Parents’ and teachers’ strategies in hearing young children read

Abstract

Abstract The principal way in which parents can be involved in the teaching of reading is by hearing their own children read at home. However, doubts have been expressed about their competence in this role. Despite its importance this is an under‐researched area. Most studies, whether experimental or naturalistic, have restricted themselves to teachers and to particular aspects of their performance considered to be of theoretical significance, usually their responses to children's miscues. Some studies have attempted a more comprehensive description of what teachers do but there has not been any comparable research into parents hearing reading. This research studied how 52 children, aged five to seven years, were heard to read in school by their class teachers and at home by their parents. They were participants in a parental involvement project at a primary school in a disadvantaged area of the north of England. Tape recordings were made of children reading in both settings. School reading sessions tende...