The study’s overall purpose is to increase the knowledge of how children’s linguistic skills are taken advantage of and transmitted from preschool to school. The study focuses on teachers’ assumptions and statements of the linguistic work, with particular attention to the transmission of information on children’s early reading development from preschool to school.
The following research questions are essential:
• How do teachers in preschool and school define the language work in respective practices?
• Does transfer of information on children’s linguistic development take place from preschool to school and in that case, which methods are used?
To collect data on preschool and school linguistic work as well as priorities and transmission of information on children’s linguistic development, a questionnaire was constructed. During fall 2012, 100 preschool and school teachers from different parts of Sweden responded to the questionnaire. The questionnaire concentrates on questions about the work on children’s linguistic development with main focus on the transition phase from preschool to school.
Our preliminary results show that focus in preschool teachers’ and primary school teachers’ linguistic work seem to differ from each other in some domains. Nor do they agree about if, what and how information on children’s linguistic development is transferred in the transition from preschool to school.