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Examining the Relations of Early Literacy Practices at Home to Reading Dispositions, Engagement, and Achievement among Grade 4 Students in the United Arab Emirates

Hanan Mohamed Al Jefri1* and Shaljan Areepattamannil1
  • 1 Emirates College for Advanced Education, United Arab Emirates

There is growing evidence that early literacy practices at home play a crucial role in children’s literacy development (e.g., Bergen, Zuijen, Bishop, & Jong, 2017; Boerma, Mol, & Jolles, 2017; Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2014; Shek Kam, Yu, Sau Yan, & Hung Wai, 2017). Because parents play a critical role in creating a positive home literacy environment (see Liu, Georgiou, & Manolitsis, 2018), the degree and extent of parental involvement in their children’s education may tremendously influence children’s early literacy development. However, the degree and extent of parental involvement in their children’s education may vary hugely from one cultural setting to another (see Frewen, Chew, Carter, Chunn, & Jotanovic, 2015). Moreover, prior studies that demonstrated the positive association between early literacy practices at home and children’s literacy development were primarily the offspring of Western theorizing and research. More cross-cultural research is warranted to examine whether similar relationships hold true across cultures. Hence, the purpose of the present study was two-fold: first, to examine the relations of early literacy practices at home to reading achievement, reading dispositions, and reading engagement among Grade 4 students in the United Arab Emirates; and second, to investigate the mediational roles of reading dispositions and reading engagement in the association between early literacy practices at home and reading achievement among Grade 4 students in the United Arab Emirates. Data for the study were drawn from the 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy (PIRLS) database. A total of 28,518 Grade 4 students (49% girls) from 793 schools participated in PIRLS 2016 from the United Arab Emirates. The following research questions addressed the purpose of the study: (1) How well do early literacy practices at home, before beginning primary school, predict reading achievement among Grade 4 students in the United Arab Emirates?; (2) How well do early literacy practices at home, before beginning primary school, predict dispositions toward reading (i.e., interest in reading and confidence in reading) among Grade 4 students in the United Arab Emirates?; (3) How well do early literacy practices at home, before beginning primary school, predict reading engagement among Grade 4 students in the United Arab Emirates?; (4) To what extent do dispositions toward reading (i.e., interest in reading and confidence in reading) mediate the relationships between early literacy practices at home and reading achievement among Grade 4 students in the United Arab Emirates?; and (5) To what extent does reading engagement mediate the relationships between early literacy practices at home and reading engagement among Grade 4 students in the United Arab Emirates? Results of structural equation modeling analyses, after accounting for student demographic characteristics, suggested that early literacy practices at home were significantly positively associated with reading dispositions, reading engagement, and reading achievement among Grade 4 students in the United Arab Emirates. Moreover, reading dispositions and reading engagement mediated the association between early literacy practices at home and reading achievement among Grade 4 students in the United Arab Emirates. The findings of the study highlight the important role that early literacy practices at home play in Grade 4 students’ literacy development in the United Arab Emirates.

References

Bergen, E., Zuijen, T., Bishop, D., & Jong, P. F. (2017). Why are home literacy environment and children's reading skills associated? What parental skills reveal. Reading Research Quarterly, 52(2), 147-160.
Boerma, I. E., Mol, S. E., & Jolles, J. (2017). The role of home literacy environment, mentalizing, expressive verbal ability, and print exposure in third and fourth graders’ reading comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading, 21(3), 179-193.
Frewen, A. R., Chew, E., Carter, M., Chunn, J., & Jotanovic, D. (2015). A cross-cultural exploration of parental involvement and child-rearing beliefs in Asian cultures. Early Years, 35(1), 36-49.
Liu, C., Georgiou, G. K., & Manolitsis, G. (2018). Modeling the relationships of parents’ expectations, family’s SES, and home literacy environment with emergent literacy skills and word reading in Chinese. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 43, 1-10.
Sénéchal, M., & LeFevre, J. A. (2014). Continuity and change in the home literacy environment as predictors of growth in vocabulary and reading. Child Development, 85(4), 1552-1568.
Shek Kam, T., Yu, Z., Sau Yan, H., & Hung Wai, N. (2017). The effects of home reading activities during preschool and Grade 4 on children’s reading performance in Chinese and English in Hong Kong. Australian Journal of Education, 61(1), 5-23.

Keywords: early literacy practices at home, reading dispositions, Reading engagement, reading achievement, PIRLS, United Arab Emirates

Conference: 3rd International Conference on Educational Neuroscience, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 11 Mar - 12 Mar, 2018.

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Topic: Educational Neuroscience

Citation: Al Jefri H and Areepattamannil S (2018). Examining the Relations of Early Literacy Practices at Home to Reading Dispositions, Engagement, and Achievement among Grade 4 Students in the United Arab Emirates. Conference Abstract: 3rd International Conference on Educational Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.225.00021

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Received: 09 Feb 2018; Published Online: 14 Dec 2018.

* Correspondence: Ms. Hanan Mohamed Al Jefri, Emirates College for Advanced Education, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 015064@ecae.ac.ae