Helping parents enhance vocabulary development in preschool children: Effects of a family literacy program

Abstract

Family literacy programs seek to improve a wide range of developmental aspects, of which an important one is how parents develop their children’s vocabulary. The effects of these programs are limited, partly because they appear to give insufficient guidance and support to parents in changing how they interact with their children. To increase the impact of family literacy programs, two ways to support parents in changing their interaction behavior were examined: active learning during parent group meetings (AL) and technology-enhanced learning with real-time interaction support (TL). The effects on vocabulary were investigated in children involved in preschool education programs. In an experimental design with partially randomized clusters, 223 preschool children were enrolled in a family literacy program with AL, TL or in the control condition without a family literacy program. Results showed that children in the AL condition made larger receptive vocabulary gains than control children, whereas TL children showed similar gains to controls. Children in all three conditions made similar gains in productive vocabulary. These results demonstrate the strength of AL and shows the complexity of implementing TL.