Abstract
Abstract
 This study put its interest in investigating parental reading beliefs and children’s reading performance. It also sought to determine whether there is an association between parental reading beliefs and children’s reading performance. This research employed a quantitative research design and it used a quota sampling technique to select the respondents. A total of 30 parents from Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Pusu Kuala Lumpur answered a questionnaire about parental reading beliefs. The questionnaire used was adapted from a study by DeBaryshe and Binder (1994). In order to measure the children’s reading performance, the parents were asked to state their children’s comprehension marks towards the end of the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of five factors related to parental reading beliefs which were teaching efficacy, positive attitude, verbal participation, reading instruction and basic knowledge. The data collected was analysed using Pearson Correlation. The results showed that all the factors under parental reading beliefs had positive relationship with children’s reading performance except for one factor which was reading instruction. All of them were not significant and as this study was a preliminary study, hence the results should not be generalised due to number of reasons.
 Keywords: Parents, reading beliefs, reading performance, primary school, quantitative research
Highlights
The two main proponents of social constructivism, Vygotsky and Dewey, believed that children learn better if they are engaged in social interaction (Glassman, 2001)
The theory of social constructivism by Lev Vygotsky is a suitable theory to be used as the foundation for this study as it explains how parental reading beliefs affect children’s reading performance
Based on the results of this study, parental reading beliefs can generally be concluded to have a positive relationship with reading performance, the association was weak and statistically not significant
Summary
The two main proponents of social constructivism, Vygotsky and Dewey, believed that children learn better if they are engaged in social interaction (Glassman, 2001). During reading time with parents, children are able to discuss many things with more knowledgeable adults, who will in return supply the information they need. The theory of social constructivism by Lev Vygotsky is a suitable theory to be used as the foundation for this study as it explains how parental reading beliefs affect children’s reading performance. Constructivists have affirmed that the environment and social interaction play important roles in facilitating the construction and negotiation of meaning among people (Amineh & Asl, 2015). It is very true because if children live in an environment with many literacy opportunities, they will gradually learn to love reading. Children’s reading performance will be enhanced when they interact with their parents, especially during their shared book reading time
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