Inequalities on child cognitive outcomes exist as children enter the first grade. These differences are even wider for children in low-income families. This article aims to examine the extent to which home factors account for variation in early literacy outcomes in the first year of schooling. A total of 72 first graders and their parents from low-income families in Lusaka, Zambia, participated in the study. A self-reported home literacy questionnaire was used to collect home literacy data − parental education, home possessions, reading materials, language awareness, print experience, writing activities, reading activities and teaching letters. Children’s early literacy skills were assessed using four measures: orthography awareness, spelling, vocabulary and math tests. These tests were measured at two points: at the beginning and at the end of the first grade. Results showed that teaching letters was most predictive of literacy outcomes both at the beginning and end of the first year. The study concludes that formal teaching of letters at home is the parents’ greatest strength for supporting literacy in low-income families. Thus, energies for parental involvement should be directed in ways that are culturally practised and manageable by parents for better literacy outcomes.
Quality education is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set for achievement by 2030. Attaining inclusive and quality education is the foundation to improving people’s lives and sustainable development. Major progress has been made towards increasing access to education at all levels with rates of 52% in 1990 to 78% in 2012 (UNESCO
Basic literacy is the foundation of lifelong learning. Ensuring success for a literate people means understanding that literacy is deep rooted in historical culture and cannot be divorced from social contexts like family, schools and communities (Bruner
This article is aimed at examining how the variability in literacy environments in low-income families account for differences in early literacy outcomes at the beginning and at the end of the first grade. The examination of these literacy environments in low-income contexts is key to advancing inclusive and equal education opportunities especially for the poor. It is well documented that by the time children enter the first grade, they have some exposure ot a literate world in one way or the other (Burgess, Hetch & Lonigan
Although children experience variant forms of literacy activities that usher them into literate world, experiences of those from vulnerable backgrounds are similarly poor and undifferentiated. If this assumption holds, no difference in performance should be found when children enter the first grade. The goal of this study was twofold: to find out (1) the extent to which children from low-income Zambian families experience a conventional home literate environment and (2) the extent to which this variation impacts literacy outcomes at the beginning and end of the first grade.
These data were collected by the support of the reading support for Zambian children (RESUZ) project in which 42 public schools were randomly selected to participate (see Chansa-Kabali, Serpell & Lyytinen
Boy participants were 32 representing 44.4% (
Home visits were scheduled with parents in collaboration with teachers. Parental consent to participate in the study was obtained, in writing or otherwise orally for parents who were illiterate. Administration of the parents’ questionnaire lasted approximately 45 minutes to an hour. The language of administration for parents who could not speak English was primarily the local languages (IciBemba and Cinyanja) and code switching between English and the local languages for parents who were conversant with English.
Child measures were conducted individually at respective schools. Each child spent about 1 hour during the assessment. All four tests had sample items that were introduced first before the actual test. The orthographic awareness was set for 3 minutes. Without a time limit, the spelling test was administered by dictation. For the spelling, vocabulary and math tests, the child was presented with four possible responses from which they were expected to choose the correct response. All these tests progressed with increasing difficulty.
To measure home literacy-related activities, questions were adapted for the Zambian context from previously used questionnaires by Sénéchal et al. (
Reading Activities – Parents were asked to rate the frequency of reading-related activities on a five-point scale − 5 (daily), 4 (2 to 3 times a week), 3 (once a week), 2 (at least once a month) and 1 (never). Questions included the following: ‘How often the parent reads for pleasure’, ‘How often the parent shared what they read’, ‘How often they read to the child’, ‘How often they offered help in reading’, ‘How often they talked about what they read to the child’ A total of nine items were asked which produced an internal consistency of α = 0.87.
Parental education was assessed using a five-point scale − 1 = no formal schooling; 2 = primary; 3 = junior secondary; 4 = senior secondary; 5 = college or higher. This was combined for mothers and fathers to obtain a parental education variable. These items gave a reliability of α = 0.70.
Possessions were assessed by the presence (yes) or absence (no) of the following items − television, running water, flushable toilet, electricity, stove and a car which gave an internal reliability of α = 0.78.
Assessment relating to writing activities (six items), teaching letters (six items), language awareness (six items) and print experience (six items) asked questions on the frequency of the activities in the home which were measured on a five-point scale − 5 (daily), 4 (2 to 3 times a week), 3 (once a week), 2 (at least once a month) and 1 (never). The internal consistency values for each of the variables were α = 0.78, 0.72, 0.81 and 0.71, respectively. Reading materials were assessed by availability, type and quantity.
Four locally adapted tests that measure early literacy were used. All the measures were in ciNyanja.
The Picture Vocabulary Test (PVT) was used to assess receptive language. Originally developed by Dunn and Dunn (
The Zambia Achievement Test – Mathematics (ZAT-M) – was used to measure math competence in primary school grades, developed by researchers from the University of Zambia and Yale University (Stemler et al.
The means, standard deviations and the range of scores (minimum and maximum) on the home literacy variables are presented in
Descriptive statistics of home literacy variables,
Home literacy variables | Minimum score | Maximum score | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Parental education | 2 | 14 | 6.75 | 2.75 |
Possessions | 2 | 12 | 8.93 | 2.35 |
Reading materials | 0 | 15 | 6.62 | 4.02 |
Language awareness | 2 | 19 | 10.34 | 5.77 |
Teaching letters | 0 | 12 | 4.39 | 3.22 |
Writing activities | 0 | 11 | 4.62 | 3.01 |
Print awareness | 2 | 12 | 6.75 | 3.13 |
Reading activities | 4 | 14 | 8.51 | 3.00 |
Descriptive statistics of early literacy outcome variables.
Literacy outcomes | Phase 1 ( |
Phase 2 ( |
||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Orthographic awareness | −2 | 28 | 16.82 | 7.43 | 0 | 31 | 23.39 | 7.48 |
Spelling | 1 | 17 | 8.36 | 3.54 | 3 | 20 | 14.47 | 5.48 |
Vocabulary | 16 | 28 | 23.81 | 2.82 | 13 | 30 | 24.47 | 3.59 |
Math ematics | 6 | 25 | 16.67 | 4.01 | 1 | 27 | 17.71 | 5.61 |
Differences in early literacy outcome variables at the beginning (pre) and end (post) of the first grade.
Pairs | Paired differences |
||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
95% CI of the differences |
|||||||
Lower bound | Upper bound | ||||||
Pre OA–post OA | −6.57 | 5.86 | 0.75 | −8.08 | −5.05 | −8.68 | 0.001 |
Pre spelling–post spelling | −1.77 | 4.39 | 0.57 | −2.90 | −0.63 | −3.11 | 0.003 |
Pre vocabulary–post vocabulary | −0.90 | 3.28 | 0.42 | −1.75 | −0.05 | −2.13 | 0.038 |
Pre math ematics–post math ematics | −0.75 | 5.61 | 0.72 | −2.20 | 0.69 | −1.03 | 0.305 |
A correlation matrix was computed to determine the bivariate associations among the home literacy variables. Testing multicollinearity by using tolerance and variance inflation factors showed that numerical responses for each variable included in the analysis did not violate the assumptions for possible multicollinearity. Violation of multicollinearity occurs when the values of tolerance are closer to 0 or that of the variance inflation factors are closer to 5.0. For this study, values of tolerance were more than 0.89 and the variance inflation factors were less than 1.25. Multicollinearity assumes that when violation of the variables occurs, factors being investigated are measuring the same construct (Field 2013). The non-violation of the multicollinearity assumptions shows that variables under investigation are not measuring the same construct. However, shared variance is implied by the observed significant correlations.
The zero order correlations in
Summary of zero order intercorrelations of variables at the beginning of the first grade,
Variables | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Parental education | 1 | |||||||||||
2. Home possessions | 0.40 |
1 | ||||||||||
3. Reading materials | 0.26 |
0.37 |
1 | |||||||||
4. Language awareness | 0.49 |
0.45 |
0.36 |
1 | ||||||||
5. Print experience | 0.45 |
0.34 |
0.31 |
0.56 |
1 | |||||||
6. Teaching letters | 0.56 |
0.49 |
0.45 |
0.38 |
0.44 |
1 | ||||||
7. Writing activities | 0.36 |
0.26 |
0.37 |
0.40 |
0.57 |
0.53 |
1 | |||||
8. Reading activities | 0.27 |
0.35 |
0.30 |
0.38 |
0.35 |
0.43 |
0.49 |
1 | ||||
9. Orthographic awareness | 0.56 |
0.38 |
0.62*** |
0.42 |
0.46 |
0.68 |
0.41 |
0.34 |
1 | |||
10. Spelling | 0.48 |
0.30 |
0.26 |
0.36 |
0.46 |
0.62 |
0.43 |
0.41 |
0.22 |
1 | ||
11. Vocabulary | 0.28 |
0.36 |
0.23 |
0.30 |
0.39 |
0.32 |
0.24 |
0.29 |
0.27 |
0.44 |
1 | |
12. Math ematics | 0.56 |
0.16 | 0.53 |
0.30 |
0.49 |
0.55 |
0.37 |
0.25 |
0.69 |
0.43 |
0.42 |
1 |
The zero order correlations in
Summary of zero order intercorrelations of variables at the end of the first grade,
Variables | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Parental education | 1 | |||||||||||
2. Home possessions | 0.40 |
1 | ||||||||||
3. Reading materials | 0.26 |
0.37 |
1 | |||||||||
4. Language awareness | 0.49 |
0.45 |
0.36 |
1 | ||||||||
5. Print experience | 0.45 |
0.34 |
0.31 |
0.56 |
1 | |||||||
6. Teaching letters | 0.56 |
0.49 |
0.45 |
0.38 |
0.44 |
1 | ||||||
7. Writing activities | 0.36 |
0.26 |
0.37 |
0.40 |
0.57 |
0.53 |
1 | |||||
8. Reading activities | 0.27 |
0.35 |
0.30 |
0.38 |
0.35 |
0.43 |
0.49 |
1 | ||||
9. Orthographic awareness | 0.30 |
0.32 |
0.50 |
0.40 |
0.37 |
0.57 |
0.21 |
0.32 |
1 | |||
10. Spelling | 0.55 |
0.14 | 0.38 |
0.37 |
0.39 |
0.65 |
0.38 |
0.48 |
0.26 |
1 | ||
11. Vocabulary | 0.31 |
0.24 |
0.47 |
0.23 |
0.35 |
0.42 |
0.29 |
0.23 |
0.25 |
0.41 |
1 | |
12. Math ematics | 0.22 |
0.36 |
0.13 | 0.20 |
0.23 |
0.48 |
0.09 | 0.25 |
0.52 |
0.47 |
0.21 |
1 |
The regression analyses followed the stepwise method to assess predictors that emerged significant. Theoretically, the home literacy variables being assessed have been reported to have some relationship with literacy skills. This relationship can be seen from the significant correlations noted from the above tables. However, the stepwise method is applied without prior assumptions and is purely based on a strict mathematical criterion and random assignment of the variables.
In
Regression analyses of predictive home literacy variables on early literacy outcomes at the beginning of the first grade.
Outcome variable | Predictor variables | Statistical models |
||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SEb | Δ |
|||||||
Orthographic awareness | Teaching letters | 0.63 | 0.12 | 0.39 | 0.48 | 1.69 | 44.93 | 0.001 |
Reading materials | 0.70 | 0.21 | 0.32 | 0.32 | 1.68 | 10.88 | 0.002 |
|
Spelling | Teaching letters | 0.33 | 0.06 | 0.44 | 0.53 | 1.69 | 56.00 | 0.001 |
Parental education | 0.31 | 0.13 | 0.47 | 0.24 | 1.68 | 5.24 | 0.025 |
|
Vocabulary | Language awareness | 0.21 | 0.08 | 0.07 | 0.30 | 1.69 | 6.85 | 0.011 |
Mathematics | Teaching letters | 0.367 | 0.07 | 0.26 | 0.52 | 1.69 | 26.31 | 0.001 |
Regression analyses of predictive home literacy variables on early literacy outcomes at the end of the first grade.
Outcome variables | Predictor variables | Statistical models |
||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SEb | Δ |
|||||||
Orthographic awareness | Teaching letters | 0.867 | 0.29 | 0.27 | 0.55 | 1.37 | 8.86 | 0.007 |
Spelling | Teaching letters | 0.756 | 0.135 | 0.59 | 0.78 | 1.37 | 31.50 | 0.001 |
Vocabulary | Language awareness | 0.24 | 0.068 | 0.16 | 0.42 | 1.37 | 12.46 | 0.001 |
Mathematics | Teaching letters | 0.808 | 0.291 | 0.24 | 0.52 | 1.37 | 7.71 | 0.012 |
This study examined the extent to which home literacy environment variables in low-income families account for differences in literacy outcomes at the beginning and end of the first grade. Differences in family structure, context and resources play a significant role in learners’ literacy outcomes (Akos, Rose & Orthner
Variables examined included parental education, home possessions, reading materials, language awareness, print exposure, writing, reading and teaching activities. The first aim of the study addressed the extent to which learners experience the conventional literate home. A ‘conventional literate home’ is operationalised as one that provides opportunities that are widely agreed upon. For example, oral language, presence of books, unconventional print, reading, writing and teaching activities were part of the ecological and cultural features that shaped and sustained the literate experiences. Results from descriptive statistics have shown that children experienced the conventional literacy home. The study has shown that children were exposed to oral language. Oral language abilities in early childhood have been reported to predict beginning literacy skills such as phonological awareness, letter knowledge and concepts about print as well as later reading achievement (Bishop & Adams
Studies have indicated the significance of reading materials for a literate home (Heath
In order to encourage the exposure of books to children, the creation of libraries with full engagement of parents would help facilitate the experience with books. When these libraries are erected, library visits should be made mandatory for children could be a strategic direction. In order to ensure maximum parental involvement, some form of penalty on both the parent and child may be applied. In the bid to avoid the penalty, the children may be the front runners in reminding the parents. In addition, tying the library attendance to some form of assessment and awards would send a message of importance to the parents. Parents can sign some kind of a registry whenever the child attends the library. This could be a way of keeping track of the library attendance. The concept of an award may increase library attendance especially since this is not a cultural experience of many Zambians. Therefore, emphasising library attendance when learners are young may register its important at an early age and may be a practice developed for later learning. Schools could come up with guidance on suitable attendance per week or month and the kind of awards. In addition to conventional print, children in this study experienced 3 unconventional forms of print in the environment − labels on foodstuffs, laundry packages, street signs, etc. This experience added to their print exposure. Other researchers have also reported on the importance of unconventional reading materials and their impact on the emergent literacy in the absence of conventional books (Heath
The study examined the influence of specific home variables on the literacy outcomes at the beginning and end of the first grade. At the beginning of the first grade, teaching letters and reading materials predicted orthographic awareness. The teaching of letters as an activity is a deliberate, systematic and intentional activity which aims at introducing children to written language. Although the presence of reading materials may not necessarily require systematic teaching, the presence itself is considered by many researchers as a gateway to a literate world (Bloch
Spelling was predicted by teaching letters and parental education. Similarly, teaching of letters was more predictive because of the nature of the activity. Despite the general low levels of education, it can be argued that parents with higher educational attainment may have engaged in various ways of teaching spelling including teaching of sounds. The sounds taught included the vowels a, e, i, o and u. Research shows that teaching letters – sounds and names – is more predictive of early spelling skills (Hecht & Close
Teaching letters singularly predicted mathematical skills. This finding was unexpected because the teaching of letters and mathematical skills seem unrelated at first glance. However, it could be that in the episodes of teaching, parents could have taught mathematical materials like numbers, puzzles, etc. This study only captured the activity of teaching letters without exploring other skills that could have been included in the teaching sessions. It would be interesting to explore the different skills that children are exposed to in teaching sessions.
Like other studies, this study found that vocabulary was influenced by language awareness. This finding was expected because the amount of oral language that the child is exposed to determines the amount of vocabulary they possess. Oral language activities such as singing and games explain the scoring on the vocabulary test. It can also be argued that these children were exposed to many people in the community who interacted with them at different levels. Each unit of interaction between the child and a significant other and especially among themselves was characterised by oral language enhancers like games.
Results of this study have shown statistically significant differences on all literacy outcome measures at pre- and post-tests except for mathematics. The difference in the literacy outcomes was expected because the children were expected to have gained knowledge in the learning processes both at school and home. However, the non-significant finding for mathematics could be explained by the fact that at this stage, teachers, schools and homes may focus more on reading than math ematics. At the end of the first grade, teaching of letters singularly predicted orthographic awareness, spelling and mathematical skills. This result may have followed this pattern because skills other than reading could have been included in the teaching. While these results show the positive effect of the formal teaching activities at home, some studies in the United States have shown a negative effect of home teaching on literacy skills (Chen & Stevenson
Analyses at end of the year showed that only teaching letters predicted three of the literacy skills – orthographic awareness, spelling and math ematics. The performance on these skills could be explained by the systematic classroom instruction in reading and numeracy that learners receive at school. It could be that home variables may not show significant contribution to the skills acquired once children start experiencing systematic teaching from school. The debate around the effectiveness of home variables is still ongoing. For example, whereas Bus et al. (
These results have shown that among low-income, less educated parents the formal activity of teaching letters makes a difference at the beginning and end of the first grade. This is in line with findings by Sénéchal (
It was expected that language awareness would continue to impact vocabulary at the end of the year. Here, the children increased their social networks to include friends and teachers. These interactions seemingly impacted their oral language. Other unexpected results that did predict literacy outcome was writing. An explanation for this finding could be that writing is secondary and comes after the very basic skills (knowledge) have been acquired. Thus, its activity may not be as emphasised early in the acquisition of literacy skills.
Overall, the study reveals lower levels of literate experiences. This could be explained by low levels of parental educational attainment that may inhibit their exploration and level of participation in such activities. Parents may lack confidence in interacting with their children on such activities and place the responsibility of teaching their children on the school. This may reduce the literacy interactions at home (Chansa-Kabali et al.
These results are indicative of the activities that children in low-income families experience. Encouraging parents to conduct formal teaching activities in the homes appears to be more yielding. It is acknowledged that aspects of the home literacy environment are critical to the development of literacy skills; it is important for contexts like the one under examination to concentrate its strength. For instance, variables like parental education, home possessions and reading materials are anchored on the alleviation of poverty. Because poverty is a reality that may not go away soon, this study proposes that parents should engage in activities that are easy and manageable but still make an impact. Similarly, reading activities require changing a number of things including historical patterns that have been created. This too may take a longer time to achieve and requires massive sensitisation and awareness programmes. The advantage of encouraging teaching of letters is that most parents not only know letters of the alphabet but may also feel confident teaching them The conclusions of this study should be treated with caution owing to the fact that when children were in school, systematic teacher instruction was instituted and could have an impact on their literacy outcomes. The fact that Since teacher variables were not controlled for, it could be that at the end of the first grade, the teacher factors may have played a significant role in the achieved literacy outcomes. Similarly, the small sample size may not produce confident conclusions. As such, these results are only indicative and further studies should consider larger samples size including other socioeconomic classes and teacher variables.
The author declares that she has no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced her in writing this article.
CiNyanja is the officially approved language of literacy instruction in Lusaka province where the study was conducted.