Parental Involvement in the Development of Children's Reading Skill: A Five-Year Longitudinal Study

• Published in: Child development Vol. 73; no. 2; pp. 445 - 460
• Main Authors: Sénéchal, Monique, LeFevre, Jo-Anne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, USA and Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishers Inc 01.03.2002; Blackwell Publishers; Blackwell; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child development; Child, Preschool; Children; Childrens literature; Cognition and Language; Cohort Studies; Development; Developmental psychology; Educational Status; Elementary School Students; Emergent Literacy; Family studies; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Grade 1; Grade 3; Humans; Kindergarten education; Language acquisition; Language Development; Learning; Literacy; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Middle class; Motivation; Ontario; Parent-Child Relations; Parental participation; Parents; Parents & parenting; Parents as Teachers; Phonetics; Phonological awareness; Predictor Variables; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reading; Reading Achievement; Reading instruction; Reading Skills; Receptive Language; Teaching; Writing; Ontario; Human; Preschool age; Social environment; Verbal comprehension; Literature; Prediction; Exposure; Parent child relation; Verbal ability; Reading; School age; Language; Follow up study; Social interaction; Language development; Family environment; Child
• ISSN: 0009-3920; 1467-8624
• DOI: 10.1111/1467-8624.00417

This article presents the findings of the final phase of a 5-year longitudinal study with 168 middle- and upper middle-class children in which the complex relations among early home literacy experiences, subsequent receptive language and emergent literacy skills, and reading achievement were examined. Results showed that children's exposure to books was related to the development of vocabulary and listening comprehension skills, and that these language skills were directly related to children's reading in grade 3. In contrast, parent involvement in teaching children about reading and writing words was related to the development of early literacy skills. Early literacy skills directly predicted word reading at the end of grade 1 and indirectly predicted reading in grade 3. Word reading at the end of grade 1 predicted reading comprehension in grade 3. Thus, the various pathways that lead to fluent reading have their roots in different aspects of children's early experiences.