Parental Perspectives on Storybook Reading in Indian Home Contexts

The benefits of parent–child storybook reading experiences in the home are well documented. However, there is a dearth of information regarding parent–child storybook reading experiences in Indian home contexts. This study investigated parental perspectives towards storybook reading in the Indian context among 100 parents of typically developing preschool children. In this questionnaire-based study, parental responses were collected and the patterns of reading exposure, child’s interest in reading, storybook reading practices, and attitudes & beliefs towards storybook reading were reported using descriptive statistics. Correlation between demographic variables (i.e., child’s age and socioeconomic status) and storybook reading domains were explored. The majority of parents initiated storybook reading with their children at 2 years of age or older. Parents read to their children one to two times per week for 10 min and had fewer than 10 books in the home. Parents reported that their children were interested in storybook reading and reported the use of quality storybook reading practices. Homes characterized with higher socioeconomic status included more quality home literacy environment factors, although socioeconomic status did not correlate with the parental beliefs and attitudes towards reading. Results provide preliminary information regarding parental perspectives on storybook reading in Indian home contexts and point toward socioeconomic and sociocultural variation in home literacy environments. Understanding more about the parental interactions surrounding storybook reading will facilitate the development of parent programs to enhance and promote quality home literacy environment in Indian home contexts.

Relationships Among Home Literacy Behaviors, Materials, Socioeconomic Status, and Early Literacy Outcomes Across 14 Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Most research on reading acquisition is conducted in high-income countries, and the majority of the limited research from middle- and low-income countries focuses exclusively on school settings. We therefore know little about how home literacy environments (HLEs) relate to early reading skill acquisition in low-resource settings. This study uses baseline data from 18 Save the Children (SC) project sites across 14 countries in Central America, Asia, and Africa to address several questions. First, we examine the structure of HLE in the data set, with a particular focus on its relationship to socioeconomic status (SES). Second, we extend our measurement model to examine the relationship between HLE and early literacy skills across the sample of more than 14,000 first- and second-grade boys and girls (mean age: 8.4 years) from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. We conclude that SES, home reading behaviors, and home reading materials are separate, though related constructs, and that materials in the home are a moderately strong predictor of early reading in these contexts. Our findings indicate that studies investigating literacy environments in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) should clearly and distinctly conceptualize SES, literacy behaviors, and literacy materials. In addition, the robustness of the relationships between the presence of reading materials in the home and children’s early literacy skills suggests that increasing access to these materials may enhance skill development in low-resource contexts.