Parents' views on reading aloud to their children: Beyond the early years

While children benefit from exposure to reading aloud at home, relatively little is known about parents' perceptions of the practice. Reading aloud supports development of a range of reading and cognitive skills, provides a valuable opportunity for focused interaction between parents and children, and enhances children's attitudes toward reading. This paper reports on data from the mixed-methods 2016 Western Australian Study in Reading Aloud collected from consenting parents at 14 primary schools. Findings explore frequency of reading aloud to children at home, parental attitudes toward the practice, duration of reading sessions, and perceived barriers to reading aloud. Findings give educators insight into the home literacy learning context, as well as illustrating the barriers contemporary families perceive in supporting their children's literacy development at home