2024 Volume 18 Pages 127-136
This study examines pre-primary school children’s interest and mastery of the alphabet and vocabulary by validating the effects of an English learning material created to acquire the four skills of English holistically. A literacy development test and a parental questionnaire were administered before and after their learning with the materials. Analysis of the data suggests that the children seemed to have recognized the connection between uppercase and lowercase characters in the post-test. In addition, children appeared to have gained some understanding of listening to letters and vocabulary and connecting these with written characters. Furthermore, their parents seemed to have noticed an increase in their children’s recognition of letters after learning. The results imply that pre-primary school children may be more receptive to learning the alphabet and vocabulary than commonly perceived. In the context of Japan, although English writing instruction formally begins from the fifth grade of primary school at present, it may be possible that even younger children such as those in the third grade who formally receive instruction in English activities, may be susceptible to letter and vocabulary instruction.
