The purpose of my study has been to find out how mother tongue teachers working in preschools where a majority of the children have a mother tongue other than Swedish make use of fictional children’s books during the mother tongue support lessons. In order to determine this, I am asking the following questions:

• - What is the range of children's books in the children's mother tongue available at the preschool?
• - In what ways are the native language teachers encouraging literacy development through the usage of children's books?
• - How do native language teachers view the childrens’ linguistic development as well as the enhancement of cultural identity through the usage of the books?

These questions have formed the basis of the methodical approach, which is based on a qualitative research method. The data collection consists of three parts; the observation of mother tongue support, interviews with language teachers as well as with the nursery manager and lastly a survey of children's books in languages other than Swedish at the preschool.

The essay has as its theoretical basis the socio-cultural view of learning and development. Previous research is composed of studies showing that children with a mother tongue different from that of the majority population should be supported in the development of their native language for several reasons, including for the development of the Swedish language and for the enhancement of cultural identity. Also referred to is research which suggests that reading aloud and conversations about books is important for children's language development and future success in reading and writing activities.

The results show that the range of children's books written in the mother tongue of the children which are available at the preschool is small. However, the language teachers' work with children’s books in the native languages has a prominent place in the native language support. By reading aloud, through conversation and interaction with the books, the children are given the opportunity to obtain many of the skills required for the future development of reading and writing skills. Moreover, the results show that native language teachers consciously involve the children's cultural and linguistic backgrounds in the native language education through the usage of books concerning the minority group's traditions and other specific phenomena related to the children and the cultural background of their family However, reading aloud in the mother tongue sometimes has to give way to other activities and the mother tongue education suffers when staff are absent. The conclusion I can draw from these results is that knowledge of the language support exists but that this knowledge must be connected and realized in the preschool environment.