Parental Involvement in Early Reading in Children - Literature review Example

?Parental Involvement in children’s early reading: A Literature Review Summer “It is not clear to what extent reading for enjoyment leads to higher reading literacy, or the other way round, or to what extent some other aspect of students’ background contributes to both. Nevertheless, the association between engaging in reading and being good at it is an important one, indicating that it may be productive to encourage both” (OECD, 2000). There is extant literature that speaks volumes about the importance of reading in an individual’s life (Cunningham, 1994) (Hall, 2001). Reading adds numerous dimensions to an individual’s personality; hence parents want their children to get used to reading from a yong age itself. Invariably parents are found discussing the means and modalities to be adopted to make reading feel and look interesting, enjoyable and fun to their children. Parents look for reasons to convince their children about the fact that reading is a skill that is like a key to master their life. Quite often elders purposely pick up a magazine, newspaper or a book and start reading in front of their children sending positive signals to the children about the importance of reading. In fact it is noted that children who lag behind in their reading skills receive less reading practice (Allington, 1984), miss opportunities to develop reading comprehension techniques (Brown, 1986) and may acquire a negative notion about reading if they are presented with reading material that is advanced to their skills. However, the psychologists have researched extensively on the development of reading habits of children, and found it evident that early reading habits developed in the child’s formative years (initial five years) have a lasting impact on his or her behavior (Beth M. Phillips, 2009). Research indicates that the concept of literacy as a skill set and knowledge base begins to develop during infancy and is continuously enriched during the early childhood phase by exposure to language, printed materials, and opportunities for experimental and instructional counters with literacy materials such as books, magazines, alphabet toys etc (Lonigan C. J., 2006), (naeyc, 2009), (Wagner, 1994). Particularly, literature shows that oral language, phonological responsiveness, and print knowledge are key components of a strong emergent literacy foundation (Whitehurst, 1998). A longitudinal study spanning 10 years conducted by Cunnigham and Stanovich reveals that reading habits developed in 1st grade by a child have considerable impact in reading engagement when the he or she is in 11th grade (Anne E. Cunningham, 1997) hence noticing that early success at reading acquisition is the key to unlock a lifetime of reading habits. The role played by parental involvement and other experimental factors such as book surrounds, audio-visual aids of learning, socio-economical circumstances and culture in early development years of a child has been at the heart of much theorizing and research in development psychology and form an important part in cultivating reading habits in children from early years. (Cunningham, 1994); (Burgess S, 2002); (Daniel J. Weigel, 2006). This literature review studies the varied research available on a number of aspects related to infants/young children’s early reading fondness. The queries around which the literature review was conducted are: (i) The importance of parental involvement in children’s early reading and its affect on children’s reading attainment at school (ii) Encouraging parents to read to their children at home (iii) The importance of bedtime stories and (iv) The importance of discussing vocabulary and illustrations with young children. The Importance of parental involvement in children’s early reading and its affect on children’s reading attainment at school The experiences, mindsets and resources related to literacy that a child encounters and interrelates with at home compose a child’s home literacy environment (Joanne Roberts, 2005) (Daniel J. Weigel, 2006). The early research on the concepts of home literacy environment was focused on socio-economic parameters of the family such as education and income levels, social standing etc. (DICKINSON, 1987); (Teale, 1986). Research revolving home literacy environment then evolved into studying the effects of occurrence or frequency of joint book reading sessions between parent and child or the use of visually rich bedtime stories by parents on early reading (Griffin, 1997). Nevertheless, contemporary research in developmental psychology observes that home literacy environment has complex and multi-faceted elements influencing developmental and educational outcomes, which consists of factors such as child’s age at first shared reading experience, number of books owned, and the frequency at which the child observes others in the household reading, child’s independent looking at books, relevant watching of educational television and incidences of detracting from educational opportunities (Lonigan, 2009). Researchers have claimed that a love of reading has a higher degree of importance to a child’s educational success than its family’s socio-economic status or wealth (Christina Clark S. T., 2005). National Literacy Trust published a report in 2001 titled “Parental Involvement and Literacy achievement” that provided research evidence in a positive co-relation between parental involvement and literacy outcomes for children (Close, 2001). The author of the report, Dr. Robert Close, produced the following chart depicting how parent’s backgrounds and approaches to literacy positively impact the intellectual growth in children. Research findings also include that the influence of parent involvement in the early or pre-school years of a child effects the frequency with which the child plays with letters/numbers at home (Close, 2001) (Sammons, 2000), draws attention to sounds and letters and addresses inequalities in cognitive development (Sammons, 2000). Hence we can conclude that in order to ehance child’s reading habit, parents involvement plays a very important role. The various factors that define parents involvement in developing reading habits in early years are such as the frequency with which parents read to their child or shared reading practices, existence and frequency with which parents teach their child songs or nursery rhymes (Sammons, 2000), maternal strategies and sensitity during book reading (Joanne Roberts, 2005). Based on the above listed peer-reviewed arguments we can accept that parental involvement can boost a child’s reading attainment. Affects on children’s reading attainment at school include enhancement of their language comprehension and expressive language abilities, listening and speaking skills, later enjoyment of books and reading, understanding narrative, story and suitable reading capacity at age 7 (Wells, 1987) (Crain-Thoreson, 1992). Encouraging parents to read to their children at home A growing body of research has also documented the techniques used by parents in enhancing child’s literacy and language skills (Daniel J. Weigel, 2006) (MAGGIE MOORE, 2003). In a report called Bridges to Literacy: Early Routines that Promote Later School Success, the authors (Rosenkoetter & Barton, 2002) ten key ways in which parents and families can help children in promoting literacy skills. These techniques include (i) Reading with having close contact with the child such as placing him or her on lap (ii) Responsiveness of whole family rather than just parents (iii) Modeling and Motivation (iv) Experience with sounds (v) Repititive routines (vi) Oral language (vii) Using phonetics to describe experiences in the world (viii) Experiences with the tools of literacy (ix) Experiences with sounds and (x) Experiences with writing. Bookstart, a Book Trust Initiative, has been quite successful in promoting the ‘books for babies’ concept and is actively involved in longitudinal research with Birmingham University (Close, 2001). The objective of Bookstart, an early intervention strategy is to raise mindfulness among parents of the importance of establishing a relationship around books with their children in infancy (MAGGIE MOORE, 2003). The Bookstart evaluation established that Bookstart children had a head start at school as a result of the programme, and inferred that early engagement with books prepared the way for scholastic achievement (Hall, 2001). Another example of research encouraging parents to read to their children at home is The Family Literacy Bags (FLB) Project that was started to engage parents in ‘learning at home’ activities focusing on literacy (MARTHA T. DEVER, 2002). Each FLB contained two high-quality children’s books on a theme such as friendship, change or movement, some activities, and a parent handbook with info about ways to read and discuss the books with children (Dever, 2005). The importance of Bedtime Stories Bedtime story telling is simply not a mechanical activity in which parents and children engage over and over again, night after night. In fact children perceive this activity as a very intimate activity that brings them closer to their parents. Research displays that there are various benefits of narrating Bedtime stories to children such as helping the children cultivate a habit of reading, enhancing their listensing and attentiveness skills, encouraging children to learn good morals, encouraging them to be participative by asking questions, offering suggestions over mazes and mysteries of the stories; and inspiring children to adopt role models as projected in the stories (Kids Own Planet, 2011). J.K. Rowling, the famous author of Harry Potter books insists in a literary piece that Bedtime stories enhance the imagination power of children and hence boast the creative development of brain (Rowling, 2008). The importance of discussing vocabulary and illustrations with young children Furthermore, there has also been ample theorized research on the importance of visual aids, illustrated vocabulary and exemplifications on the mind of young reader. In the book “Children reading Pictures: Interpreting Visual Texts” (Evelyn Arizpe, 2002), authors Arizpe and Styles have noted that children are refined readers of visual texts, and manage to make sense of composite images on literal, visual and metaphorical planes. They understand different perspectives; identify tempers, moods, messages and emotions, and communicate personal responses to picture books - even though they might struggle with the written text. With color graphics, and researching other books on similar topics, the authors demonstrate how important visual projection and literacy is to children's understanding, development and interest in reading. Another study conducted on the effect of “pictures” compared to just textbooks (Walsh, 2003) concludes that pictures have substantial impression on children’s interpretations of stories. Pictures evoke responses that are not just literal but they also include various other levels of understandings such as cognitive, affective and cultural. In their research, Walsh noted that their study-group children identify and observe details of pictures and make associated links to their own experience, interpret and predict the new information and hence make affective comments on the story. Majority of children in the study reflected that they were aware of textual feelings, hence showcasing that visual texts are powerful mediums for learning and can constructively assist in literacy development of young children. Scope for Future Research Literacy is a matter of immense concern for all governments around the globe. Literacy is one of the factors that influences Human Development Index (United Nations Development Program). Be it a developed country or a developing country, all banks heavily on the literacy levels majorly because literacy is said to have direct impact on the country’s socio – economic status. The importance of reading and specifically for children is a widely researched topic. A child’s literacy is linked with reading and there are many factors on which a child’s reading is dependent, two of these factors are the efforts put in by the school and by the parents of the child. This paper presents a literature review of the aspects of reading to the early reading development in children aged 3-5 yrs old. Researchers have studied the difference in the reading ability of children in first grade; the differences are so stark that they cannot be bridged unless the family too contributes. Hence it is a well-founded fact that parent’s involvement does boost a child’s reading. There are many means by which parents engage children into reading; this includes picture-book reading, bedtime stories etc. Bedtime stories are one of the most common activities that parents engage in with their children that help enriching early readers listening, reasoning and creative skills. This research also talks about various forms of visual aids those facilitate reading habits in children. Children do get impacted by visuals and pictures hence their presence in books builds interest for reading in children. Based on the research covered in this literature review, it can be said that yet there is limited or virtually no research indicating if parents need to adopt different approach in inducing reading habit for young boys and girls. It could be a meaningful to take up research in this direction. It is also observed that future research is required to look into other aspects of home literacy environment such as phonetic awareness, concept of story telling in conceptualizing reading material for children. Bibliography 1. Allington, R. L. (1984). Content, coverage, and contextual reading in reading groups. Journal of Reading Behavior , 16, 85-96. 2. Anne E. Cunningham, K. E. (1997). Early Reading Acquisition and Its Relation to Reading Experience and Ability 10 Years Later. Developmental Psychology , 33 (6), 934-945. 3. Burgess S, H. S. (2002). Relations of the home literacy environment (HLE) to the development of reading-related abilities: A one –year longitudinal study. 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