Writing with young children: a comparison of paternal and maternal guidance

The increasing involvement of fathers in active parenthood raises questions concerning their parenting style. This study compared mothers and fathers in their writing interactions with their young children, exploring how parents' writing guidance related to children's early literacy. Mothers and fathers of 51 kindergarteners were videotaped separately at home while writing words with their child. Video analysis assessed measures of parental guidance specifically in the writing process and guidance measures that characterised teaching interactions in general. Children's early literacy was assessed. A family style of guidance emerged, where a parent's guidance resembled the spouse's. Moreover, both parents' guidance correlated significantly with children's early literacy. Still, mothers scored higher than fathers on both the writing and the more general guidance measures. The study suggests that encouraging both parents to write with their children, while supplying them with productive methods for guidance, can enhance children's literacy competencies.     

Parents’ support during different writing tasks: a comparison between parents of precocious readers,preschoolers, and school-age children

The study aimed to deepen the understanding of parental sensitivity to their children’s abilities and the nature of their scaffolding during writing tasks. We compared the parent–child writing interactions of three groups: precocious readers (PRs), same age preschoolers (SA), and older children with the same reading level (SRL) as the PRs. Each of 60 parent child-dyads was videotaped during three writing activities that varied in their structure level: word writing, writing a birthday invitation, and free writing within a wordless children’s book. Interactions were analyzed for parental literacy-specific, social-emotional, and general cognitive support. Results demonstrated parents’ sensitivity to their children’s developmental level and skills. Parents of PRs showed levels of literacy-specific support similar to parents of older children with the SRL, and higher than parents of SA non-reading children. Parents of PRs resembled parents of SA preschoolers and provided their children with more social-emotional support than parents of the older SRL children. The general cognitive support of parents of PRs was higher than that of the two other groups. Moreover, parents of PRs referred to writing conventions and showed more responsiveness than parents in the other two groups. Parents in all three groups emphasized literacy-specific support during the more structured writing tasks (words and invitation), and placed greater emphasis on the social-emotional and general cognitive support during the least structured task (free writing within the wordless book). Beyond these differences, parents demonstrated a consistent support style. We discuss parent–child writing interactions as a context for early literacy development.     

What Are the Goals of Kindergarten? Teachers’ Beliefs and Their Perceptions of the Beliefs of Parents and of Agents of the Education System

Research Findings: The study examined the beliefs of kindergarten teachers (K-teachers) regarding the goals of kindergarten. We asked K-teachers to reflect on their own beliefs, their understanding of parents’ beliefs, and their understanding of the beliefs that guide agents of the education system. We further examined differences between K-teachers based on the type of kindergarten in which they worked (religious or secular) and the socioeconomic status of children’s families (middle-high or middle-low). A total of 120 K-teachers responded to closed questionnaires, and 12 teachers also participated in a semistructured interview. The results revealed an incongruence between K-teachers’ perspectives and their understanding of the positions of parents and of agents of the education system. K-teachers evaluated fostering children’s positive self-esteem as the most important goal and promoting literacy and mathematics skills as the least important. They believed, however, that parents and agents of the education system regard children’s advancement in literacy and mathematics skills as the most important goal. Practice or Policy: Recognizing this incongruence facilitates understanding of the rationale behind K-teachers’ actions and their relationships with parents and professional partners. It enables identification of topics that need to be addressed by the professional education community in order to create a dialogue among K-teachers, families, and policymakers.     

Preschoolers’ private speech during spelling in Hebrew: the role of word structure and letter position

Reading and Writing - The study’s aims were to (a) evaluate preschoolers’ use of private speech (overt talk to themselves) during spelling; and (b) study how it is affected by the...     

Variability and stability in parent–child discourse during and following repeated shared book reading

Reading and Writing - Research on parent–child shared book reading (SBR) has focused primarily on a single reading of a book and on the reading of the text itself. Yet parents often...     

Mother–child joint writing and storybook reading and their effects on kindergartners’ literacy: an intervention study

This study assessed the effects of three different intervention programs on low-SES mother?Cchild joint activities and on their kindergarten-age children??s progress in early literacy and language. Parents in three groups (119 mothers, 5 fathers) were coached to mediate child learning, respectively, in: interactive storybook reading, writing, or visuomotor skills. A group-specific workshop was followed by 7?weeks of tri-weekly structured dyadic interactions and weekly tutorial home visits. A fourth group (control) received no intervention. Results showed implementation success: Mothers coached in interactive storybook reading or writing mediation improved in the coached activity from pretest to immediate posttest and to delayed posttest. Interactive storybook reading improved less for older than younger children, whereas writing mediation improved more for older than younger children. No transfer emerged from one activity to the other: Coaching on reading had no effect on writing or visuomotor skills, and coaching of writing had an effect only on writing. Children??s alphabetic skills were enhanced in the writing mediation-coached group, whereas linguistic competencies, unexpectedly, were not enhanced in the interactive storybook reading-coached group. The significance of writing mediation as a dyadic activity promoting literacy is emphasized.     

Sensitivity and Consistency of Maternal Writing Mediation to Twin Kindergartners

This study investigated whether mothers are responsive to their children's literacy level, thus employing different writing mediation styles with each twin according to the child's level, or whether they possess a consistent style employed with both twins. The sample included 28 sets of twin kindergartners (56 children, M age = 68.89 months) and their mothers. Children's literacy underwent individual assessment in their kindergartens. During home visits, mother-child writing interactions with each twin were videotaped. Interactions underwent analysis for task-specific measures (grapho-phonemic mediation, printing mediation, demand for precision, reference to orthography) and for general measures (atmosphere, mutuality, reinforcements, task perception). Findings demonstrated that along with sensitivity to the child's level (mediating on a higher level to the higher achieving twin), mothers of twins possessed a consistent mediation style. Sensitivity to the differences in literacy between the twins was salient in the task-specific mediation measures, whereas the presence of a style appeared in all the mediation measures. The results of this study support the stance that mothers' mediation style deserves to be acknowledged as an influencing factor in children's literacy development.     

Jugendliche zwischen Entwicklung und Entfaltung

Der Beitrag thematisiert jugendliche Orientierungsmuster zur Ausgestaltung der Lebensphase Jugend und deren Ver?nderung über die Zeit. Diese entstehen im komplexen Zusammenhang von wahrgenommenen Ressourcen, Einstellungen und Erwartungen Jugendlicher im Hinblick auf die Anforderung der Bew?ltigung von Entwicklungsaufgaben. Zur Abbildung dieser Muster wird auf zwei zentrale Dimensionen zurückgegriffen: auf Entfaltungsorientierung, die den Moratoriumsgedanken, und Entwicklungsorientierung, die den transitiven Charakter der Jugendphase widerspiegelt. Aus der Kombination der Orientierungen Entwicklung und Entfaltung im Anschluss an die Verknüpfung des Transitions-und Moratoriumsgedankens lassen sich vier Typen ableiten. Die Zugeh?rigkeit zu einem Typ ist nicht als statisch zu fassen, sondern ver?ndert sich entsprechend der zunehmenden Bew?ltigung von Entwicklungsaufgaben. Die Ergebnisse veranschaulichen die weitreichende Bedeutung beruflicher Orientierungen Jugendlicher im Zusammenhang mit dem bevorstehenden übergang in den Beruf, die gleichsam Auswirkungen für den gesamten Komplex jugendlicher Orientierungsmuster (Typen) zur Gestaltung der Jugendphase zeitigen.     

The World Tomorrow

Drawing on the author's experience as director of a long-lived school—university partnership, this essay describes how one such organization can “do it right” and enhance the development of teacher leadership in schools. It also provides a cautionary tale about how that same organization can “do it wrong” and achieve the opposite effect. “Doing it right” requires having a set of core beliefs that are enacted through key social practices. “Doing it wrong” violates those core beliefs and practices.