The study investigated how parental belief and family socio economic status (SES) were related to the home literacy environment and to early literacy-related skills in a foreign language (English). Eighty-six Chinese children in kindergarten (Mage = 5 years 5 months, 44 girls) were assessed on English phonological awareness, English receptive…

Young children develop understandings about literacy from birth through experiences of print in their home environments. Today, written text is often present in children's homes in both print and "digital" forms. What kind of technologies are young children accessing at home and for what purposes? This paper discusses research findings…

Based on the Home Literacy Model, this study explored a refined model of home literacy activities and their relations with children's emergent literacy skills in a linguistic and socio-economic diverse sample of 214 Dutch kindergartners (mean age 4 years and 7 months, 46% girls and 29% monolingual speakers of Dutch). The study examined a typology…

Research Findings: The current study examined the use of a newly developed instrument for measuring parental literacy beliefs in a highly diverse urban Dutch sample of 35 parents, participating in a family literacy program. The instrument was used to explore a new conceptualization of parental literacy beliefs and associations between beliefs and…

This study examined the free book giving program of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library and its influence upon storybook reading and early literacy within one county-wide setting in the United States. Family literacy and early literacy experiences are known to be critical to young children's literacy development. The study found that children who…

Background: The development of emergent literacy skills depends upon the literacy environments and experiences of children at home. Children's home literacy environment is closely related to the development of various aspects of emergent literacy like letter knowledge, phonological awareness, and vocabulary. Dimensions of home literacy…

Father involvement in children's education is known to have increased over the years, yet less is known about their involvement with children outside of school, particularly after children attend formal schooling. Such information could provide more knowledge of children's literacy engagement in schools as well as have implications for future…

Early linguistic competencies are necessary prerequisites for later reading and writing abilities and thus for a successful school career. Various child and family characteristics have been identified as important predictors of children's linguistic abilities, such as intelligence or the "home literacy environment" (HLE). Therefore, one…

This study aimed to describe home literacy (HL) activities of Spanish-/English-speaking children of low-socioeconomic status backgrounds and examine the relationship between HL and performance on standardized assessments. Parents of 65 dual-language learners (DLLs) in kindergarten completed an HL questionnaire. Parents reported an average of 17…

Building on social-cognitive theory and the expectancy-value theory, this study indicated that early parent expectations for children’s post-secondary educational attainment have a stronger effect on 8th-grade achievement than home-based parental involvement. With a nationally representative sample of kindergarten students and their parents in the…

A wealth of research demonstrates that as young children acquire literacy they also approximate literate roles and relationships. Such literate identifications, or storied selves, are complex, sometimes contradictory and under construction for young people. Less research has focused on "how" young children's storied selves are…

This research study investigated the at-home literacy behaviors and experiences of young children before and during their kindergarten year. Research has shown that the frequency and quality of at-home literacy experiences can either hinder or hamper children as their formal schooling begins (Fletcher, Cross, Tanney, Schneider, & Finch, 2008;…

Family literacy has come of age during the past quarter of a century. This article provides a brief review of family literacy history and components. Pedagogical implications for teachers of primary grade students are considered, and suggestions given for increasing home-school literacy involvement through the following types of initiatives:…

We examined models of individual change and correlates of change in the growth of reading skills in a sample of 40 children from kindergarten through third grade. A broad range of correlates was examined and included family literacy, oral language, emergent reading, intelligence, spelling, and demographic variables. Individual growth curve…

This publication contains a sample of the 44 indicators in "The Condition of Education 2003." The indicators in this publication are numbered sequentially, rather than according to their numbers in the complete edition. The Contents page offers a cross reference between the two publications. Since 1870, the federal government has…