Abstract
This distributed paper assesses the hypothesis which assumes the impact of socio-cultural background advantage on the literacy development, i.e. preschool reading activities result in children's cognitive abilities and pre-literacy skills in the beginning of primary school. We seek to answer the questions: To what extent are preschool reading activities (e.g. reading for pleasure with parents) influenced by parental education? And, how do these pre-school activities influence cognitive abilities and pre-literacy skills among pupils in the beginning and at the end of the first grade? Literacy development is studied among first-grade students using on-going longitudinal survey measuring pre-reading activities and repeated measurements of cognitive abilities and (pre)reading skills at the beginning and at the end of the first school year.
The sample consists of 439 children between ages 6 to 7 in randomly selected 25 primary schools in the Central Bohemia region and Prague capital city. The indicators of preschool reading activities as well as results from psychological tests measuring cognitive abilities and early reading skills is first examined for homogeneity and internal consistency.
Second, the hypotheses of (1) preschool reading activities as well as home reading environment differentiation by parental educational backgrounds is assessed via logistic regression, and (2) the longitudinal effects of preschool reading activities on cognitive abilities and pre-literacy skills are assess by a population average model (GEE) appropriate to repeated measures design. The results reveal that higher family's educational background have impact on reading activities with a child at the preschool age as well as on children's cognitive abilities and early reading skills.
Yet, the initial literacy skills at the end of the first school year are influenced to some extent by early reading activities in pre-school age which are flourished particularly in high educated families.