Transitions from Childhood

Transitions in Childhood

Literacy

Family and Work

Early Childhood

Neighborhoods

• Storytimes: Language and Literacy in the Context of HomeLiteracy Programs

Contacts: 
Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Ph.D., (Principal Investigator), Pia Rebello Britto, Ph.D. (Project Director), and So-Yun Lee, Center for Children and Families, Teachers College, Columbia University.

Funders:  The Spencer Foundation and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Research Network on Child and Family Well-Being.

Timeline: 1997 to 2000.

Summary:
We explore issues related to the development of language and literacy skills in poor young African-American mothers and their preschool children. Two studies are being conducted.  The first is based on the Newark Young Family Study (NYFS), which is embedded in the Teenage Parent Demonstration (TPD) project. The sample for this study includes 126 African-American mothers and their preschool children.  These young mothers were part of a larger intervention program designed to evaluate the efficacy of welfare-to-work policies.  Data utilized in this study were collected via standardized questionnaires and videotaped observations including a shared book reading session. 

Preliminary results indicate variability in mother and child language interactions, the family literacy environment and children’s language development.  Based on mother and child verbal interactions during the book reading, it appears to mothers use a variety of styles while reading to their children.  Maternal reading styles range from concentrating on the text of the book with few comments or questions to a high level of level of verbal participation with their children around the book, including comments linking the book to the child’s real-life.  Second, the influence of the dimensions of the family literacy environment, such as the language and verbal interactions, the learning climate, and the social and emotional climate, appears to vary based on the skill the child is in the process of acquiring.  For instance, the language and verbal interactions dimension is strongly associated with children’s expressive vocabulary whereas the learning climate with children’s school readiness skills.

The second study, the Home Visitor Study, focuses on the literacy interactions between 44 young mothers and their preschool aged children who are participants in a home based early intervention program (Home Instruction for Program for Preschool Youngsters, HIPPY).  HIPPY helps educationally and economically disadvantaged parents provide educationally stimulating activities and environment for the preschool aged children.   Data to be examined in the second study were collected at four times over a twelve-month period.  The focus of the data collection was two-fold.  First, on change in maternal and child language and literacy interactions over the 12-month period during which they are enrolled in the HIPPY program.   Second, on the interactions between the mothers and HIPPY home visitors as services are being delivered in the home.  Initial coding of the data indicates tremendous variability in mother and child interactions around book reading and other learning activities, such as puzzle-solving.  Second, preliminary analyses of mother and home visitor video-taped data indicates that the relationship between the mothers and the home-visitors appears to become more informal over time.