The International Observatory on Academic Achievement - Documentary search

File number :
PPEE-ISC-05e

Bibliographic reference :
Saint-Laurent, L., & Giasson, J. (2005). Effects of a Family Literacy Program Adapting Parental Intervention to First Graders’ Evolution of Reading and Writing Abilities. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 5(3), 253-278.

Abstract :

Program Description
The family literacy program Lire et écrire à la maison (LÉA) was created as part of a research conducted at Université Laval (Canada). The purpose of this research was to develop the program and assess its efficacy in preventing underprivileged students’ school failure. The authors defined family literacy as all the reading and writing experiences in daily life at home.

As part of this program, the parents of first graders were invited to take part in nine reading and writing workshops designed according to three main characteristics: 1) interactive reading (adult reading involving many interactions) and shared reading (reading in pair, reading shared between the child and adult, the latter providing support), 2) interactive writing (stories created with the adult’s help) and 3) home activities complementary to those taking place in class. Workshop structure fostered interaction between parents and children.

Program Assessment
In total, 108 first graders, their parents and 12 teachers participated in the study. These students attended 12 urban public school classes of the Québec City and Montréal areas (50% underprivileged areas and 50% middle class areas). The parents of 53 of these students attended the program workshops (90 minutes each) twice a month. The control group was comprised of 55 students.

Assessment began in September 2001 with a pre-test measuring the four following aspects: phonological awareness, concept about writing, invented spelling, and attitudes towards reading and writing. With a post-test given in June of the same school year, these same aspects were measured again, and reading and writing abilities were assessed. Data was also collected from parents as pre-test (demographic questionnaire, family literacy practices and parental attitudes) and post-test (satisfaction and program application questionnaire) questionnaires.

Main Results
The pre-test indicated that parents from the experimental and control groups had a similar profile (schooling, income, literacy practices). Socio-economic status did not appear to have any significant influence on attitudes and the four literacy aspects above, except for literacy family practices.

As for the post-test, both underprivileged and middle-class students whose parents attended the workshops (experimental group) obtained significantly higher reading and writing scores. These results highlighted the importance of interaction between parents and their children in reading as much as in writing.

With regard to attitudes towards reading, no significant differences were found between the groups. At the end of the experiment, the parents who participated in the program reported having increased the number of family literacy activities in comparison with those who did not attend the workshops.

Lastly, all the participating parents recognized the usefulness of the program and recommended it.

Links :
This journal is also available in electronic format.

Key Words :
Reading, Writing, Parental Participation, Parental Attitude, Underprivileged Environments, Family Literacy, School-family-community Partnership, Gender, Early Intervention, Prevention, Primary, Elementary

Monitored Countries :
Quebec (Canada)