The examination of the variables affecting the print awareness skills of six-year-old children attending kindergarten

Abstract

This study examined the relations between maternal education, children’s gender, writing readiness skills, and print awareness skills. Three hundred and sixteen 6-year-old children (183 girls and 133 boys) were assessed on writing readiness skills and print awareness skills. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to determine if there were significant relationships among maternal education, children’s gender, writing readiness skills, and print awareness skills. Also, a regression analysis was performed to measure the predictive strength of the variables on print awareness skills. The results showed that while the writing readiness skills were related to children’s print awareness skills; gender and maternal education were not correlated to print awareness skills. Regression analysis indicated that writing readiness skill is a predictor of print awareness skills. Writing readiness skills accounting for approximately 8% of the variance in print awareness skills. Findings are discussed in relation to the importance of understanding the connection between maternal education, children’s gender, writing readiness skills, and print awareness skills in supporting literacy development. These findings have important implications for practitioners as they work to involve determining the predictive power of writing skills and to support children in terms of these skills.