Parents’ Talk About Letters With Their Young Children

Abstract

A literacy-related activity that occurs in children's homes—talk about letters in everyday conversations—was examined using data from 50 children who were visited every 4 months between 14 and 50 months. Parents talked about some letters, including those that are common in English words and the first letter of their children's names, especially often. Parents’ focus on the child's initial was especially strong in families of higher socioeconomic status, and the extent to which parents talked about the child's initial during the later sessions of the study was related to the children's kindergarten reading skill. Conversations that included the child's initial were longer than those that did not, and parents presented a variety of information about this letter.

Socioeconomic differences in code-focused emergent literacy skills

“…This aligns with the literature showing SES-related differences in the language and literacy experiences of children prior to school (Merlo, Bowman, & Barnett, 2007;Weigel, Martin, & Bennett, 2006). This body of research has pointed to a number of home-related differences, including less access to print (Neuman & Celano, 2001), less experience with rhyming word play and nursery rhymes (Juel, Griffith, & Gough, 1986), fewer conversations about letters (Treiman et al, 2015), and less frequent storybook reading (Sénéchal, 2006) for children from lower-SES families. More research concerning how such differences in early experiences affect alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness development is warranted, particularly with respect to how home literacy experiences could potentially serve as a protective factor in preventing emergent literacy gaps.…”

“…For AK, it appears as if the effect of SES is mediated GAL alliteration, GRH Rhyming Socioeconomic differences in code-focused emergent… through fall preschool skills, as SES was no longer a significant predictor after initial status was included in the model. This strongly suggests that SES-related AK gaps are related to experiences outside of school contexts and aligns with literature suggesting that AK development can be facilitated by parents during the early years through conversation (Robins, Treiman, Rosales, & Otake, 2012;Treiman, Schmidt, Decker, Robins, Levine, & Demir, 2015) and shared storybook reading (Sénéchal, 2006). SES also predicted end-of-year PA skills, in line with evidence that the home literacy environment also plays a role in the PA development (Burgess, 2002).…”

Into the Looking Glass: Literacy Acquisition and Mirror Invariance in Preschool and First‐Grade Children

“…Indeed, in parent–child conversations, more visual attributes are used to describe letters than pictures, and not only parents but also children emphasize letters’ visual properties (Robins, Treiman, Rosales, & Otake, ), as if (at least implicitly) they recognize the importance of visual features on letter learning and subsequent reading development. The engagement in these conversations, especially about the child's initial, was associated with better reading outcomes even after other factors, such as vocabulary, were controlled for (Treiman et al., ). More important, even before children know what letters represent (i.e., the letter‐sound correspondence), they are already sensitive to letters’ visual statistical patterns (Pollo, Kessler, & Treiman, ; Treiman, Cohen, Mulqueeny, Kessler, & Schechtman, ; Treiman & Kessler, ).…”

“I'll Show You How to Write My Name”: The Contribution of Naturalistic Sibling Teaching to the Home Literacy Environment

“…Indeed, parents are critical in scaffolding home language and literacy experiences that are enticing and educational (for a review, see Sénéchal & LeFevre, ). There is now considerable agreement that children's print knowledge varies as a function of the reading habits and activities modeled in their home environments (Burgess, Hecht, & Lonigan, ; Evans, Shaw, & Bell, ; Lonigan, ; Sénéchal & LeFevre, ; Treiman et al., ; Weigel, Martin, & Bennett, ). Siblings also engage in intentional teaching (Gregory, , ; Howe, Della Porta, Recchia, Funamoto, & Ross, ; Rogoff, , ; Sokal & Piotrowski, ); however, the contribution of sibling interactions to the home literacy environment has received very little attention.…”