Role of family literacy practices in children’s development of literacy skills in Botswana

This study examined the role of family literacy practices in children’s development of literacy skills in Botswana. The study addressed one main research question and seven sub-questions. The main research question was “how do parents promote early literacy development of children?” Purposive sampling was used to obtain the sample for the study and fourteen parents of the University of Botswana Child Development Laboratory participated in the study. This qualitative study used in-depth interviews with the participants, and questionnaire for data collection. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed in line with the phenomenological approach. The findings indicated that parents of the University of Botswana Child Development Laboratory owned and used various literacy materials and resources to enhance their children’s literacy skills development. It also became apparent that the parents engaged various unstructured activities to enhance children’s literacy development in their homes. Furthermore, the study identified time constraint as a major challenge that parents faced.Department of Family and Consumer SciencesThesis (M.S.