview to follow the study objectives:
- Methods/approaches/ pedagogies used to teach literacy in the preschool context.
- Rational of teacher teaching practice.
- The majors' challenges found in teaching early literacy.
This session will review on children learning and their development, the foundation of early literacy,characteristic of Khmer language, literacy acquisition theory, and strategies applied in preschool, andchallenges faced in teaching and factor related teaching practice (teachers ‘behavior).
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2.2.Preschool learning and pedagogy
The term “pedagogy” implies that it is the underpinning for children’s learning (Siraj-Blatchfordet al., 2002). The learning support which most scholars call “scaffolding” comes from the notionof Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) developed by Vygotsky. ZPD is defined as the taskthat is too hard for children to accomplish it alone, but it can be outperformed with an adult ormore-skilled children guidance and assistance (Vygotsky, 1978). According to Wertsch &Tulviste (1992), Vygotskian ZPD is significant to design instruction and intellectual assessment.The ZPD perspective seems to pay more attention to collaboration with a capable adult that willhelp the student to improve their academic learning. Literally, for the ZPD concept, preschooleducation should fulfill the current learner need in order to foster children to master the skills forfuture development. Knowledgeable or skillful peers and adults play diverse roles in supportingchildren to explore and construct new understandings, knowledge, and skills. In this term,Vygotsky observed that children’s cognitive capability could be tested through their taskcompletion in relation to their peers (Reutzel & Cooter, 1996). Brown et al. (1993, p.91) "ZPDcan include people, adult, and children with various degrees of expertise, but also can includeartifacts such as a book, videos, wall displays, scientific requirement and a computerenvironment intended to support international learning."
Human development can be enhanced through not only interactions with people but also non-human tools such as signs, symbols, language, and the like (Vygotsky, 1978). This is whatVygotsky calls "mediation," that can relate to a vital population in the life of the learners. Thesepeople can choose, arrange, and present better information to move a child forward (Gage &Berliner, 1998). Vygotsky explained that children could not imitate anything, “imitation ispossible only to the extent and in those forms in which it is accompanied by understanding”(Vygotsky, 1997, p. 96) and It can be imitated what stays in the ZPD (Vygotsky, 1987). Then thequality of teacher-student interaction is vital children learning (Bodrova & Leong, 1996). Thelevel of children engagement structured by their environment in and outside their classroomconnotes their literacy acquisition and development promoted by their cognitive skill and literacyexperience (Adams, 1990).
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CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY........................... 30
3.1. Research Design......................... 31
3.2. Area of the study...................................32
3.3. Sampling, Sampling Procedure and Target Group.....................33
CHAPTER FOUR: MAJORE FINDINGS............................................56
4.1. Teaching methods and approaches used by the teachers.....................................58
4.2. Teaching approaches/methods used and the reason......................... 58
CHAPTER FIVE:DISCUSSION, CONCLUDSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS..............................105
5.1. Teaching methods and approaches used by the teachers.............................106
5.2. The teaching approaches/methods used and why...........................109
CHAPTER FOUR: MAJORE FINDINGS
4.1.Teaching methods and approaches used by the teachers
Their teaching approaches are simply followed by the instruction provided via the officialcurriculum, together with their own understanding of the practice. This means the teachers readwhat is written in the curriculum to perform the teaching and flexibly use what is not written in there in order to ensure the classroom order like. For example, the corporal punishment is notallowed and doesn’t exist in the curriculum, but most teachers prefer to use it.3 However, lessonplans were not provided to me during my fieldwork at the schools.
In Cambodia, the curriculum consists of songs (poetry, song, and movement), stories (narratingthe story), Art activities (coloring, drawing and handmade), flashcards (picture, sentence, word,and letter), play game (role play), questions, modeling and reinforcement in order to improvethe students’ pre-reading and pre-writing. Literally, their answers from the interviews wereconvergence with classroom observation (songs, stories, drawing, flashcards, play game,question, and modeling) and they followed all the activities arranged by the preschool curriculum.I asked them in my interview session about what methods or approaches they apply to teach andthe response is as followed.
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CHAPTER FIVE:DISCUSSION, CONCLUDSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1. Teaching methods and approaches used by the teachers
craft also help to improve their motor skills beneficial for the children handwriting later. Thisfinding is in line with Aderson-McNamee & Bailey (2010) who argue that play is essential forchildren's development and for learning a life skill and helps children learn to socialize, think,and solve problems and to have fun. Some common activities provide much fun for the childrenapplied in a preschool classroom to support children learning such as music, story (read, narrateand retell a story and role play), game and dancing. Those activities not only make fun forchildren, but it is also beneficial for their intellectual and cognitive development.
reference(omitted)