Parental contribution to child’s early language and interest in books

Abstract

The relationships between parents' age, education, literacy activities and shared reading with Ihe child and children's language skills and early interest in books were examined in a longitudinal study of 108 children. Parents reported on their children's lexical and grammatical development by using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (the CDIs) at the ages of 14 and 24 months. The Bayley Scales of Infant Development were administered to the children in a laboratory setting at 24 months. Information on parental background variables was obtained through a questionnaire before the children's birth. Book reading habits were inquired when the children were 2 years of age. Mothers' education, literacy activities and shared reading with the child were shown to be more strongly associated with the 2-year-olds' lexical and grammatical skills than were those of fathers. A corresponding association to parental background variables emerged regardless of whether parental report data or scores on the structured test were employed as the child language measure. Shared reading with the father was found to be linked to children's early interest in books. The children who exhibited greater interest in books »;ere likely to be read to by mothers alld fathers more frequently than other children. These children also had larger vocabularies than did children with low interest in books. The role of endogenous and exogenous variables in explaining children 's language skills and early book reading interest are discussed.

Reading Skills in Down Syndrome: An Examination of Orthographic Knowledge

“…In her study, Ricci (2011) also reported that the grade-school children with DS with richer home literacy environments indicated more interest in reading than pre-school age children with DS with poorer home literacy environments. The present study was consistent with both Lyytinen et al, (1998) and Ricci's (2011), findings that the home literacy environment is significantly correlated with parent reports of the child's motivation to read. Although not directly tested, rich home literacy environments when the child is very young may lead to increases in the child's motivation to read.…”

“…In TD children, exposure to, and experience of, rich home literacy environments has been found to contribute to later reading achievement and language abilities (Bus et al, 1995;Lyytinen et al, 1998;Scarborough & Dobrich, 1994;Senechal, 1997). The present study found a significant, medium, positive correlation between home literacy environment and receptive vocabulary.…”

“…Previous research with TD children has indicated that rich home literacy environments are linked to increases in children's interest in reading (Lyytinen et al, 1998). In her study, Ricci (2011) also reported that the grade-school children with DS with richer home literacy environments indicated more interest in reading than pre-school age children with DS with poorer home literacy environments.…”

“…It is measured by parent questionnaires examining the onset, frequency and quality of parent-child shared book reading, the number of books in the home, the frequency of trips to the library, and the frequency of reading by caregivers. Research with TD children has found that the home literacy environment predicts later language development, emergent literacy, and later reading achievement (Bus, van Ijzendoorn & Pellegrini, 1995;Lyytinen, Laakso & Poikkeus, 1998;Scarborough & Dobrich, 1994;Senechal, 1997). Richer home literacy environments, for example characterized by more parent-child shared book reading or more books in the home, are believed to contribute to language and reading achievement because they expose children to a wider variety of sentence forms than would be experienced through spoken language alone, can help make children more aware of letter-sound correspondences, and expose children to story structures and literacy conventions (Bus et al, 1995;DeBaryshe, 1993;Tannen, 1982).…”

“…Rich home literacy environments have also been linked to increases in TD children's interest in reading (Lyytinen, Laakso & Poikkeus, 1998). Within TD children, motivation to read has been found to predict both the amount and breadth of reading (Wigfield & Guthrie, 1997).…”