The case study method to examine how ICT and parental involvement may help narrow the literacy gap among Malay pre-schoolers

There is a (literacy) gap among Malay pre-schoolers i.e. pre-school children aged 4-6 years are not reading at their grade level. The Singapore Parliament Report (2009) highlighted that "over the last 5 years, around 12% to 14% of the children who entered Primary 1 have very weak oral English and literacy skills...they were not able to recognize simple English words (or) understand very simple oral instructions in English" (para 42, n.p.). Singapore's Minister for Muslim Affairs Dr Yaacob Ibrahim suggested helping affected families with "parenting skills" (Ibrahim, 2010, p. 3). This paper focused on the use of the case study method to examine how information communication technology (ICT) and parental involvement might help narrow this gap. It started with a discussion on Singapore's state of ICT- readiness, the choice of preschool, access and potential bias, assumptions, delimitations of this study and a short review of the literature before discussing why this method is preferred. This case study included a documentary analysis, a survey and an analysis of narratives of Malay parents who are an aboriginal group commonly found in this part of South-east Asia comprising Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore. The case study site is a group of 3 Singapore preschools and is representative of preschools serving low-income families. Thirty-one teachers and 45 parents or care-givers of children from these pre-schools participated in interviews. Through this case study method, the issues were more clearly understood so that recommendations were made to enhance literacy levels of pre-school children or pre-schoolers among the Malays, who are over-represented among the poor and the under-performers in school