Dorit Aram

Mother–child joint writing in low SES: Sociocultural factors, maternal mediation, and emergent literacy

Abstract Emergent literacy was studied as related to sociocultural factors, particularly to maternal mediation of writing. Forty-one low socioeconomic status (SES) children, 5;5–6;0 years old, and their mothers participated. The childs emergent literacy was assessed by word writing and recognition, phonological awareness, and orthographic awareness. To assess mediation of writing, children were asked to write words and names, and their mothers were asked to help them. Maternal mediation was analyzed in terms of the steps in the encoding process that the mother intervened in, her reference to Hebrew orthography, and her mediation in printing letters. Childs literacy was found to be related to SES, maternal literacy, literacy tools at home, and maternal mediation. Hierarchical regressions indicated that childs literacy tools contributed to all emergent literacy skills, beyond SES and maternal literacy. The quality of mediation predicted word writing and recognition and phonological awareness after controlling for all sociocultural factors. A qualitative analysis illustrated the range of maternal mediation within or below the childs ZPD.

Mother-Child Joint Writing and Storybook Reading: Relations With Literacy Among Low SES Kindergartners

Maternal mediation in joint writing was compared to storybook reading in terms of their relations with emergent literacy among kindergartners in a low Socioeconomic Status population. Joint writing was examined by dyadic writing. Story-book reading was assessed by storybook recognition. Childrens literacy was measured by word writing and recognition, and phonological and orthographic awareness. Kindergarten teachers ranked the childrens verbal, graphic, and mathematical abilities. After partialling out home environment measures and story-book reading, maternal writing mediation explained added variance of word writing/recognition and phonological awareness. Storybook reading explained added variance of verbal ability above home environment and maternal writing mediation. Mediation in joint writing is linked to reading and writing acquisition, and storybook reading is related to verbal abilities.

Writing starts with own name writing: From scribbling to conventional spelling in Israeli and Dutch children

The development of childrens writing of their own names as compared to their writing of dictated words was examined on samples of children ranging from 2 to 5 years of age, who were immersed in Hebrew or Dutch and recruited from low to high socioeconomic status families. Analyses were based on four data sets collected in three studies. From a young age, children wrote their name on a higher level than they wrote other words, and name writing improved with age more rapidly than word writing across the whole age range. Furthermore, the intercorrelations between word writings, corrected for age, were generally higher than the correlation between word and name writing, indicating that children exhibit a unique approach to the writing of their own name, irrespective of other background variables. Childrens advanced skill in writing their name may suggest that name writing promotes the development of writing in general.

Continuity in children’s literacy achievements: A longitudinal perspective from kindergarten to school

This study examined continuity in literacy achievements from kindergarten to school, among low SES Israeli children, controlling for family factors. Kindergartners’ early oral and code-related language skills as well as family measures were assessed at age 51/2. In school, 21/2 years later, their literacy achievements were evaluated. Correlations emerged between all kindergarten literacy measures and school literacy achievements. Oral and code-related early literacy measures similarly predicted all school literacy achievements. Moreover, early literacy predicted literacy achievements at the end of second grade beyond home environmental measures. Results highlighted the stability in children’s learning through the kindergarten-to-school transition, confirming the importance of promoting early literacy in kindergarten, especially among low SES children.

Visual spatial skill: A consequence of learning to read?

Does learning to read influence ones visual skill? In Study 1, kindergartners from Hong Kong, Korea, Israel, and Spain were tested on word reading and a task of visual spatial skill. Chinese and Korean kindergartners significantly outperformed Israeli and Spanish readers on the visual task. Moreover, in all cultures except Korea, good readers scored significantly higher on the visual task than did less good readers. In Study 2, we followed 215 Hong Kong Chinese kindergartners across 1year, with word reading and visual skills tested twice. In this study, word reading at Time 1 by itself predicted 13% of unique variance in visual skill at Time 2. Together, these results underscore the potential importance of the process of learning to read for shaping ones visual spatial skill development.

Mothers' Storybook Reading and Kindergartners' Socioemotional and Literacy Development

This study assessed storybook reading at home with reference to kindergartners’ empathy, socioemotional adjustment, language, and alphabetic skills. Beyond considering the frequency of storybook reading, measures included maternal expertise in choosing books. Findings indicated various relations between aspects of storybook reading and early development. Frequency of storybook reading was related to the childs language ability, whereas maternal expertise in choosing books was related to the childs empathy and socioemotional adjustment. These results suggest the need for further study of differential connections between shared reading and child development.

Maternal mediation of writing in Chinese children

Two scales of mothers’ mediation of their childrens writing based on Aram and Levin (2001) were developed and tested in 67 mother–child Hong Kong Chinese dyads in three grade levels – second-year kindergarten, third-year kindergarten, and first grade. With childrens ages, grades, and non-verbal IQs, as well as mothers’ education levels statistically controlled in a regression equation, the four strategies of the ‘Print Mediation’ scale, a measure of mother–child joint writing productions, explained a unique 10% of the variance in childrens word reading. These four strategies tended to change with age such that higher autonomy was more common among older children and lower autonomy was more prevalent among younger children. In a separate hierarchical regression equation, the ‘Literate Mediation’ scale, tapping specific writing strategies, explained a unique 8–11% of the variance in childrens word reading. A prevalence of copying strategies tended to be negatively associated with reading skill and a prevalence of morphologically based strategies tended to be positively associated with reading skill, even apart from age and grade level. Findings demonstrate some strong developmental trends in the writing process but also suggest that a more analytic approach to Chinese character writing may be helpful for literacy development, even among the youngest children.

Children’s Names Contribute to Early Literacy a Linguistic and Social Perspective

Family members and caretakers frequently encourage toddlers and preschoolers to recognize their written names, to name the letters included in their names, to print these letters or the total name. Indeed, it has been claimed that for many children their name is the first word they recognize and attempt to write (Clay, 1975). For many years, researchers have argued that a child’s knowledge of his or her written name comprises a precursor of early literacy (e.g., Arrow, Fletcher-Flinn, & Nicholson, 2003; Ferreiro & Teberosky, 1982; Martens, 1999; Villaume & Wilson, 1989). Only recently, however, have controlled analyses investigated this claim. This chapter examines the effect of own name on early literacy from two perspectives: a cross linguistic and a social one. We extend the study of personal name effects on letter knowledge carried out among children raised in other languages to Israeli children immersed in Hebrew. Our aim is twofold – to support the generality of previous main findings on letter knowledge but also to search for language-specific variations. Further, we analyze mother-child joint writing to examine whether mothers utilize children’s advanced knowledge on written names when they mediate writing to their children. Although it is frequently assumed that children’s advanced knowledge of their names is an

Joint Writing in Hebrew of Dictated Words versus Proper Names: Analysis of Low SES Mother-Kindergartner Dyads.

Abstract Maternal writing mediation style was explored and compared across two writing activities. Mothers of low socio-economic status were videotaped while joint writing with their kindergartners on a home-like activity (writing a list of names of invitees to an imaginary birthday party) and on a school-like activity (writing dictated words that were selected by the researcher). The video films were assessed in terms of: 1) general characteristics of the interaction, such as atmosphere, reinforcement, and criticism; 2) references to specific components of the Hebrew orthography; and 3) maternal strategy of mediating the grapho-phonemic code and the printing of the letters. Findings indicate that mothers have a general cross-activity strategy of mediating writing. Still, different contexts of writing result in different maternal behaviors. In the home-like activity, the interaction atmosphere is warmer and more cooperative; in the school-like activity, mothers tend to be more intrusive. In light of the results, both parents and kindergarten teachers are encouraged to utilize everyday opportunities for mediating writing.

Early Literacy of Kindergartners with Hearing Impairment: The Role of Mother-Child Collaborative Writing.

The study assessed the value of maternal writing mediation in predicting childrens early literacy. Thirty kindergartners with hearing impairment (HI) and their mothers participated. Mothers were videotaped at home while helping their children write words, and the childrens early literacy was assessed in the kindergarten. Maternal writing mediation was analyzed in terms of its cognitive and emotional aspects. Results show that beyond the childs age and his or her degree of hearing loss, the cognitive aspects of maternal writing mediation predicted word writing (11%), word recognition (34%), and letter knowledge (35%). Beyond the background measures, the emotional aspects of the mediation predicted word recognition (12%), letter knowledge (14%), and general knowledge (9%). Discussion focuses on writing interactions as a context of early literacy development among kindergartners with HI.