A note of caution: The authors write, “Our results do not in any way imply that formal schooling cannot compensate for the absence of scholarly culture in the home; but the results do highlight the fact that children from homes lacking in scholarly culture may require special attention.” Charles Bayless (2010) speaks also of a “reading culture” that develops in homes when children are able to read and enjoy their own books in their own environment: For the majority of young people, enthusiastic and habitual reading is the single most predictive personal habit [leading to] desirable life outcomes. Enthusiastic and habitual reading is primarily a function of the family environment and culture, and it is most effectively inculcated in the earliest years (0–6) but can be accomplished at any age. Creating a reading culture can be achieved objectively and through a series of specific behaviors and activities undertaken by parents—but it requires access to books, time, persistence, and consistency. Of course, in today’s digital world, parents are facing new challenges as they work to inspire a love of reading in their children. According to the Scholastic Kids and Family Reading Report, nearly half of parents say that their children do not spend enough time reading for fun and spends too much time on social network sites or playing video games. Parents’ concerns have increased since 2010 for children across all age groups (2013). Closing Thoughts The PIRLS researchers found a positive relationship between students’ reading achievement in the fourth grade and parents having engaged their children in early literacy activities before starting school (e.g., reading books, telling stories, singing songs, playing with alphabet toys, and playing word games). • The presence of children’s books in the home also continued to show a strong positive relationship with reading achievement. The average reading achievement difference between students from homes with many children’s books (more than 100) and those from homes with few children’s books (10 or fewer) was very large (91 points, almost one standard deviation). On average across countries, there was a slight decrease in parents’ reports of the number of children’s books in the home, perhaps reflecting increased access to internet-based literacy media. • In PIRLS 2006, on average across countries, 37 percent of the fourth-grade students had parents who read more than five hours a week: 43 percent for one to five hours, and 20 percent for less than one hour a week. Not surprisingly, reading achievement was highest for students whose parents had favorable attitudes toward reading.
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CHAPTER 5: TEACH 6 FAMILY LITERACY
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