Parental writing support and preschoolers’ early literacy, language, and fine motor skills

Abstract

The current study examines the nature and variability of parents' aid to preschoolers in the context of a shared writing task, as well as the relations between this support and children's literacy, vocabulary, and fine motor skills. In total, 135 preschool children (72 girls) and their parents (primarily mothers) in an ethnically diverse, middle-income community were observed while writing a semi-structured invitation for a pretend birthday party together. Children's phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, word decoding, vocabulary, and fine motor skills were also assessed. Results revealed that parents provided variable, but generally low–level, support for children's approximation of sound-symbol correspondence in their writing (i.e., graphophonemic support), as well as for their production of letter forms (i.e., print support). Parents frequently accepted errors rather than asking for corrections (i.e., demand for precision). Further analysis of the parent-child dyads (n = 103) who wrote the child's name on the invitation showed that parents provided higher graphophonemic, but not print, support when writing the child's name than other words. Overall parental graphophonemic support was positively linked to children's decoding and fine motor skills, whereas print support and demand for precision were not related to any of the child outcomes. In sum, this study indicates that while parental support for preschoolers' writing may be minimal, it is uniquely linked to key literacy-related outcomes in preschool.

Early Literacy Among Zambian Second Graders: The Role of Adult Mediation of Word Writing in Bemba

“…In line with previous research (Aram & Levin, ; Bindman et al., ; Lin et al., ; Reese & Cox, ), the adults in our study varied in the quality and types of literate and print supports that they provided for the children. Variability in the individual instructional styles employed likely not only mirrors the differences in the adults’ education, including other sociodemographic characteristics, but also highlights diversity in personality, parenting styles and beliefs, and attitudes regarding how best parents and caregivers can influence children's literacy acquisition (DeBaryshe, Binder, & Buell, ; Goodnow & Collins, ; Harkness et al., ).…”

“…The Zambian context of shared scaffolding responsibility involving family members and some neighbors is also worth further investigating. Fifth, the majority of the parents in this study had limited education compared with other writing mediation studies done among Chinese (Lin et al, 2009;McBride-Chang et al, 2012), U.S. (Bindman et al, 2014;Skibbe et al, 2013), and Hebrew (Aram & Levin, 2001, 2004 parents. This could have influenced how the parents and caregivers, together with older siblings, generally supported children in writing Bemba items.…”

“…For example, Sénéchal () showed that parents’ explicit teaching about writing tends to foster children's knowledge of letters and sounds, including sound–symbol correspondences. Bindman and colleagues () also pointed out that writing itself provides a unique context for further refining children's foundational language. Besides enhancing early literacy skills, strong writing skills have been associated with other positive outcomes, including long‐term educational and career success.…”

“…Although no studies have yet been done to explicitly capture the home environment regarding how parents, caregivers, or older siblings interact with children during joint writing activities, there was also a strong need for the writing instruction methods employed in the present study to be scientifically valid in order for them to capture children's literacy acquisition in Zambia. Moreover, considering that the benefits associated with early writing proficiency appear to endure over time (Bindman et al, 2014) and the fact that performance data suggest that students do not demonstrate proficiency in the skill of academic writing (Lonigan, Schatschneider, & Westberg, 2008), the issue of adult mediation of writing in Bemba is critical and worth exploring.…”

“…A great deal of research has demonstrated the importance of cognitive/metalinguistic abilities in early reading development across different cultures and languages (see, e.g., Cheung, ; Ho & Bryant, ; Matafwali, ; McBride‐Chang & Ho, ; McBride‐Chang & Kail, ). However, relatively less attention has been paid to how socialization practices such as writing interactions between parents or other caregivers and children influence children's early literacy development (Aram & Levin, ; Bindman, Skibbe, Hindman, Aram, & Morrison, ; DeBaryshe, Buell, & Binder, ). The situation is even more unclear in developing countries, especially those in the sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) region where there has been generally a relative dearth of research in early literacy development.…”