EP Language and Development Seminar: Modeling influences of home environment and assessing intervention effects on Filipino children’s early language and literacy skills
Katrina May Dulay (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Tuesday, 09 May 2017, 3pm to 4pm
Meeting Room, Ewert House, Ewert Pl, Oxford OX2 7SG, UK
Hosted by ascension.pagancamacho@psy.ox.ac.uk
The talk focuses on language and early literacy among preschool children living in low-income communities in Cebu City, Philippines using data from 673 families. First, I examined home-related influences on children’s skills using structural equation modeling. It was hypothesized that home literacy environment (HLE), preschool attendance, and parental self-efficacy mediated between socioeconomic status (SES) and children’s skills. Whereas significant relationships between SES and both children’s language and early literacy skills were supported in the model, the mediating roles of HLE, preschool, and parental self-efficacy were evident only on children’s vocabulary. Second, I aimed to assess the efficacy of a parent coaching program wherein families were randomly assigned to a shared book reading program, an early literacy skills training program, a numeracy program, and a control group. It was expected that each literacy program had differential effects on children’s skills—specifically, improved vocabulary for the shared booked reading group and improved letter knowledge and phonological awareness for the early literacy skills training group. The two studies emphasized the need for further understanding of the cultural and social context surrounding literacy acquisition in the Philippines.