Print Awareness in Early Childhood: An Application of the PWPA Tool in Greece

Abstract

Print awareness, a foundational component of emergent literacy, encompasses the understanding that written language serves as a meaningful communicative modality. This construct involves the acquisition of knowledge regarding text directionality, book conventions, and the differentiation between textual and visual representations. While the literature extensively documents print awareness development across diverse cultural and educational contexts, a relative paucity of research exists concerning the specific ontogeny of these emergent reading skills within Greek preschool settings. This investigation aimed to elucidate preschool children’s comprehension of fundamental written language principles, focusing on text placement, reading and writing directionality, and letter recognition. A cohort of 23 children, aged 4-5 years, was recruited from local kindergartens to represent a typical distribution of early reading abilities. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews, administered within familiar classroom settings, utilizing the Preschool Word and Print Awareness (PWPA) instrument. This instrument assessed four distinct domains of print awareness: book structure, text directionality, writing as communication, and letter identification. Employing age-appropriate, engaging prompts, the interviews sought to elicit children’s explicit knowledge and implicit understanding of foundational print-related concepts. The findings revealed a robust understanding of reading and writing directionality among the majority of participants. However, comprehension of written language as a communicative tool exhibited greater variability, with only a subset of children demonstrating a clear grasp of this concept. Conversely, a substantial proportion of the children demonstrated proficient letter recognition. These results underscore the imperative for targeted educational interventions and differentiated pedagogical approaches to optimize the development of early literacy skills among young children within the Greek preschool context. Further research is warranted to elucidate the specific sociocultural and pedagogical factors influencing print awareness development in this population, facilitating the design of culturally responsive and evidence-based interventions.