Microsoft Word - 895 - Mukti Amini Available online at: https://journals.researchsynergypress.com/index.php/ijeiece International Journal of Emerging Issues in Early Childhood Education (IJEIECE) ISSN 2685-4074 (online) Volume 4 Number 2 (2022): 29-41 Corresponding author Mukti Amini, muktiamini@ecampus.ut.ac.id Faculty of Teacher Training and Education Universitas Terbuka and DOI: https://doi.org/10.31098/ijeiece.v4i2.895 Research Synergy Foundation Family Literacy Program for Improving the Ability to Know Letters in Early Childhood Mukti Amini1 1 Univertias Terbuka, Indonesia Abstract The ability of children aged 5-6 years old at Mentari Kindergarten, Tangerang, can recognize letters is still not optimal. Parents also do not understand early childhood reading stimulation at home, so it is necessary to carry out a family literacy program. This study aims to improve the ability of children aged 5-6 years to recognize letters through a family literacy program. This type of research is Action Research. Learning activities carried out at Mentari Kindergarten are still carried out online, namely LFH (Learning from Home) with family due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The research subjects were 13 children, consisting of 5 boys and 8 girls. Evaluation of learning activities before and after receiving improvements in the form of checklists and the output of learning outcomes in the form of worksheets and photo evidence of LFH activities. At the end of the study, there was an increase in children's ability to recognize letters well by 80%. These results have exceeded the research success criteria, so it can be concluded that the family literacy program can improve the ability of early childhood to recognize letters. Keywords: Early Childhood; Family Literacy; Know The Letters; Literacy Development; Literacy Skills This is an open access article under the CC–BY-NC license. INTRODUCTION Early childhood is a period of the rapid development process in various aspects, one of which is the language aspect. The first five years of a child's life is an important period of development, especially language, and the involvement of people around him is very important in acquiring language in children (Suardi & Samad, 2020). Language development in children is very important in supporting development in other aspects, such as the ability to recognize and name emotions, communicate and develop children's social skills (Kuntoro et al., 2019). Language is the key for a child to understand and recognize something he touches and feels and is a tool for interacting with the environment (Honig, 2007). One aspect of early childhood development that is important to develop is language development, which includes the ability to receive and express language. In language activities, there are four language skills that everyone needs to have, namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The four language skills can be divided into two: receptive and productive. Receptive language skills include listening and reading, while productive language skills consist of speaking and writing. These four language skills will be acquired by children gradually. Language development during childhood is very important and influential in the future. A child who enters school age with language and literacy skills has better academic achievement than other children. (Noble et al., 2019)Therefore, it is very important to optimize language development and minimize language barriers in children International Journal of Emerging Issues in Early Childhood Education (IJEIECE), Vol. 4 (2), 29-41 Family Literacy Program for Improving the Ability to Know Letters in Early Childhood Mukti Amini ISSN 2685-4074 (online) 30 │ Based on observations at Mentari Kindergarten, Tangerang Indonesia, about language acquisition, most children's language literacy skills have not yet developed. From observations made at Mentari's Kindergarten, it was found that children still have difficulty pronouncing letters and words; sometimes, there are letters and words that are wrong or upside down. Children still have difficulty recognizing the shape and sound of letters and often reverse in writing letters. Children still have difficulty connecting pictures with simple writing, and children often write down and say the sounds of letters, especially for letters b, d, h, n, f, p, w, and y. This prevents children from fulfilling their curiosity about reading pictures and story content in a book. Based on observation of children aged 5-6 years at regular school TK Mentari, not with special needs with the middle socioeconomic status, it is necessary to conduct research. What letters are found to be difficult to recognize in terms of shape and sound, and what letters are often written backward by children? The initial data is used as a basis for improving children's ability to recognize letters through research. What is an effective way to improve the ability of early childhood to recognize letters? This research was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, so learning activities were carried out from home; online learning is conducted using zoom meetings where teachers teach online meetings, and children do homework at home with the help of parents. Kindergarten implements an online system (online) through zoom meetings and video calls without face-to-face with the teacher. Therefore, strengthening children's literacy is also carried out at home with the family. The analysis of the causes of the problems above are: (1) the teacher does not have enough time to provide the stimulus, (2) the instructions or stages of the activity are not conveyed properly because it is done online (online), and (3) learning activities are carried out at home only through worksheets so that children feel bored. Various studies show the big role of parents in child development in various aspects of life (Risnawati, 2021; Risnawati et al., 2021). Previous research has shown that the role of the surrounding environment is very important in the acquisition and development of language in early childhood. Children's language development is influenced by how parents communicate with children and how children observe and imitate how both parents interact (Ribot et al., 2018). Mol & Neuman (2014) also explained that the development of expression vocabulary is related to the environmental context where children develop, and parents have a powerful effect on children's language development. The role of parents in reading stories and providing vocabulary stimulation to children can develop letter recognition skills, words improve language skills in children and children's social development (Honig, 2007; Kuntoro et al., 2019; Noble et al., 2019; Risnawati & Buana, 2019; Suardi & Samad, 2020) Based on the results of previous research, we suggest making a family literacy program solution in an effort to improve children's ability to recognize letters. So the purpose of this study is to improve the ability of children aged 5-6 years to recognize letters through a family literacy program at Mentari Kindergarten, Tangerang LITERATURE REVIEW Literacy in Early Childhood The development of literacy in early childhood is at the basic literacy stage. Children's literacy skills develop from infancy and develop along with neurological maturity and environmental stimulation. The development of children's early literacy is one of the benchmarks for the success of future language development (Papalia, 2009). International Journal of Emerging Issues in Early Childhood Education (IJEIECE) Vol. 4 (2), 29-41 Family Literacy Program for Improving the Ability to Know Letters in Early Childhood Mukti Amini ISSN 2685-4074 (online) │ 31 The first five years of a child's life is a critical period in literacy development, starting with recognizing letters and words and then interpreting and understanding words in a complete series (Gonzales J & Mena, 2011). Children aged five years, according to Piaget's theory, can already represent the world in the form of words; therefore, appropriate learning is needed so that literacy achievement in children can be fulfilled. Children are often seen scribbling on paper with writing that is still unclear. Early childhood acquires initial knowledge about reading and writing through simple behavior, observing, and participating in adult-initiated literacy activities. This is to the explanation of Jackel (2016) that the first time children hold a book or pencil, see adults reading or writing, or see a nameplate, the child is learning about literacy, and it can be concluded that the child's behavior has shown the existence of a basic literacy stage. So early childhood literacy is the ability that children have related to ability to read and write. The introduction of early literacy in children is carried out in a fun and meaningful way according to their age or stage of development without any form of intimidation (Acevedo, 2017). Children's literacy development is the ability to read and write to support children in solving problems, learning new information, and understanding contexts, which at a later stage are used in the reading and writing process (Bewer, 2014). The ability to know letters Learning to recognize letters in early childhood is done to achieve early reading abilities. The concept developed is the concept of printed letters. Children need to be allowed to interact with printed letters through various activities. According to Jirout & Zimmerman (2015), the process of letter recognition is in line with the process of language skills physically and psychologically. The physical process is in the form of visual activities related to children's vision, observation, attention, responses, and perceptions about something, among others; (1) recognizing everyday objects, (2) comparing objects from simple to more complex objects; (3) knowing the size, shape, and color of objects; (4) knowing that there are parts of objects that are missing when an incomplete picture is shown; (5) answer a question about a picture from another series; (6) arrange puzzle pieces from simple to more complex; (7) recognize his name in writing; (8) recognize letters and numbers. At the same time, the psychological process in question is that the child's language acquisition is influenced by the environment in which the child is often located. The style of language that will be used by children as a means of communication depends on what is often heard and witnessed (Rowland, 2020). In conclusion, the process of recognizing letters and sounding their letter symbols is part of the reading process under the direction of teachers and parents. Therefore, introducing letters and learning to read in early childhood can be done through playing activities at home, at school, and wherever children are. Family Literacy Program Children's development is influenced by their interactions with their parents (Reid et al., 2015; Rettew, 2021; Risnawati, 2021; Risnawati et al., 2021). Parent-child communication has an impact on the acquisition of vocabulary or language development in children (Caroline F. Rowland, 2020; Mol & Neuman, 2014; Teepe et al., 2019). In addition, previous research shows that sharing and reading books with parents has a significant impact on children's literacy development. Various previous studies have shown that literacy programs that are implemented at home greatly help children to expand their literacy skills and language development. (De Temple & Snow, 2003; Mol & Neuman, 2014; Noble et al., 2019). International Journal of Emerging Issues in Early Childhood Education (IJEIECE), Vol. 4 (2), 29-41 Family Literacy Program for Improving the Ability to Know Letters in Early Childhood Mukti Amini ISSN 2685-4074 (online) 32 │ The Master Design of the National Literacy Movement stated that the family literacy movement is a series of activities that are planned and carried out in the family to improve the literacy skills of all family members. The following are indicators of the application of the family literacy movement: (1) the number and variety of reading materials owned by the family; (2) the frequency of reading in the family every day; (3) the number of readings read by family members; and (4) the amount of literacy training that is applicable and has an impact on families (Effendy, 2017). Based on the government's appeal regarding LFH rules to break the chain of the spread of the Covid-19 virus, learning is carried out from home with family members as learning companions. The strategy of family literacy activities can be a choice to improve the ability of children aged 5-6 years to recognize letters so that the learning objectives that have been set can be achieved. RESEARCH METHOD This research uses the Classroom Action Research method. The action research class method is able to offer approaches and procedures that have an impact directly and can be used as a treatment for improving teachers to manage the learning process in the classroom. Classroom Action Research is research that describes the occurrence of the causes and effects of the treatment, as well as explaining what when treatment is given, and describes the whole process from the start until the impact of the treatment. This research Kemmis-Taggart model, which includes planning, implementation, observation, reflection, and re-planning. The research was conducted for children of group B of Mentari Kindergarten, Tangerang City. The study was conducted from April to June 2021. In the initial conditions before Cycle I, it was found that during reading stimulation activities, most of the children were still unable to recognize letters, so children often reversed writing or mentioned letter sounds, especially the letters b, d, h, n, f, p, w, and y. The main cause of the difficulty is that, during the Covid-19 pandemic, learning activities with teachers are carried out online only, while offline learning activities are mostly done at home with family. Teachers provide and socialize learning plans for a week, also detailing which activities children will do with teachers online and which children's activities are carried out at home with parents. The plan of repair activities in Cycle I is as follows. Table 1. Cycle I Repair Plan Day Activities Detail of Activities 1. Singing "Happy Heart"  Read a book  Pat, the syllable, selects a word that has a letter that the child does not yet know. 2. Tells the story of the wind  Exploration about objects can move because of air.  Mentioning the sound of letters (p, n, u) on the card, the words: ‘kapas’ (cotton), ‘angin’ (wind), and ‘Udara’ (air). 3. The discussion of air is God's creation.  Draw freely and write the name of the object drawn and then say the letters. 4. Tell stories using a storybook about cleanliness.  The practice of drying clothes  Imitating the words contains n, p, h, n: ‘mencuci’ (washing), ‘pakaian’ (dress), ‘halaman’ (yard) 5. Guessing the title of the song.  Attaching labels to objects in the living room and mentioning the sound of the letters on the label International Journal of Emerging Issues in Early Childhood Education (IJEIECE) Vol. 4 (2), 29-41 Family Literacy Program for Improving the Ability to Know Letters in Early Childhood Mukti Amini ISSN 2685-4074 (online) │ 33 The scenario on the first day of Cycle I was singing the song “Hati Gembira” (Happy Hear). In the main activity, parents at home read storybooks for grade one, namely storybooks with little writing, large font sizes, and pictures. Then invite the children to play with the syllables. On the 2nd day, circle time activities are storytelling about the air around us, the importance of air to our lives, and the wind moving air. In the core activity, parents ask children to think about how to move an object without moving it; then, the child is asked to blow on light objects such as plastic balls, tissue, and cotton. Next, the teacher explains that light objects can move with the help of the wind. On the 3rd day, the activity opened with a Q&A about the air as God's creation. In the core activities, children draw freely and write the name of the object drawn. On the 4th day, during the opening activity, children listen to illustrated stories about the love of cleanliness, and in the core activity, children learn life skills, namely the practice of drying clothes. Parents provide information that the wind can help dry clothes. Next, the children are invited to imitate the writing on the worksheet. On the 5th day, the activity was opened by playing and guessing the title of the song, with the parents humming and then the children guessing the title of the song. In the core activity, the child labels the objects in the living room. The child writes the name of the object in the living room on a label sticker and then attaches it to the object. Identification of the problem in the second cycle is that some children still do not know the letters and often reverse in writing the form of letters; some children are not interested in reading books because they do not have curiosity about the sound of reading and the content of the story. Teachers have not been maximal in creating good communication with parents, so LFH is still ongoing. The family literacy program in cycle II was done at home by reading stories at least 5 minutes before going to bed every day and doing other literacy activities. The plan of repair activities in Cycle II is as follows. Table 2. Cycle II Repair Plan Day Activities Detail of Activities 1 Whisper the chain and read out the writing of the serial whisper and sing a happy heart song.  Search for and circle the letters p, h, and letter n.  Strengthening the Family Literacy Program: Read a book for at least 5 minutes each day. 2 Discussion about:  What happens if the building is blown by strong winds?  How to make a solid building?  Make a sturdy building from objects in the home (cans, cardboard, and others).  Strengthening the Family Literacy Program: Read a book for at least 5 minutes every day. 3 Play sculptures and music, and mention letters on word cards.  Make a letter shape using the buttons of the shirt and pair it with a picture of an object that has the same front letter.  Strengthening the Family Literacy Program: Read a book for at least 5 minutes every day. 4 Tell pictures about air pollution  Search for pictures of air pollution and name familiar letters in those pictures.  Strengthening the Family Literacy Program: Read a book for at least 5 minutes every day. 5 Tells about the Prophet Jonah, who was sailing  Write down the name of the object on the word card and color the image. International Journal of Emerging Issues in Early Childhood Education (IJEIECE), Vol. 4 (2), 29-41 Family Literacy Program for Improving the Ability to Know Letters in Early Childhood Mukti Amini ISSN 2685-4074 (online) 34 │ Day Activities Detail of Activities  Strengthening the Family Literacy Program: Read a book for at least 5 minutes every day. The scenario on the first day of Cycle II was in the form of an opening activity, namely playing a series of whispers and reading out the results; then the children sang the song "Hati Gembira” (Happy Heart). In the core activity, the child looks for and circles the letters p, h, and n in a short story on the worksheet, mentioning which word he found the letter in. The teacher reminds parents to read the story for at least five minutes and sends photos of the activity via Whatsapp group as a report on the child's activities. On the second day, the opening activity consisted of discussing what would happen if the building was blown by strong winds and how to make a strong building, as well as recalling the letters in the word “wind”. In the core activity, children make sturdy buildings using objects at home, such as cans, milk cartons, and other objects. Then the child writes the name of the building. The teacher reminds parents to read the story for at least five minutes and sends photos of the activity to the Whatsapp group as a report on the child's activities. On the third day, the opening activities included playing sculptures and music. If the music stops, they will become statues and will move again after the child reads aloud a word card. The core activity is inviting children to make letters using buttons by arranging them to form letters and pairing them with pictures that have the same prefix. The teacher reminds parents to read the story for at least five minutes and sends photos of the activity via Whatsapp group as a report on the child's activities. On the fourth day, the opening activity consisted of telling pictures about air pollution and reading the writings on the pictures. The core activity is looking for pictures of sources of air pollution, as explained in the storytelling activity in the opening and mentioning familiar letters and reading them aloud. The teacher reminds parents to read the story for at least five minutes and sends photos of the activity via Whatsapp group as a report on the child's activities. On the fifth day, the opening activity was in the form of telling stories about the Prophet Jonah, who was sailing on a sailing ship. The wind can help the ship to be able to move with a large sail media as a sail. The main activity is to write the name of the object on the word card provided and color the picture on the card. The teacher reminds parents to read the story for at least five minutes and sends photos of the activity via Whatsapp group as a children's activity report. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Data analysis in this study used qualitative observations by looking at changes in children's behavior regarding letters and treatments given. The results of observations on the first day of Cycle I showed that in the opening activity, singing the song 'Happy Heart', the singing activity still had to be repeated because most of the children had not memorized the tune and lyrics of the song. Then the activity of singing 'happy heart' will be repeated in the second cycle. In the core activity, the results of observations during storybook reading activities as an effort to introduce the sounds and shapes of letters to children, it appears that most of the children have not been able to recognize several forms and sounds of letters, namely the letters 'f', 'p', 'w', and 'y'. '. As for the letters 'b', 'd', 'h', and 'n', there are still some children who are upside-down in writing and mentioning these letters. It is common for early childhood to write and pronounce letters backward, especially for letters that are similar to b with p or with d (Irfan et al., 2016). International Journal of Emerging Issues in Early Childhood Education (IJEIECE) Vol. 4 (2), 29-41 Family Literacy Program for Improving the Ability to Know Letters in Early Childhood Mukti Amini ISSN 2685-4074 (online) │ 35 On the second day, the opening activity consisted of telling stories about the air around us. Most of the children did not seem to be able to listen to the story well, so the child was not able to retell the story in the coherent way that they had heard. So the storytelling activity must be repeated the next day. In the core activity, namely mentioning the sound of a letter in a word, some children sometimes forget the shape or sound of the letters they have seen. For early childhood to be able to remember the shapes and sounds of letters, continuous stimulation is needed through various kinds of play activities so that children do not feel bored quickly (Karlsdóttir et al., 2019). On the third day, the opening activity in the form of a question and answer session about air as God's creation still needs to be repeated because some children have not been able to focus on answering questions; children don't listen well because their vocabulary is still limited. So the question and answer activities still have to be repeated on the next day. The vocabulary of early childhood needs to be enriched in various ways, including telling stories, asking questions, discussing, role-playing, and so on (Edwards, 2018). The core activity in the form of writing down the names of the objects drawn and mentioning the sounds of the letters also still had to be repeated the next day because some children still needed a long time to write the shapes of the letters. At first, children do not need to write directly on paper, but children can be trained in their fine motor skills in various ways, for example, through cutting, tearing, clamping, pasting, drawing, and coloring (Alawiyah & Attamim, 2020). In comparison, the children who are the object of this research are group B children in kindergarten who will soon enter elementary school, so from a fine motor perspective, they are more ready to write on paper. On the fourth day, the opening activity was reading a picture story about the love of cleanliness. In this activity, some children did not show much love for reading. So the reading activity will be repeated the next day. Early childhood disinterest in reading can be caused by several things, including the books used is too small and do not have many colorful pictures, the teacher's monotonous way of telling stories, or the theme of the story being too far from the world of children (Silberman, 2018). In the core activity, namely imitating the writing of washing, clothes, and pages, it is seen that children begin to have the desire to know about reading. It's just that some children are still upside down in writing letters. The results of observations on the fifth day during the opening activity were guessing the title of the song that had been sung by the Father or Mother. Most of the children were able to guess the title of the song, but parents who accompanied their children had problems choosing songs because of limited knowledge about the variety of children's songs. In the core activity, the activity of labeling objects in the living room is enough to make children interested because it uses media that is close to the child, and the results can be seen immediately. Six children can imitate writing well, and eight children are still much assisted in mentioning the letters on the labels that have been made. The activity of labeling various objects around children includes the application of Whole Language principles, especially the principles of Immersion and Involvement (Cambourne & Turbill, 2007) Based on reflection, the advantages felt during the first cycle were: (1) Selection of diverse and fun activities, (2) Class management using a room at home that moved every day so that children did not get bored, and (3) There was a selection of activities that provided opportunities children to make decisions, such as choosing a room by the child and giving children the opportunity to have an opinion (Chen, 2015). One of the advantages of studying at home is the mobility of space. In contrast to the limited classrooms in kindergarten, early childhood at home can learn from the living room, bedroom, and kitchen (Chapman, 2014). While the shortcomings during Cycle I were: (1) Lack of direct communication between children and teachers, so the teacher could not provide maximum reinforcement to the development field that International Journal of Emerging Issues in Early Childhood Education (IJEIECE), Vol. 4 (2), 29-41 Family Literacy Program for Improving the Ability to Know Letters in Early Childhood Mukti Amini ISSN 2685-4074 (online) 36 │ was felt to be lacking, (2) There were letter card props that were not large and the colors were less attractive, (3) The size of the illustrated story props is too small so that children cannot see it clearly on the zoom screen (McLaughlin, 2022), (4) The explanations given by the teacher to parents or children are often not well understood because it is only through one-way learning videos (Gelman et al., 2017), (5) Activities through zoom in the form of storytelling or question and the answer is felt to be less effective because children are still difficult to focus and sit still for a long time (Delwiche, 2016), and (6) the number of children who do activities are not on time or even do not want to do them. The results of the assessment at the end of Cycle I are as follows. Table 3. Assessment Recapitulation in Cycle 1 Day Evaluation UD ✩ SD ✩✩ DE ✩✩✩ DVW ✩✩✩✩ 1A 2 6 4 0 2A 2 6 4 1 3A 1 7 4 1 4A 1 5 4 2 5A 1 4 6 2 Note: UD=undeveloped, SD=starting to develop, DE=developing as expected, DVW=developing very well Based on Table 3, 8 children can know letters well through literacy activities at home with family, or about 45%. Based on the results of the improvements carried out in cycle 1, it was decided to make improvements again in Cycle 2 because the children had not reached the research completion limit of 75%. The results of observations on the first day of Cycle II began with an opening activity in the form of playing a series of whispers. Most of the children did this activity enthusiastically because it was an interesting game activity and was carried out with the family (Ramani & Scalise, 2020). In the core activity, namely finding and circling the letters p, h, and n in a short story. Most children are enthusiastic about doing activities because these activities are like puzzles that provoke children's curiosity (OECD, 2017). On the second day, during the opening activity, which was telling stories about what would happen if the building was blown by strong winds, most of the children were able to focus on listening to stories and began to dare to express their opinions. In the core activity, namely making buildings from objects at home, most of the children are excited to play when allowed to determine the media that will be used to make the building, determine the building to be made and write the name of the building (Rodriguez-Meehan, 2021). On the third day, the opening activities included playing sculptures and music. Most children are enthusiastic about doing it because it is an interesting activity to do with the family at home (Nottingham et al., 2021). In the core activity, namely making letters from buttons and pairing them with pictures that have the same initial letter, the child did well and was able to follow the instructions given. On the fourth day, the opening activity was in the form of telling stories about air pollution. Most children can focus on listening to stories and begin to have curiosity about new vocabulary. When the main activity was looking for pictures of air pollution and mentioning the letters, the children were able to do well because most of them were able to recognize the shapes and sounds of the letters. On the fifth day, during the opening activity, which was telling stories about Prophet Jonah, who sailed, most of the children were able to become good listeners because they were very interested in the International Journal of Emerging Issues in Early Childhood Education (IJEIECE) Vol. 4 (2), 29-41 Family Literacy Program for Improving the Ability to Know Letters in Early Childhood Mukti Amini ISSN 2685-4074 (online) │ 37 stories they heard. In the core activity, namely writing word cards and coloring them, the children did it with confidence and did well because most of them already knew the letters. If the child already knows some letters well, he will usually enjoy arranging the letters into certain words, writing them down, and also coloring them (Rettew, 2021). Based on the results of reflection at the end of Cycle II, the perceived advantages are: (1) there is an additional program of reading stories before going to bed for at least five minutes every day. This is a strengthening of children's ability to recognize letters (Daniell, 2017), (2) Through the selection of game activities such as whispering chains or playing statues and music, children can learn with fun, and learning materials will be more embedded in the child's memory (Bobrowsky, 2018), (3) game activities involving members the family turned out to strengthen the bond between them, to create a more intimate, warm, and fun atmosphere (Zimmerman & Winek, 2013), (4) the large variety of activities makes most children able to complete these activities without getting bored, make it easier for teachers to evaluate, and facilitates the achievement of the competencies expected of children (Carolan, 2018). While the shortcomings during Cycle II were: (1) the lack of direct communication between teachers and children in reinforcing areas of development that have not been optimally developed, (2) the lack of attachment between teachers and children due to online learning so that teachers were quite difficult in assessing their affection, (3) Kindergarten teachers need to communicate intensively with parents to be able to overcome the problems of children who have not shown interest in reading books (De Temple & Snow, 2003), (4) online learning causes teachers to feel that they do not have enough opportunities to take individual approaches to children (Undheim, 2020). The results of the assessment at the end of Cycle II are as follows. Table 4. Recapitulation of Assessment Results in Cycle 2 Note: UD=undeveloped, SD=starting to develop, DE=developing as expected, DVW=developing very well Based on Table 4, the achievement of children's success in the good and excellent categories for letter recognition activities is 78%, which means that the research success limit is 75%. Based on the recapitulation of Cycle 1 and Cycle 2 assessments above, it can be concluded that there has been an increase in the success of developing children's ability to recognize letters through family literacy programs. This can be seen in the percentage of children who are categorized as good and very good in the ability to recognize letters in the first cycle of 45% and increased to 78% in the second cycle. At the end of the second cycle, based on observations, it was shown that most of the children were able to recognize letters. Day Evaluation UD ✩ SD ✩✩ DE ✩✩✩ DVW ✩✩✩✩ 1B 1 4 6 2 2B 1 3 5 4 3B 0 2 6 5 4B 0 2 6 5 5B 0 1 6 5 Sum 2 12 29 21 Average 0,4 2,4 5,8 4,2 Percentage 3% 19% 45% 33% International Journal of Emerging Issues in Early Childhood Education (IJEIECE), Vol. 4 (2), 29-41 Family Literacy Program for Improving the Ability to Know Letters in Early Childhood Mukti Amini ISSN 2685-4074 (online) 38 │ Language literacy activities are one way to be able to practice skills and introduce children to reading from an early age. Language literacy activities also serve as a foundation for them to be able to think critically and logically when faced with various situations (Bodle, 2019). The early literacy stage, which includes spoken and written language as well as knowledge of numbers and letters, is one of the keys to the success of early childhood reading. This ability is needed when they enter elementary school (Sisk-Hilton & Meier, 2016). The family literacy program was chosen to help realize the literacy goal, which is to improve the ability of children aged 5-6 years to recognize letters. Activities that can be done in the literacy program at home are storytelling, question, and answer, discussions, games with the theme of recognizing letters that are carried out with family members, and reading books at least five minutes before going to bed every day (Badarudin & Andriani, 2017). The benefits of family literacy programs, in addition to increasing children's ability to recognize letters, are to increase bonding togetherness between family members and introduce a love of books to children. It is expected to increase children's interest in reading (Davies, 2013). CONCLUSION Conclusion Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that there is an increase in the ability of children aged 5-6 years to recognize letters through the family literacy program at Mentari Kindergarten, Tangerang, with an increase of 78% from the initial condition. The improvement in children's ability to recognize letters can be seen through several indicators, including children seem confident and able to write word cards and color them, and most children are enthusiastic in finding and circling the letters p, h, and n, in a short story, excited making buildings with objects in the house, focusing on listening to stories, starting to dare to express their opinions, being able to make letters from buttons and pairing them with pictures that have the same initial letters, and being able to look for pictures of air pollution and mention the letters. Suggestion Based on the results of the study, playing activities with the family made children interested and enthusiastic about doing learning activities at home. Teachers need to be creative to plan meaningful activities that can be done with the family. Teachers must also be innovative in using the room at home for children's learning, using objects at home as a substitute for educational teaching aids at school, and building good communication with parents where during this pandemic, the parents are the ones who are together. Children study at home. Schools, as education providers, should facilitate and motivate teachers and children to implement this family literacy program as the school's flagship program because it has many positive impacts. LIMITATION & FURTHER RESEARCH One of the limitations of this research is that the CAR implementation time is quite short, only a week for each cycle. 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