Abstract
The development of literacy skills of children from disadvantaged backgrounds has always been a relevant topic in education as it represents a means of reducing poverty and of improving living conditions. This paper focuses on the Roma minority, a historically disadvantaged minority and the largest ethnic group in Europe that has been reported to have a low literacy rate compared with their non-Roma counterparts. This study intends to identify the main challenges that Roma children face when they learn how to read and point out potential educational practices that can alleviate the condition of Roma children by helping them to improve their literacy development rate.
Highlights
Reading enhances the development of vocabulary, of decoding skills, of phonological awareness and of complex syntactic structures (Hulme et al, 2020; Frankel et al, 2016; Lervåg et al, 2019)
For Roma children living in severe poverty, learning to read poses some challenges that are mainly grounded in inadequate language experiences, parents’ income and educational level, home environment (Hoff, 2006), access to educational resources (Bradley & Corwyn, 2002), parenting behaviour and quality time spent with parents (Milne & Plourde, 2006)
Roma children struggling with poverty are difficult to reach in research due to absenteeism or social inequalities and few studies targeting the Roma community have been conducted in order to investigate the impact that severe poverty has on reading comprehension
Summary
Reading enhances the development of vocabulary, of decoding skills, of phonological awareness and of complex syntactic structures (Hulme et al, 2020; Frankel et al, 2016; Lervåg et al, 2019). Roma children struggling with poverty are difficult to reach in research due to absenteeism (mobility, illness etc.) or social inequalities and few studies targeting the Roma community have been conducted in order to investigate the impact that severe poverty has on reading comprehension. A comprehensive longitudinal research conducted in Romania, found that initial levels of reading comprehension between Roma and non-Roma children were as high as one standard deviation (Lervåg et al, 2019). Another longitudinal research concluded that Roma children enrolled in primary school, in Romania, had lower reading skills at the beginning of the study and slower development rates afterwards
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