The relationship between parental support for literacy, school attendance and the reading behaviors of Musqueam children

• Main Author: Abramson, Sherry
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 1987
• Subjects: Musqueam > Education; First Nations > Education > Parental involvement; First Nations > Reading evaluations > Primary; First Nations > Education > Research; Indian; First Nations
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/26761

The present study attempted to examine reading and writing behaviors of Musqueam Indian children in kindergarten and grade one to see if a similar profile of reading and writing behaviors existed within this urban unilingual Native Indian population. The relationship these behaviors had with parental provision for literacy activities during the preschool years and school attendance was explored. It was hypothesized that there would be no similar profile of reading and writing behaviors within the Musqueam population and that there would be no correlation between the variables, the index of parental provision for literacy activities during the preschool years, total school absence and reading and writing performance in kindergarten and grade one. Individual administration of the Diagnostic Survey (Clay) at kindergarten and grade one yielded a description of reading and writing behaviors. Subtests measuring knowledge of letter identification, concepts about print, sight words, and writing vocabulary were administered in both grades. Subtests including oral reading of passages, writing level, and dictation were added in grade one. Group means, standard deviations and range of scores were calculated for the Diagnostic Survey subtests at kindergarten and grade one and examined for similarities. A questionnaire was used to establish an index for parental provision for literacy activities. Total school absence was obtained from school records. The relationship subtests of the Diagnostic Survey had with the Index of Parent Suppport for Literacy Activities and School Absence was explored using Pearson Product-Moment correlational analysis. Results indicated that no similar profile of reading and writing behaviors existed within the Musqueam population. Excluding the sight word subtest at K, Pearson Product-Moment correlations between all subtests of the Diagnostic Survey and the Index of Parental Provision for Literacy Activities were found to be significant (p < .05). No significant correlations were found between survey subtests and total school absence. Education, Faculty of Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of Graduate