Parents' perceptions of children's literacy motivation and their home-literacy practices: what's the connection?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which parental beliefs about children's literacy motivation is associated with their literacy practices at home. A sample of 315 parents of preschool-aged children participated in the study, and completed a newly developed questionnaire pursuant to the aims of this work. Thus, the construct of literacy motivation in this study is based on parental report. The results of a confirmatory factor analysis, focused on questionnaire items concerning children's motivation for storybook reading, supported a hypothesised four-factor model; the reliability coefficients for the observed scores were above the suggested threshold for all subscales. The results also showed that parental perceptions of their children's literacy motivation was significantly related to their home literacy practices. Researchers may use the instrument to assess how parents' perceptions may be associated with their children's early literacy experiences, and to inform the design of home-based interventions to support the development of children's emergent literacy skills. Implications of the findings for early childhood policy and practices are discussed.