Measuring Parental Literacy Beliefs in a Socio-Economically, Linguistically and Ethnically Diverse Sample

Figures & data

Table 1. Participant characteristics

Characteristic	Amount (percentage of total sample)
Parents	N= 35 (100%)
Mother	n= 31 (89%)
Father	n= 3 (8%)
Mother and mothers’ partner (not father of child)	n= 1 (3%)
Interview language
Dutch	n= 31 (89%)
Dutch and English	n= 2 (5%)
Moroccan Arabic (with interpreter)	n= 1 (3%)
Portuguese (with interpreter)	n= 1 (3%)
Parental Education
Low^a	n = 13 (37%)
Middle^b	n= 15 (43%)
High^c	n= 6 (17%)
Unknown^d	n= 1 (3%)
Country of birth
Netherlands	n= 24 (69%)
Another country	n= 11 (31%)
Language spoken to child
Dutch only	n= 10 (29%)
Dutch and other language(s)	n= 17 (48%)
Only other language(s)	n= 8 (23%)
Child’s age (in months)	M= 69.5, SD = 3.1
Gender child
Boys	n= 20 (57%)
Girls	n= 15 (43%)

^aNo education, primary and/or prevocational secondary education.

^bSenior general secondary education or pre-university education, and/or secondary vocational education.

^cHigher professional education or university degree.

^dParent did not indicate educational level.

Table 2. Home literacy practices included in the ranking task

	Facilitative practices	Instructional practices
Meaning-oriented practices	Talking with your child	Teaching your child new words/concepts
	Shared reading	Correcting your child when s/he used a word incorrectly
Code-oriented practices	Playing letter games	Teaching your child the alphabet
	Citing nursery rhymes	Practicing the writing of letters with your child

Table 3. Frequencies and percentages of parental rankings of the activities included in the ranking task and descriptive statistics for the four variables computed based on the rankings

		Meaning-oriented facilitative practices		Meaning-oriented instructional practices		Code-oriented instructional practices		Code-oriented facilitative practices
		Talking with your child	Shared reading	Teaching your child new words/concepts	Correcting your child when s/he used a word incorrectly	Teaching your child the alphabet	Practicing the writing of letters with your child	Playing letter games	Citing nursery rhymes
Position in ranking Frequency and percentage	1	24 (68%)	6 (17%)	1 (3%)	2 (6%)	1 (3%)	0	1 (3%)	0
	2	5 (14%)	14 (40%)	4 (11%)	3 (8%)	1 (3%)	3 (9%)	4 (11%)	1 (3%)
	3	3 (9%)	6 (17%)	5 (14%)	7 (20%)	5 (14%)	2 (6%)	4 (11%)	3 (9%)
	4	1 (3%)	5 (14%)	7 (20%)	8 (23%)	4 (11%)	2 (6%)	4 (11%)	3 (9%)
	5	0	1 (3%)	2 (6%)	4 (11%)	7 (20%)	9 (26%)	3 (9%)	8 (23%)
	6	1 (3%)	1 (3%)	8 (23%)	2 (6%)	5 (14%)	7 (20%)	6 (17%)	5 (14%)
	7	1 (3%)	1 (3%)	6 (17%)	4 (11%)	4 (11%)	6 (17%)	9 (26%)	4 (11%)
	8	0	1 (3%)	1 (3%)	5 (14%)	8 (23%)	5 (14%)	4 (11%)	11 (31%)
Missing				1 (3%)			1 (3%)
Total		35	35	35	35	35	35	35	35
M (SD)		1.71 (1.43)	2.80 (1.68)	4.71 (1.88)	4.60 (2.12)	5.46 (1.99)	5.56 (1.76)	5.23 (2.09)	5.97 (1.81)
Min.-Max.		1–7	1–8	1–8	1–8	1–8	2–8	1–8	2–8
Literacy perspectives			n	Min	Max	M	SD
Meaning-oriented perspective^a			35	2.50	5.33	3.46	.81
Code-oriented perspective^a			35	3.67	6.50	5.54	.81
Instructional approach^a			34	3.50	6.50	5.10	.76
Facilitative approach^a			35	2.50	5.50	3.93	.77

^aLower scores represent a stronger parental preference for this perspective/approach.

Table 4. Coding scheme for types of explanations for the ranking of the home practices in the ranking task

Main categories	Subcategories	Mentioned by nr. of parents
Activities support children’s skill development.	Stimulate meaning-related skills Definition: explanation refers to support of meaning-related language skills, such as vocabulary, listening comprehension, speaking fluency, reading comprehension	26
	Stimulate code skills Definition: explanation refers to support of code skills, such as letter knowledge, word decoding, reading, phonological awareness	14
	Stimulate learning (general) Definition: explanation refers to support of learning in general or school readiness, content of learning is not specified.	9
	Stimulate imagination Definition: explanation refers to support of child's imagination.	4
	Stimulate social skills Definition: explanation refers to increasing knowledge of social rules, social behavior and skills in children.	3
Activities support child’s wellbeing	Enhance parent-child relationship Definition: explanation refers to parent-child contact, wellbeing of parent and child in parent-child contact, importance of knowing child, importance of child feeling safe with parent, importance of stimulating relation of trust between parent and child	24
	Support self-confidence Definition: explanation refers to children’s self-confidence and practices that promote or impair self–confidence	4
	Play to relax/as reward for learning Definition: explanation refers to play as opposed to learning, play as an instrument to have children relax or to reward children	8
Parental beliefs on children’s learning	Learning/teaching depends on child’s characteristics (interests/age/development) Definition: explanation refers to parent’s consideration for children’s specific age, development or interests.	23
	Importance of play-based learning/enjoyment/interest of child in learning activity Definition: explanation refers to parental views/observations related to children’s play and enjoyment in/for learning activities	18
	Teaching/learning occurs automatically/naturally Definition: explanation refers to either home practices that occur naturally/automatically in parent-child contact or to children’s learning that occurs naturally, automatically (without the need to explicitly address the skills being learned)	17
	Sequential process of learning/teaching Definition: explanation refers to a sequential nature of learning that some activities/skills (should) occur before others, and/or to either home practices that are conditional/foundational to continue with other home practices or to skills that are conditional/foundational for the learning of other skills.	14
	Importance of parent teaching Definition: explanation refers to the perceived importance parental direct teaching practices for children’s learning	13
	Learning/teaching happens at school/not at home Definition: explanation refers to learning activities viewed by the parents as the school’s (or other institution’s) responsibility instead	13
	Importance of evaluating child’s level of development Definition: explanation refers to parents assessing children’s development and skills, and the importance of assessing child’s level of development	4
	School is not enough for learning Definition explanation refers to parents emphasizing the importance of learning at home, because school is not enough to acquire certain skills	2
Importance of activities based on parent factors	Parental insecurity. Definition: explanation refers to parents’ own insecurity in performing certain learning activities well	7
	Parental preferences Definition: explanation refers to parents own preferences, likes and dislikes in performing certain learning activities.	8
	Practical Definition: explanation refers to practical reasons for a parent for the perceived importance of a learning activity.	2
Other	Other activities are more important	7
	No or unclear motivation	10

Table 5. Frequency of types of explanations mentioned for each activity type (meaning, code, instruction, facilitation)

Main category	Explanation	Meaning-oriented activities	Code-oriented activities	Instructional activities	Facilitative activities
Activities support children’s skill development.	Stimulate oral language skills	39	2	6	35
	Stimulate code skills	9	12	10	11
	Stimulate learning (general)	10	1	3	8
	Stimulate imagination	4			4
	Stimulate social skills	5		2	3
Activities support child’s wellbeing	Enhance parent-child relationship	28	1, 2^a		29, 2^a
	Support self- confidence	4^a		4^a
	Play to relax/as reward for learning		4, 4^a	1^a	4, 3^a
Parental beliefs on children’s learning	Learning/teaching depends on child’s characteristics (interests/age/development)	13	37	27	23
	Importance of play-based learning/enjoyment/interest of child in learning activity	7	16, 1^a	2, 1^a	21
	Teaching/learning occurs automatically/naturally	11	10	19	2
	Sequential process of learning/teaching	8	9	7	10
	Importance of direct teaching	9	3	10	2
	Learning/teaching happens at school/not at home		22	14	8
	Importance of evaluating child’s level of development	4			4
	School is not enough for learning		2	2
Importance of activities based on parent factors	Parental insecurity	4	5	7	2
	Parental preferences	4	4	2	6
	Practical	2		1	1
Other	Other activities are more important	3	6	2	7
	No or unclear motivation	6	5	5	6

Frequencies displayed in this table are the frequency with which each explanation is mentioned for each activity type. Parents could mention the same type of explanations several times for several activities.

^aNumbers marked with ^arepresent parental responses of which the content is reversed. For example, two parents stated that the code-oriented facilitative activity playing letter games does not enhance parent-child relationship and four parents stated that instructional activities are counterproductive in supporting children’s self-confidence.

Table 6. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations (Kendall’s τ) for parental literacy preferences and demographic background variables

		N	Min	Max	M	SD	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	Meaning-oriented perspective^a	35	2.50	5.33	3.46	.81	1.00	−1.00^**	.34*	−.26	.09	−.15
2	Code-oriented perspective^a	35	3.67	6.50	5.54	.81	−1.00**	1.00	−.34*	.26	−.09	.15
3	Instructional approach^a	34	3.50	6.50	5.10	.76	.34*	−.34*	1.00	−1.00**	−.18	.08
4	Facilitative approach^a	35	2.50	5.50	3.93	.77	−.26	.26	−1.00**	1.00	.20	−.12
5	Migrant background	35	.00	1.00	.69	.47	.09	−.09	−.18	.20	1.00	−.28
6	Educational level	34	1.00	3.00	1.79	.73	−.15	.15	.08	−.12	−.28	1.00

^aLower scores represent a stronger parental preference for this perspective/approach * p < .05, ** p < .01

Table 7. Results of the Mann–Whitney U tests exploring differences in preferences across the three language groups

Tests	Language groups	Preference	Mdn^a	N	U	z	p	r
Set 1	Monolingual Dutch	Facilitation	3.5	10	70	−.76	.46	−.15
	Dutch and other language(s)		3.5	17
	Monolingual Dutch	Instruction	5.5	10	70	−.53	.61	−.10
	Dutch and other language(s)		5.5	17
	Monolingual Dutch	Meaning-oriented perspective	3.3	10	82	−.16	.89	−.03
	Dutch and other language(s)		3.5	17
	Monolingual Dutch	Code-oriented perspective	5.8	10	82	−.16	.89	−.03
	Dutch and other language(s)		5.5	17
Set 2	Monolingual Dutch	Facilitation	3.5	10	12	−2.51	.01*	−.59
	Only other language(s)		4.5	8
	Monolingual Dutch	Instruction	5.5	10	12	−2.51	.01*	−.59
	Only other language(s)		4.5	8
	Monolingual Dutch	Meaning-oriented perspective	3.3	10	38	−.18	.88	−.04
	Only other language(s)		3.6	8
	Monolingual Dutch	Code-oriented perspective	5.8	10	38	−.18	.88	−.04
	Only other language(s)		5.4	8
Set 3	Dutch and other language(s)	Facilitation	3.5	17	38.5	−1.73	.08	−.35
	Only other language		4.5	8
	Dutch and other language(s)	Instruction	5.5	17	31.5	−2.01	.04*	−.40
	Only other language(s)		4.5	8
	Dutch and other language(s)	Meaning-oriented perspective	3.5	17	67.5	−.03	.99	−.01
	Only other language(s)		3.6	8
	Dutch and other language(s)	Code-oriented perspective	5.5	17	67.5	−.03	.99	−.01
	Only other language(s)		5.4	8

^aLower median scores indicate stronger preferences. * p < .05