Getting children ready for kindergarten: The nature and impact of changes in the home learning environment on the growth of early literacy and language skills.

Since parents tend to adjust their practices to better meet their children's developing needs, parents may modify or change their home learning environment as their children grow. This may be even more true when children get close to school entry. Given that this time is critical, socially and educationally for young children, parents may be more likely to change their home practices to get their children ready for school. And the changes may influence children's development and learning. This dissertation includes two studies, aiming to describe the existence of changes in the early home learning environment at the time of kindergarten transition and the impact of those changes on children's emerging literacy and language skills. Study 1 examined the extent of changes in the overall home learning environment using national data of NICHD ECCRN (N=1,364). Results showed that 30.6% of parents of preschoolers improved the home learning environment from 36 to 54 months of age of their children, while only 0.6% decreased. More important, the improved home learning environment positively influenced the growth of children's language and literacy skills. Based on the results of Study 1, Study 2 includes in-depth analyses of parenting changes during preschool years using a method of shared reading observation of parents. Two years of coded data from videotaped book reading of 42 parents of preschoolers showed that parents were found to change their book reading practices as children approached kindergarten entry; parents increased their focus on code-focused talk and decreased meaning-focused talk. Parents were more likely to increase their code-focused talk when children had lower decoding skills. And the increase in code-focused talk influenced the growth of early literacy skills. Specifically, increase in talking about sounds influenced the growth of sound awareness and increased focus on words decoding influenced the growth of letter-word recognition and passage comprehension skills. This dissertation extended the developmental view of parenting and its importance to young children's development. It may also provide relevant justifications for early intervention programs to improve parenting for children's school readiness by evincing the possibility and the impact of parenting changes on school readiness.PhDDevelopmental psychologyEarly childhood educationEducationEducational psychologyPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/125891/2/3224752.pd