Testing the effects of a linked home-school reading programme designed for Māori and Pasifika students and their families, from a profile of home literacy practices

Abstract

The effects of parent literacy progammes designed to teach skills and strategies to support their children's learning at home have been widely investigated (Epstein, 1995; Senechal & Young, 2008). This study tested the effect of a linked home-school reading programme for intermediate aged Māori and Pasifika students and their families from one central west Auckland intermediate school. It proceeded through two phases, a profiling and an implementation phase. In the profiling phase current home literacy practices were identified. Additionally, parents listed areas in which they would like specific support. During the implementation phase a four-session parent programme was delivered to support the comprehension and vocabulary needs of the students. The four sessions were approximately one and a half hours each, every two weeks over a ten-week time frame. The study had a quasi-experimental mixed methods design and involved 21 parents and their children (n=20). A questionnaire was administered to parents that investigated current home literacy practices. Information from the questionnaire was used to develop the profile from which the programme content was formulated. Parents completed journals recording when and how they used the activities at home over a ten-week period following the conclusion of the programme. The effect of the programme was investigated by comparing asTTle reading scores of the students in the programme with those of a matched cohort group (based on ethnicity, gender, pre-test reading score) from the previous year. Greater mean gains were made by students whose parents' participated in the programme in contrast to those of the matched cohort group. Mean gains were even higher for children whose parents had greater attendance rates in the programme than those with low attendance. The findings of this thesis suggests that implementation of the programme had positive results in three ways. Firstly, higher levels of reading achievement were associated with greater participation in the parent programme. Secondly, parents showed improved self-efficacy when working with their children at home. Finally, home literacy practices changed and became more aligned with school related literacy tasks.