A Teacher’s Perception of Print and Digital Literacy in Early Childhood

Abstract

This paper describes the implementation of literacy used by early childhood teachers in language learning in schools. With the background of the modern era and globalization, the purpose of this study was whether print literacy is still necessary and important to be used in early childhood language learning and whether teachers should use digital literacy to keep up with the development of the industrial revolution 4.0 era. This research attempts to explain the teacher's perceptions of literacy learning. This was a mix method qualitative descriptive research. Researchers conducted a survey method for head masters and early childhood teachers in Bengkulu City. Data collection shows that most principals and teachers believe that digital literacy needs to be done in addition to print literacy but some preparations were needed such as the readiness of principals and teachers in learning technology, school needs in the application of digital literacy, and the availability of ICT facilities such as computers, tablets and internet networks. Literacy and language learning is provided through print literacy, such as literary books, story books, posters, letter/words cards, and puppets. Unlike the expectations of experts, the use of digital literacy is still very rarely used. In some schools, teachers also conduct literacy and learn languages by displaying stories through computers or TV, but only once at the top of the theme. Keywords—literacy; language; learning; teacher’s perception; early childhood