Poster #40 - A Bumpy Ride: Parents’ Perspectives of Barriers and Building Blocks on the Path to Reading

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

Evidenced-based practices such as Dialogic Reading have been uplifted by the scientific community for nearly 30 years, but recent studies discovered that some parents find this method difficult to implement in the home, citing parents’ free time and children’s attention span as the source (Zevenbergen et al., 2016). This finding highlights the gap between research and the implementation of evidence-based strategies in the home during early childhood. Hence, this prompts the need for additional exploration into the methods parents use to teach their children how to read and if there are any barriers or building blocks to implementing reading practices within the home. The purpose of this study was to identify which reading strategies parents elect to use when teaching their children to read and to further identify factors helping or hindering this process. Semi-structured interviews with 21 parents of diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds living in England with children between the ages of 2-5 years were conducted from 2021-2022. To appropriately define and categorize parent-elected reading strategies, 15% of the interviews were double coded (k = .95). A Qualitative Content Analysis showed that 45% of parents’ primary modality to engage children in reading was through electronic platforms (i.e., mobile devices, YouTube, educational tv shows). To determine common themes across coded barriers and building blocks, a Thematic Analysis with two data auditors was conducted. Preliminarily analysis revealed topics related to Family Characteristics (SES and immigration), School and Home Environment (presence of siblings and access to books), Parent Related Factors (education and love of reading), Child Related Factors (attention Span and interest in school), and Available Time. Across these findings, parents noted the Covid-19 Pandemic and financial strain as factors that amplify existing barriers, impacting parents’ attempt to teach their children how to read. Ultimately, the aforementioned topics will inform overarching themes, providing insight into the preferred teaching tools parents use during shared parent-child reading experiences and the challenges encountered when attempting to engage children in literacy and learning.

Authors

• Keya Aurelia Elie, University of Cambridge
  Presenting Author

• Catherine Jones

• Stephanie Archer