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Maria Kay, University of Aberdeen, United KingdomAbstract
Reports from the USA and the UK suggest that they are facing a literacy crisis. Whilst much research focuses upon the teaching of the alphabetic principle as a starting point for literacy success, more important are the foundational competencies, which children bring to their formal literacy learning. It is these that determine a child’s ease of entry to the educational system. Research to date suggests a strong relationship between music and language and that musical activities are advantageous to literacy learning, yet music cannot teach reading. Through a pragmatic, sociocultural lens, this research used a micro-ethnographic, action research study of nine children, aged three to five years, daily, over a ten-week period, to explore how a literacy-focused musical programme can be designed and delivered to promote foundational literacy competencies and experiences. Data from video recordings were analysed through hybrid coding. The findings revealed that when engaging musical activities which promote auditory, motor, cognitive, language and timing skills, with elements of dialogic teaching are integrated in a Literacy-through-Music programme, focusing on explicit literacy outcomes such as language, and phonological and prosodic awareness, children develop skills which will support literacy learning. Observation of the activities also offered the presenter a panoptic view to possibly identify children at risk of reading failure. Highlighting the features of an integrated Literacy-through-Music programme provides a unique contribution to current literature and shows how such a programme can obviate the need for transfer from musical to literacy skills.
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Conference: ECE2026Stream: Language Development & Literacy
Published: Wednesday, September 23, 2026
This paper is part of the ECE2026 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Kay M. (2026) An Exploration of the Use of Musical Activities to Promote Foundational Literacy Competencies for Children Aged 3 to 5 Years ISSN: 2188-1162 The European Conference on Education 2026: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 307-325) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2188-1162.2026.23
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2188-1162.2026.23
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