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Cognitive and Environmental Predictors of Early Literacy Skills
- Source :
-
Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal . Apr 2011 24(4):395-412. - Publication Year :
- 2011
-
Abstract
- Not all young children benefit from book exposure in preschool age. It is claimed that the ability to hold information in mind ("short-term memory"), to ignore distraction ("inhibition"), and to focus attention and stay focused ("sustained attention") may have a moderating effect on children's reactions to the home literacy environment. In a group of 228 junior kindergarten children with a native Dutch background, with a mean age of 54.29 months (SD = 2.12 months), we explored therefore the relationship between book exposure, cognitive control and early literacy skills. Parents filled in a HLE questionnaire (book sharing frequency and an author recognition checklist as indicator of parental leisure reading habits), and children completed several tests in individual sessions with the researcher (a book-cover recognition test, PPVT, letter knowledge test, the subtests categories and patterns of the SON, and cognitive control measures namely digit span of the KABC, a peg tapping task and sustained attention of the ANT). Main findings were: (1) Children's storybook knowledge mediated the relationship between home literacy environment and literacy skills. (2) Both vocabulary and letter knowledge were predicted by book exposure. (3) Short-term memory predicted vocabulary over and above book exposure. (4) None of the cognitive control mechanisms moderated the beneficial effects of book exposure. (Contains 4 tables.)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0922-4777
- Volume :
- 24
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- ERIC
- Journal :
- Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- EJ918405
- Document Type :
- Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-010-9233-3