1
Preschool Teachers' Shared Beliefs About Appropriate
Pedagogy for 4-Year-Olds
Joon Sun ~ e e ' ' ~
The 18 preschool teachers in the study tended to agree that preschool education for 4-yearolds should foremost be fun and engaging. not stressful. Teachers should develop curricula
based on children's interests and everyday lives, and allow children to choose their activities
and to direct their own play and exploration at their own pace. The goal of preschool education should be to promote children's social, emotional, and physical well-being. and not
focus so much on academic learning.
KEY WORDS: preschool education; teacher beliefs; pedagogy; 4-year-olds.
IIVTRODUCTION
ands" (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997, p. 23), the
National Association for the Education of Young
Children (NAEYC) took a big step forward to revise
its guidelines to reflect the complexity of these issues
and to encourage bothland thinking: botlz socialemotional urzd academics, botlz child-initiated and
adult-directed, and both play and instruction are
"quite compatible and most effective in combination"
( p 23).
Yet, regardless of what early childhood education (ECE) scholars and professional organizations
say regarding appropriate preschool education, what
happens in the classroom has always been dependent
upon teachers as they are the ones who ultimately
decide what will be implemented in their classrooms.
A teacher is a reflective professional "who has more
in common with physicians, lawyers, and architects
than with technicians who execute skilled performances'according to prescriptions or algorithms defined by others" (Clark & Peterson, 1986, p. 256).
Yet, until recently "efforts to articulate the meaning
of quality in early care and education have been the
special reserve of researchers, professional organizations. and advocates" (Phillips, 1996, p. 51) and
preschool teachers' voices were seldom heard.
According to the few existing studies on early childhood teachers' beliefs, preschool teachers appeared to
hold ECE's time-honored tradition of prioritizing
The United States has embraced as a national
goal that "all children will have access to high quality
and developmentally appropriate preschool programs
that help prepare children for school" so that "all
children in America will start school ready to learn"
(National Education Goals Panel, 1997). Yet, this has
raised the renewed question, among those involved in
preschool education, of what constitutes high quality
preschool education and what kind of experience
is most likely to prepare children to start school
ready to learn. Throughout its history, the field witnessed dichotomous debates-social-emotional
vs.
academics, child-initiated vs. adult-directed, play vs.
instruction, and the like-typically swinging back
and forth in a pendulum manner (Katz, 1999).
Recently, however, based on the acute awareness of
"a recurring tendency in the American discourse on
education: the polarizing into eitherlor choices of
many questions that are more fruitfully seen as both/
' ~ u n t e rCollege, the City University of New York, New York,
-
--
USA.
'correspondence should be directed to Joon Sun Lee, Curriculum
and Teaching, Hunter College, the City University of New York,
695 Park Avenue, Room W1023, New York, NY 10021, USA;
e-mail: joon.lee!rc hunter.cuny.edu
433
1082-3301 (160600-0433,'C 0 2006 Springer Scicncs+ Business blsdia, Inc.
Joon Sun Lee
social, emotional, and physical development over
academic learning (Browning, 1997; Caruso, Dunn,
& File, 1992; Hains. Fowler, Schwartz, Kottwitz, &
Rosenkoetter, 1989; Piotrkowski, Botsko, & Matthews, 2000; West. Hausken, & Collins, 1993) and of
endorsing child-directed practices rather than teacher-directed practices (McMullen et al., 2005; Stipek
& Byler, 1997). However, the survey and questionnaire methods, which are used predominantly in these
studies to capture teachers' beliefs, run the risk of
misrepresenting teachers' true beliefs as, in sIjite of
the convenience they offer in gathering and analyzing
data, these methods suffer from limitations (Kagan,
1990). In particular, when asking teachers to consider
issues in a de-contextualized, abstract manner, especially through closed-ended questions, their answers
may not reflect their thinking in the context of an
actual classroom.
Therefore, as an attempt to contextualize and
concretize issues related to child-directed and teacherdirected approaches, this study employed a relatively
unique method of evaluating videotaped actual
classrooms practices to uncover teachers' beliefs. The
assumption behind this method, which was pioneered
by Tobin and his colleagues (Tobin, 1989; Tobin,
Wu, & Davidson, 1989), is that teachers hold beliefs
in their minds, which may surface when assessing
other classroom practices. Thus, the participating
teachers in this study were presented with video clips
of two very different kinds of preschool classrooms,
namely teacher-directed and child-directed, and
asked to evaluate the appropriateness of the practices
in these two classrooms. It was expected that comparing and contrasting child-directed and teacherdirected classrooms would lead preschool teachers to
discuss why they thought each approach was appropriate or inappropriate and to reveal their underlying
beliefs concerning appropriate or even ideal preschool
pedagogy. The main goal of this exploratory study
was to bring preschool teachers into the dialogue
about appropriate goals and quality practices with 4year-olds by providing them with an opportunity to
express what they think and believe regarding these
issues.
METHOD
Participants
Eighteen preschool teachers from six preschools
in Manhattan, who taught classrooms where most
of the children were 4-year-olds, volunteered to
participate in the study. The participants were from
diverse backgrounds: 14 were female and 4 male;
11 were White, 4 Black, 2 Hispanic, and 1 Asian;
and 8 had a graduate degree, 7 a college degree,
and 3 a CDA. Their preschool teaching experience
was, on average, 5.9 years with a standard deviation
of 4.2 years.
Materials
In order to elicit the participants' beliefs about
appropriate preschool practices, 10-minute video
clips extracted from a videotape entitled This is the
W a y W e Go to School. which was developed as a
report of the Ypsilanti Preschool Curriculum Demonstration Project in the 1970s, were shown to them.
The video clips included scenes from two preschool
classrooms. One classroom depicted teacher-directed
phonics instruction, a Language Training Progranz
(the TD classroom hereafter) and the other classroom
depicted child-directed play and exploration, a UnitBased Program (the C D classroom hereafter).
Procedure
Individual teachers were seated in front of a video monitor and watched two 5-minute video clips of
the T D and CD classrooms twice in the presence of
the researcher. In order to counterbalance the viewing order, half of the participants were shown the C D
classroom before the T D classroom; for the other
half, this order of showing the videos was reversed.
After the first viewing of each classroom, the participants were asked general open-ended questions:
Which of these two classroom approaches,
or B, would
you favor? This does not have to be a n eitherlor question:
you may support both approaches o r neither.
What is it about the classroom A (or B) approach that
makes it good for the children?
What is it about the classroom A (or B) approach that
makes it not so good for the children?
During the second viewing, the teachers were
given a VCR remote control and were instructed to
watch the tape and push the pause button whenever
they had a comment to make. It was emphasized that
the running commentary they provided could be
about anything at anytime. Both teachers' responses
to open-ended questions and their running commentary were tape-recorded, transcribed and collapsed for further analysis.
3 ~ h two
e
classrooms in the video clips were referred to as the
classrooms A and B in the interviews with the participants.
Preschool Teachers' Shared Beliefs
Data Coding
The transcripts of the 18 participants' interviews
were divided into segments based on topics raised by
the teachers. Topics shared by more than half of the
participants were identified as themes. A total of 10
themes were identified, and each of these themes will
be discussed in detail in the following results section.
RESULTS
Preschoolers Should Have Fun
The rule of thumb that all preschool teachers
(100%) employed in evaluating the appropriateness
of the C D and T D classrooms in the video clips was
whether or not children were having fun. The teachers were pleased to see the children happy, excited,
enthusiastic, or content, enjoying the fun, exciting,
amusing or playful activities and having a good time.
Preschool years was considered a time for having fun
more than anything else:
Fun! Fun! Fun! They have to have fun! If they're
not having fun. then send them home! It's not
worth it, you know. It's a waste. When you're four
years old and you're not having fun? Come on.
(Teacher #I).
This emphasis on having fun served as a strong
basis for the teachers' preference of the CD classroom
over the T D classroom.
Classroom A [CD] looked like it was more fun,
and the children were smiling more, and they were
having a lot of fun (Teacher #I I)
I think it should be fun a t this age. I don't know
how much fun it [the T D classroom] will be for
them to d o that for how long (Teacher #2)
Preschool experience should be fun like the C D
classroom, some teachers added, because "it teaches
children to love school" (Teacher #12). Another
teacher mentioned,
I think it [the T D classroom] would just be boring,
you know, boring. 1 think it would just drain passion out of learning. You know, I wouldn't really
look forward to going to school. (Teacher #3)
Having fun was the most frequently mentioned
criterion by all the participating teachers throughout
the interview.
Preschoolers Should Be Attentive and Engaged
Most teachers (83%) watched the video clips
carefully to determine whether or not children were
attentive and engaged in whatever activity they were
doing. The teachers were pleased when they saw
children involved, engaged, occupied, focused, concentrating or bus)':
There was no child sitting there, you know, picking
his nose or staring into space. or off in the corner.
or you know, they were all engaged, occupied (Teacher #3)
In terms of this engagement criterion, most
teachers tended to be satisfied with both the T D and
the CD classrooms. One teacher commented,
Sort of fairness to the comparing and contrasting
those two [classrooms], um, the children in both
scenarios were both all seemed to be engaged and
very happy with what they were doing (Teacher
#4).
Yet, teachers tended to view the C D classroom as
more engaging than the T D classroom since most
teachers commented that "every child [in the C D
classroom] that they showed was really into what
they were doing" (Teacher #1) while several teachers
took notice of some children in the T D classroom
who seemed to become less involved:
It seems like they're beginning to lose attention
after a while, especially the little one in the middle,
like, she's just there, just going along with saying
the sounds but it seems like it, you know, the kid is
beginning to lose attention (Teacher #5).
These teachers appeared to agree that appropriate preschool practices are those which are
absorbing and engaging to young children.
Preschoolers' Interests and Their Everyday Lives
Should Be the Basis of Curriculum
Another popular criterion in most preschool
teachers' (83%) talk was whether the curriculum was
based on children's interests and meaningful to their
everyday lives. The notion of "the curriculum should
come from children" was pervasive in the teachers'
comments.
I think that planning units comes from children's
interest. So it would be the teacher's work to listen
to and observe what children are talking about,
and how they're playing, what their purpose might
be, what might be going on for them in the world
at that point, and then build on that. It would not
be the teachers' job to bring in something that is
not already related to what they [children] are proposing. (Teacher #6).
As the teachers explained, in order to develop a
curriculum "responding to children, responding to
what they [children] are interested in" (Teacher #7),
it is important that "the teacher is aware of the
Joon Sun Lee
children's interests" (Teacher #lo). It is the teacher's
role to observe and identify children's interest and
develop the curriculum accordingly.
The preschool teachers preferred the C D classroom because it was "more towards them [children],
their experience, more meaningful to children"
(Teacher # 10).
I think this approach is just so much more meaningful because it's someth~ngthey're interested in,
they want to know about it. they want to sing
about it, and you know, I think they're still, it'sstill
good for them. (Teacher #2)
Conversely, the preschool teachers criticized the
phonics instruction in the T D classroom since "it was
out of context" (Teacher # 10). Several teachers
commented,
1 wonder about teach~ngphonics reading when you
don't see phonetic reading or writing anywhere else
in the world except for this little book that the teacher points to. (Teacher #6).
It's just rote memorization. There's no ~neanlngfor
the kids. There's nothing that they can apply to
their own lives. It's just rote (Teacher #12).
Many preschool teachers appeared to hold the
strong belief that a preschool curriculum should be
based on children's interests and relevant to their
everyday lives.
Preschoolers Should Have Choices
It was important for the majority of the teachers
(83%) whether or not children chose to do what they
wanted to do, as opposed to teachers imposing upon
children what to do. For these teachers, it was very
important that young children were given,fieedom of
choice as illustrated in the teacher's comment below:
Children have lo be able to choose. If only one of
us could choosc, I would let then1 choose [...I It
doesn't all have to be top-down: "I'm the grownup;
1'11 tell you what to do," you know They have to
have power too (Teacher #13).
Many teachers expressed that they liked the C D
classroom basically because "there's a lot of free
choice in there" (Teacher #lo).
One of the biggest reasons it [the CD classroom] is
developmentally appropriate ib that the options are
so varied, and what you can d o with the material is
so varied (Teacher # I 3).
These teachers also claimed that any activities, even
the direct instruction of phonics in thc T D classroom,
were appropriate if they met this criterion of children's choice:
I Feel that this classroom will he a developmentally
appropriate classroon~if the children were allowed
to choose-I'm not sure if these kids were allowed
to choose-if they chose to come and sit and do
the sounding out of letters with her (Teacher #5).
The preschool teachers appeared to strongly
support the principle of maintaining young children's
freedom of choice in selecting their own activities.
Preschoolers Should Learn Through Play, Exploration
and Discovcrics
Many teachers (78%) endorsed classroom practices that promoted children's play and encouraged
active exploration and discoveries. "We believe that
children should learn through play" resonated in
many teachers' comments. One teacher mentioned,
The children have the spontaneity to really pursue
things that they're interested in. In that way. they
learn, instead of being forced into doing something
they don't want to do and before they're ready
(Teacher 47)
These teachers were pleased to see children's
pretend play in the C D classroom:
I saw a lot of dramatic play going on. I think we
d o a lot of dramatic play in my own classroon~,
give students the place to just. you know, be themselves. give them an opportunity to play on their
own and have not so many organized activities
where. you know, they have to listen to us so
much. But let them listen to themselves. (Teacher
#14)
These teachers strongly supported children's learning
through self-directed exploration and discoveries as
"the kids are, you know, innately or born to explore.
They will explore. They will break them [the toys],
but they will learn" (Teacher #15).
In order to promote children's play, the important teachers' role, they believed, was "providing a
stimulating environment" but "not always having to
direct" (Teacher #7).
Background-beautiful.
Yeah. exactly where they
[teachers] should be. [...I I'm really background,
you know. My job is to get it set up appropriately
for them-not too easy. not too hard, which is the
hard part. That's the task for the teacher. But then,
really, just to stand back and be there. (Teacher
#I)
Many of the teachers stressed the fact that "teachers
were involved in the play, but they were not directing
the play" (Teacher #16). The preschool teachers
favored the C D classroom as children were allowed
to direct their own exploration and discoveries while
Preschool Teachers' Shared Beliefs
they disapproved of the T D classroom since the teacher was directing children's learning:
The teacher's more authoritative. She's more in the
mix as an authority figure, you know. She's, you
know, basically quizzing them and they're giving
her answers back (Teacher #l4)
We don't d o the drilling. We don't sit down with
the kids and, um, you don't necessarily teach them
things directly like that (Teacher #3)
These preschool teachers placed a great value on
children's play as an opportunity for children to learn
through
self-exploration
and
self-discoveries.
Accordingly, adults directing the activity and teaching knowledge directly to young children did not
seem to be congruent with their pedagogical beliefs.
Preschoolers Should Not Be Pressured or Stressed
Many preschool teachers (72%) watched the tape
very carefully to determine whether children were
pressured or stressed in any way. They seemed to be
concerned about the influence of the activities,
particularly those in the T D classroom, on the children's emotional state; that is, if they seemed UI~PLIS!~.
ultxious, tense, pressured, stressed, orfiu.~trntcdin the
slightest. Many teachers felt that the climate of the T D
classroom was "high-tensioned, high stakes" (Teacher
#6). They paid careful attention to children's body
language and any signs of any discomfort or stress.
You see how that middle girl is rocking back and
forth'? 1 mean, I don't know if she needs to pee or
if that's just one of her body motions but even that
might be an indication that it's an effort for her to
be in that little chair and to be paying attention to
what they're asking her to do. (Teacher #18)
The teachers were concerned about the feelings of the
children, particularly those who were not performing
well in comparison and the negative effect on their
self-esteem and confidence.
She's trying to figure i t out. But meanwhile, the other
girls are like. screaming out answers, right or wrong.
I think that does something to her self-esteem-the
fact that they know the answer and she doesn't. So, 1
mean, I think-subconsciously or consciously. I don't
know. 1 don't claim to be a psychological expert, but
I think it has some kind of effect o n a child when she
doesn't know the answer (Teacher #l4).
In comparison to the T D classroom, these
teachers felt that the C D classroom was more rel~~silzg.
[In the T D classroom] I think they want to be the
one to outdo the other. That's not really what
learning or school is about at all. I mean, that's
kind of like the opposite of what you want to do.
It's just so the opposite of that other classroom. It's
about individuality, not setting yourself up to compare, you know, to somebody else.
Some teachers pointed out that "it [the C D
classroom] would be relaxing and fun," since there is
"no pressure to really conform to a strict curriculum"
(Teacher #7). For many preschool teachers, protecting young children from any type of negative experience that could provoke stress or anxiety and hurt
their self-esteem or confidence was crucial.
Preschoolers' Academic Learning Is Not S o Important
Almost two thirds of the teachers (6 1 Oh) claimed
that preschoolers should not be hurried to learn
academics. For these teachers, preschool was not
about learning academics:
I think it's too much. too soon. That's my feeling.
For my own children, I think that they need, I had
them in an environment where they were playing
because they are only four once in their lifetime. 1
don't know. (Teacher #7).
Especially since most children will eventually become
literate, they claimed that there was no need to put an
effort into teaching 4-year-olds to read:
Does it matter if they are able to read at the age of
four and a half, as opposed to five and a half, or
six'? Chances are, these children will be at the same
level as the other children by the time they get into
kindergarten or first grade [...I I don't see the need
in rushing it [...I I don't see the advantage of it
occurring any sooner. (Teacher #7).
In connection with the above optimistic belief that
children will become literate eventually, they believed
that children will "pick things up" from the environment.
They're going to pick this stuff up regardless of
how it's done, even, you know, in conversation
with their friends, listening to stories. (Teacher #2).
In this sense, the teachers preferred the C D classroom
where "they [children] look like they're having fun,
right? Yeah, but they're learning alsom(Teacher #8).
In contrast, the teachers strongly disapproved of
the T D classroom. While the children seemed to be
capable of learning academics taught in the T D
classroom, to these teachers, it did not necessarily
mean this should be done at such an early age. The
teachers were concerned that teaching academics to
preschoolers as shown in the video clips of the T D
classroom. although possible, might be adverse to
young children's inclin a t'lons:
Joon Sun Lee
I think children can learn anything you attempt to
teach them. But it's just a matter of gauging what
you feel is appropriate at the age. I mean, 1 don't
think there's anything wrong with encouraging a
four-year-old to begin reading and readiness, but
it's not always going to come naturally. That's not
always going t o be the thing that they gravitate
towards at four years old. (Teacher #14).
Then, it becomes dlficult for the teacher as well, as
one teacher noted:
I guess the other thing that I have to think when I
watch that is that it just has to be exhaustini for
the teacher because you're really working against
what is naturally going to happen. So. I would
think the teacher, you know, if that's her job to d o
this, I think she does a good job at what she has to
do. (Teacher #18)
Academics learning, it seemed, was not a high
priority in preschool according to most of these
teachers' comments. One teacher stated, "cognitive
skills, I don't think it ever takes precedence over the
social skills" (Teacher #4).
Preschoolers' Social Development Is Important
For many teachers (61 %), enhancement of children's social development was a high priority. They
strongly believed that providing preschool experiences that promote these areas of development was
crucial for 4-year-olds. One teacher commented:
I think social skills are so important. I am sort of a
believcr in education for life, not for job and not
for a specific way of being, but for life skills in
terms of being with pcople and being with a variety
of people (Teacher #4).
Many teachers emphasized that preschool was about
beginning to learn to make friends and to get along
with other children and teachers. One teacher explained,
Especially at the age of four, it's mostly about social experiences. [...] Kids at this age, I think, the
most important thing in a classroom. I think, is the
social development. I think that kids who are like,
these are like, four-year-olds coming into a classroom with new kids, it's really important to realize
that there are different personalities and to kind of
experiment with them, you know, to learn that not
everybody is going to be nice all the time, and that,
you know, kids and different people get into bad
moods and not everybody's going to share and not
everybody's going to follow rules because that's
kind of the way life works (Teacher #3).
In this context, these teachers mentioned that
they liked the CD classroom because "this [CD]
environment lends itself to social development more
than the other one by far" (Teacher #16) while they
disliked the TD classroom because "there's no interaction with each other" (Teacher #2). That is, "the
biggest difference between the two scenarios in a sense
is that they could go to other children or not go to
other children" (Teacher #4). One teacher explained,
It should be more based upon children interacting
with each other rather than interacting with books
and teachers and things like that. It should be looking for social interaction, learning how to make
friends and be friends, and that kind of thing
(Teacher #14).
For many preschool teachers, promoting social
interactions and social development in young children was their important preschool goal.
Preschoolers' Physical Development Is Important
Physical development was another domain that
was a high priority for many preschool teachers
(61%).
I think the children do need other things besides
sitting and just learning. In preschool, they do need
to use their muscles for the gross motor skills, for
the fine motor skills (Teacher #17)
Instead of sitting in a chair, the teachers suggested
that activities with young children should involve
movement.
Your childhood is a time to move. If you're going
to be sitting in a chair for, you know, twelve years
in school, so why not learn but still be moving?
(Teacher #lo).
These teachers preferred the CD classroom
where children were allowed to move around freely
and use their bodies and muscles. The beading
activity in the CD classroom was particularly popular
among these teachers. One teacher explained,
They're playing with the beads. They're using their
fine motor skills, their small muscles, which are
their fingers and their hands, which is so important
for them at that age, you know. So they can be
able to grasp pencils later on in writing. So it's
actually, children really learning eye-hand coordination (Teacher # 1 I).
Many of the teachers shared this belief in the
importance of fine motor development and eye-hand
coordination in order to ready young children for
later schoolwork. To these preschool teachers, the
promotion of physical experiences, it seems, is
important for preschoolers' healthy development as
well as for their preparation for later schooling.
II
I
Preschool Teachers' Shared Beliefs
Preschoolers' Individual Differences Should Be
Considered
While watching the video clips, many preschool
teachers (61%) seriously considered whether children's individual differences were acknowledged and
children were allowed to learn and develop at their
own pace in their own way. Discussions on appropriateness of classroom practices often centered
around the phrase, it depends on the child. "Even as
adults, we know that learning happens in so many
different ways. [...I It depends on the kids" (Teacher
#2). Thus, teachers should know "what their [children's] strengths and weaknesses are"
Basically you hare to know each child because each
child is different and they learn differently. So
you're there to really move that child or whichever
child it is, on to another level and know that the
child is ready at his own pace and own time (Teacher # 5 )
These preschool teachers disliked the TD classroom since the teacher did not seem to be attuned to
individual children:
She didn't seem interested in each individual child.
It was like, "Let me accomplish this work." You
know. "this is the book and these are the pages."
and this is it. "Very good and here we go," and
nn-nn. (Teacher #3)
Further, not all 4-year-olds will be able to learn in the
TD classroom.
See, some kids probably wouldn't learn this. Some
of these kids probably could learn it, can learn this
way, but, you know, not all kids. Kids, I mean,
people learn in different ways. Some kids will see
it. some kids will feel this, you know (Teacher #8).
Thus, the teachers preferred the C D classroom as it
provided children with the freedom to learn in their
own ways.
It seemed that they're all doing, exactly working at
their own speed. working at their own pace, making their own decisions. um, and I think that's very
appropriate (Teacher #9).
According to these preschool teachers, teachers
should be aware of young children's different learning
styles and provide an environment where young
children are free to learn in their own ways at their
own pace.
DISCUSSION
The technique of using video clips to provide an
opportunity for the participants to express their
thoughts and beliefs was found to be an effective
strategy for eliciting rich comments. The content
analysis of the comments revealed shared patterns in
teachers' beliefs about appropriate preschool education, despite their diverse backgrounds in terms of
ethnicity, education, and years of preschool teaching
experience. Consistent with previous research, many
of the participating teachers agreed that preschool
education should promote children's social, emotional, and physical well-being (Browning, 1997;
Caruso et al., 1992; Hains et al., 1989; Piotrkowski
et al., 2000; West et al., 1993) and that preschool
teachers should consider individual differences
among children, allow children to choose and to direct their own play and exploration without any
stress, and develop preschool curricula based on
children's interests and everyday lives (McMullen
et al., 2005; Stipek & Byler, 1997).
In addition, several findings from this study are
particularly noteworthy. First, the participating preschool teachers unanimously agreed that preschool
education should foremost be a fun experience for
young children. This criterion of having fun served as
the rule of thumb in the participants' evaluation of
the appropriateness of the preschool practices and, in
fact, this criterion permeated their discourse on preschool education. In contrast to the preschool
teachers' heavy emphasis on fun as an essential
ingredient of preschool education, researchers, professional organizations, and policy makers seldom
address this aspect in their discussion of high-quality
preschool education.
Second, in connection with the fun criterion,
the participating preschool teachers were reluctant
to include academics in their programs, not because
they felt their children lacked readiness to learn (on
the contrary, many teachers mentioned that their 4year-olds can learn anything including academics)
but rather because children should not be hurried
and their childhood should be preserved. Further,
the teachers held very optimistic prospects that
their students, regardless of whatever is done in
preschool classrooms, will eventtlally, perhaps some
sooner than others, become literate through picking
things up from the environment. These teachers'
beliefs, however, are inconsistent with what many
researchers or professional organizations in the
ECE field advocate, namely, that "the ability to
read and write does not develop naturally, without
careful planning and instruction" (IRA & NAEYC,
1998, p. 6). As some children do experience difficulties in learning to read and write, preschool