The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to understand early childhood teachers’ perceptions surrounding the topic of childhood scribbles as they relate to emergent literacy. Sociocultural theory provided a foundation for this research because of its focus on relationships between children, other children, and teachers to foster learning experiences. Additionally, social semiotic theory also guided this research because childhood scribbles represent children’s “signs” which can also influence communication and literacy skills. The participants were nine preschool, transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and first grade teachers (N = 9) who volunteered to complete an open-ended survey, follow-up interviews, and a short survey before and after participating in a “Scribbles Workshop”. This study was guided by a central research question: What are early childhood teachers’ perceptions of children’s scribbling in the classroom environment, with regard to emergent literacy? Findings highlight an overarching theme: Scribbling promotes student and teacher interaction, which is critical to increased emergent literacy. A “Scribbling Interaction Cycle” is interpreted from the data and instances where teachers mentioned the importance of the student and teacher interacting to obtain meaning. Fourteen additional themes are presented which correspond to each explored construct. Findings are discussed and implications are given which relate to improved teacher education at the university level, policy changes at the state and national level, and revising kindergarten and first grade English language arts standards to include developmentally appropriate guidelines.

这项定性现象学研究的目的是了解幼儿教师对儿童涂鸦主题的看法，因为它们与新兴识字有关。社会文化理论为这项研究提供了基础，因为它关注儿童、其他儿童和教师之间的关系，以培养学习体验。此外，社会符号学理论也指导了这项研究，因为童年的涂鸦代表了儿童的“标志”，这也会影响沟通和识字技能。参与者是 9 名学前班、过渡幼儿园、幼儿园和一年级教师 （N = 9），他们自愿在参加“涂鸦研讨会”之前和之后完成一项开放式调查、后续访谈和一项简短调查。这项研究以一个中心研究问题为指导：幼儿教师对儿童在课堂环境中涂鸦的看法如何，就新兴识字而言？研究结果突出了一个总体主题：涂鸦促进学生和教师的互动，这对于提高新兴识字率至关重要。“涂鸦互动循环”是根据教师提到学生和老师互动以获得意义的重要性的数据和实例来解释的。提出了 14 个额外的主题，对应于每个探索的结构。讨论了研究结果并给出了影响，这些影响与改善大学阶段的教师教育、州和国家层面的政策变化以及修订幼儿园和一年级英语语言艺术标准以纳入适合发展的指导方针有关。