From reminiscing to reading: Home contributions to children’s developing language and literacy in low-income families

Abstract

In this study, the relations among a range of literacy-related home practices and children’s acquisition of language and literacy at the outset of preschool are examined in a sample of linguistically diverse children from low-income families in the United States. Specifically, the study focuses on sources of variation found in mother–child conversations while reminiscing and book sharing, in frequency of book reading, in parent use of strategies to teach print skills, and in the child’s interest in shared book reading. Mothers’ elaborative forms of talk during reminiscing about behavior-related events were linked to children’s semantic and print knowledge. Child interest in storybook reading was related to their emerging literacy skills but not to language.