The society we live in today is covered by information and messages that are created by different forms of expression. Children born in this digital society, where they learn how to communicate through resources that they encounter in the kindergarten environment. In the kindergarten curriculum (Lpfö 98/10, p.10) says that "pre-school should strive to ensure that children develop an interest in the written language and an understanding of symbols and their communicative functions." For children to learn the written language, it is important that they exercise it through the different tools available in their environment. Through my thesis I have investigated children's written language development with a focus on writing. I have investigated children's understanding of scripture through various writing activities, that is to say with paper and pencil, letter stamps and the "e-reader" (Ipad). The survey was conducted through a qualitative study where both observations and interviews were used with the purpose of the study and issues. The issues analyzed in the study were: How children perceive their writing in various writing activities? How children understand newspapers, letters and postcards? What understanding have children of ICT use? Through the study, I have chosen to visit a kindergarten, where children between three and five years were attended in the study. But I focused myself most to the children between four and five years old, because at that age they want to explore and learn about their environment. In the analysis and results section, I have used three tables to write down the children's exact words about how they understood the written language and how they simultaneously acted to writing activities. Then I analyzed the results which I have linked to previous research and theoretical concepts.

With my study I wish to highlight the importance of encouraging and developing the children's written language in kindergarten. I have through a qualitative study investigated how preschool teachers perceive their role and mission, what skills they have to respond to children's needs for language stimulation and written language development. I have interviewed six preschool teachers in two different kindergartens. The purpose of the study is to see how the interviewees preschool teachers perceive their role in the work of the written language in kindergarten and how their perceptions can be interpreted on the basis of Michel Foucault's theory of power and control. Research shows that children before school starts to develop an interest in texts and symbols, and that the environment is very important for children to have sight of written texts and images already in preschool. The curriculum 98/2016 also highlights the importance of bringing children's interest into the linguistic world they have around them and to give an understanding of their communicative functions. The preschool teacher with his education, profession and clear responsibility of the curriculum has big role for children to develop in written language. The study shows that preschool teachers are aware of their important role but lack the necessary approach. The interviewed preschool teachers say that they do not use any methods consciously working to stimulate and challenge the child in his written language development. They meet a child´s interest in writing only when the child shows an interest. Half of the preschool teachers expressed that they do not make any links to the preschool curriculum. My study highlights the teachers' important role in children's written language stimulation and development in preschool for others interested in kindergarten and school.

The purpose of this work is to explore how to work with early reading and writing and find out what really comes first of the two. The work also involves the best known literacy learning methods and deals with methods to work around reading and writing.   I have read previous research on the subject and watched a movie from our AV-central on children’s early language development. It includes an interview with two professors of education, Mats Myrberg and Mats Ekholm where they talk about the pros and cons of early learning literacy. My research is based on literary sources and interviews with educators who work with reading and writing in the early years.  The results showed that even if a teacher tries to work with early writing skills we still remain in the traditional school, beginning with learning how to read. The school of today is characterized by individualized learning. The need for levelled education is huge and the teachers often feel the time is insufficient.

Progress in technology has resulted in new aids in the form of writing tools which make it easier for pupils to revise their texts. This interview study investigates how four teachers view paper-based and screen-based text processing in the younger years of school. It is still paper-based text revision that dominates in schools, and the teachers point out the shortage of digital tools and competence. The choice of processing method is affected by the aim, whether it concerns content or form. The result shows that digital tools can be of help for pupils with difficulties, but the interviewed teachers also emphasize the value of mastering handwriting, and they would like to see screen-based text processing as a complement to traditional paper-based text processing.