Early Childhood Education and Literacy Development: A Perspective of Kenyan Elementary Grades

The study investigated on the influence of early childhood education on reading ability of grade one children from a Kenyan perspective. The study was guided by the following objectives; to establish the influence of early childhood education on reading ability of grade one children; to determine whether there is a difference between reading ability competence of children who had received early childhood education and those who had not. The study was guided by the innate theory. The following hypothesis was tested; there is no significant difference between mean reading ability scores of children who attended early childhood education development centres and those pupils who did not attend. Experimental design namely pre- test post-test guided the study. The target population was grade one children and grade one teachers of English. Sampling was through the use of simple random sampling .To collect data observation schedule and reading test was used. Data analysis was done by use of percentages, means and frequencies .To test hypothesis; independent samples t- test was used. To determine validity English experts were consulted and for reliability test retest technique was used. The result was that attendance of early childhood education development did not contribute to a child’s reading ability. It was concluded that the preparation a child receives while at grade one was crucial to development of reading competencies.