Abstract:

Studies on the early stages of reading acquisition found that positive parental involvement in reading is related to reading achievement (Klauda, 2009; Sénéchal & Young, 2008). Parental involvement in reading has been defines as reading support and included measures as recommendation of reading materials; encouragement to read and conversation on reading content.

Most studies focused on mother’s rating of their support and , less is known about the perceptions children have about parental involvement and do they match their parents view of parental support. Furthermore, little research has focused on older children beyond the stages of reading acquisition.
Therefore, the objective of thes research was to examine in a sample of third grade children the role and view of parental support at the child and mother level. We further examined if these views were matched and related to actual reading achievement.

The research sample included 105 third grade children and their mothers from 13 medium-high leveled schools. The level of involvement in reading was measured through an identical questionnaire developed for the mother and the child and included the 7 categories (Segal, 2020). In addition standardized vocabulary, reading fluency and reading comprehension measures were administered to the children.

Children were characterized into three groups of reading comprehension abilities: low, average and high. Then, repeated measures Anova’s were run on the parents and the children’s questionnaires. Differences between the three groups were found at the mother’s level of involvement as well as in the child’s report of involvement. Mothers of low comprehenders reported a higher frequency of active involvement with literacy enrichment. Children with low and medium level of reading comprehension also reported higher level of parental involvement around literacy, and higher ratings of parental’s ability to support reading development. However, at the same time, both the mothers of children with low reading comprehension performance and the children themselves reported a higher level of frequency of expressing negative feelings and control on the mother’s part.

These findings suggest a cohesive model of perceptions around literacy and stress the need to develop parent training in this area.

Keywords:

Mother involvement in reading, perceptions of mother, perceptions of child, reading comprehension.