Author:
Abstract
Research on early literacy skills shows that the home literacy environments of young children have significant effects on academic performance in the following school years, a finding taken into account in programs aiming to promote early literacy skills of children, particularly those who are at-risk. Due to the fact that this topic is fairly new in Turkey, there is limited knowledge on the home early literacy environments of Turkish kindergarteners. Therefore the aim of this study was to develop a questionnaire for assessing the home early literacy environments of Turkish kindergarteners. Data were gathered from 341 parents of kindergarteners in 12 schools from different SES strata across central Ankara. Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses yielded a reliable and valid questionnaire for assessing the early literacy home environments of Turkish kindergarteners.
Keywords
Abstract
Research on early literacy skills shows that the home literacy environments of young children have significant effects on academic performance in the following school years, a finding taken into account in programs aiming to promote early literacy skills of children, particularly those who are at-risk. Due to the fact that this topic is fairly new in Turkey, there is limited knowledge on the home early literacy environments of Turkish kindergarteners. Therefore the aim of this study was to develop a questionnaire for assessing the home early literacy environments of Turkish kindergarteners. Data were gathered from 341 parents of kindergarteners in 12 schools from different SES strata across central Ankara. Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses yielded a reliable and valid questionnaire for assessing the early literacy home environments of Turkish kindergarteners.