Supplementary Programme to Support Early Literacy in Preschool: Short- and Long-Term Outcomes Ljubica Marjanovič Umek, Urška Fekonja and Kaja Hacin
Summary: The aim of this longitudinal study was to identify the short- and long-term effects of a supplementary programme in preschool designed to encourage children’s early literacy skills. The programme was conducted for three months by preschool professionals; the children who participated in the programme were scheduled to enter primary school the following year. The sample included 45 children from two preschools. The children’s literacy skills (graphomotor skills, metalinguistic awareness and storytelling ability) were assessed three times: before and immediately after the implementation of the supplementary programme, when children were aged on average 5;6 years, and at the end of their first year of primary school (first grade) one year later. The findings showed that the children’s literacy skills improved significantly within the three-month period of the programme implementation. Furthermore, we found that the children who made the greatest progress in their metalinguistic awareness and graphomotor skills during the first and second assessments