Socioeconomic and gender group differences in early literacy skills: a multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis approach

Abstract

Socioeconomic status and gender are important demographic variables that strongly relate to academic achievement. This study examined the early literacy skills differences between 4 sociodemographic groups, namely, boys ineligible for free or reduced-price lunch (FRL), girls ineligible for FRL, boys eligible for FRL, and girls eligible for FRL. Data on kindergarteners (N = 462) were analysed using multiple-group confirmatory factory analysis. Early literacy skill differences between boys and girls are more nuanced than previously reported; subsidy status and gender interact. Both boys and girls from high-poverty households performed significantly lower than the girls from low-poverty households in alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, and spelling. There were gender gaps, with a female advantage, among children from high-poverty households in alphabet knowledge and spelling and among children from low-poverty households in alphabet knowledge. These results highlight the importance of employing methodologically sound techniques to ascertain group differences in componential early literacy skills.

Keywords:

• early literacy skills
• gender
• socioeconomic status
• multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis
• kindergarten

Notes on contributors

Julia Lee Ai Cheng, PhD, works as a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. She holds a master's degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a doctoral degree in Special Education from Florida State University. While Dr. Lee was at Florida State University, she worked closely with renowned professors in her field such as Professor Dr. Stephanie Al Otaiba and Professor Dr. Barbara Foorman, co-chairs of her doctoral dissertation. Dr. Lee also underwent substantial training as a reading interventionist. She has also volunteered for America Reads, a national literacy campaign. Her research interests include early identification and remediation of reading difficulties and disabilities, language and literacy profiles among early elementary students, and technology use for the early identification and intervention of reading difficulties and disabilities. Dr. Lee's current research project, in her bid to contribute to the advancement of learning disabilities research in Malaysia, is entitled “Development of a comprehensive diagnostic instrument for the identification and classification of language and literacy skills in primary school children with reading disabilities”. This research project, which runs from 2013–2015, is funded by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education. Dr. Lee enjoys teaching undergraduate courses in cognition and learning, human development psychology, and providing one-to-one intervention sessions to children with learning disabilities. She also teaches a graduate course entitled Social and cultural dimensions in learning and instruction.

Stephanie Al Otaiba, PhD, joined Southern Methodist University in January 2012 as Professor of Teaching and Learning in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development. Previously, she was an Associate Professor at the Florida State University (FSU) and was on faculty at the Florida Center for Reading Research. She received her PhD in 2000 in Human Development from Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, and prior to that, she was a special educator for over a decade in the United Arab Emirates. She enjoys teaching graduate courses in literacy, special education, assessment, response to intervention, and mentoring doctoral students. Dr. Al Otaiba's research interests include school-based literacy interventions, response to intervention, learning disabilities, diverse learners, and teacher training. She has published over 80 journal articles and book chapters related to these interests. She has also developed reading curricular materials. Her line of research has been supported by several federally funded grants from the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences, the Office of Special Education Programs, and from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Her dissertation was awarded the 2001 Outstanding Dissertation Award from the International Reading Association, and in 2010 she was the recipient of The Council for Exceptional Children Division for Research Distinguished Early Career Research Award. She also received the Developing Scholar Award and the Graduate Faculty Mentor Award at FSU in 2010. She teaches graduate courses in the Reading and Writing and Special Education programs. Dr. Al Otaiba serves on review panels for grants for the Institute of Education Science and has reviewed for the Office of Special Education Programs. She is an Associate Editor of Education Researcher and the Elementary School Journal and also serves on numerous editorial boards for scholarly journals in the field of education. Dr. Al Otaiba has consulted nationally and internationally related to early literacy intervention and assessment.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grant P50HD052120 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NICHD or the National Institutes of Health.