Term Paper
Psyc 400, Spring, 2015
Title of Paper: Factors Contributing to Literacy Skills in Children from Low-Income Families

In American society, education is considered by many to be an equalizing force for people from all walks of life. It allows the nation’s best and brightest to distinguish themselves from their peers through intellectual merit - at least in theory. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation does not live up to the ideal, especially for children from low income families. Children who are already growing up with the disadvantages of poverty are further hindered by underfunded and ineffectual primary schooling, setting them even further behind middle and upper class children.
Before beginning a discussion of the factors or strategies contributing to early literacy, it is important to first establish that there is in fact a discrepancy between low-income children and their more affluent peers in the first place. A review of the research literature is required to lay certain inaccurate stereotypes to rest, such as the notion that poor children are simply lazier students, and do not face additional difficulties with the acquisition of literacy skills.
A comprehensive empirical study by Babuder et al (2014) explores the relationship between poverty and reading skills in children, with the results being unanimously negative. The study goes beyond assessing the reading skills of the children, and measures the basic phonological and semantic skills needed for reading comprehension. The results suggest that poor children exhibit major deficits in these areas, and furthermore that their parents will be of little help if they are uneducated and have poor reading skills. This information stresses the importance of effective teaching methods tailored to the challenges that low-income children face, especially when the parents are not capable of guiding their children through their development as readers.
A national assessment of reading skills in fourth grade conducted by Donahue et al (2001) children further solidifies the link between poverty. According to the results of the study, sixty percent of children who qualify for reduced-price or free lunches score below the basic level of reading proficiency. There were also ethnic discrepancies in reading ability which closely followed socioeconomic trends – Black and Latino children exhibited the lowest reading scores of any ethnic group, with sixty three percent of Black children and fifty nine percent of Latino children scoring below the basic reading level.
Fortunately, the body of psychological research into the issue suggests that there are things that the parents can do to protect their children from the negative impact of poverty on their children’s intellectual and academic performance. One of the key strategies is to foster early literacy through guided reading or story-telling, according to studies by both Nicolopolou et al (2015) and Bernhard et al (2008). This strategy allows the reading skills of the child to develop outside of class and helps offset the disadvantages they face both in their home environment and at school.
This paper will attempt to holistically review the strategies and lifestyle factors that can contribute to the development of reading skills. Reading skills are extremely important for academic performance, but it is also necessary to understand that reading comprehension is a critically important skill even outside of the classroom. This paper will show that a number of strategies can significantly contribute to a low-income child’s literacy skills. This has implications for their academic achievement, future career path, and emotional resilience. What’s more, evidence showing the capability of low-income children to significantly improve their reading ability poses a strong philosophical rebuttal to the notion that they are doomed to failure. A review of prior research yields a wealth of information pointing to the protective effect of early literacy. A study by Crone et al (1999) seems to suggest that the earlier literacy skills are established and encouraged, the stronger their positive effects on future academic achievement will be. This underscores not only the importance of effective education in school, but also the critical role that parents play in guiding the development of their child’s cognitive skillset at an early age. A holistic view integrating both the child’s school and home environment is needed to accurately assess the factors determining a child’s future academic and intrapersonal growth. One of the most important factors contributing to the development of early reading skills is the mother-child bond. According to a study by Sparks et al (2013), there is a significant correlation between a mother reading to her child and improved literacy skills for the child. Another interesting finding from the same study was that mothers who told elaborate stories about past experiences in their lives augmented their child’s print and semantic knowledge, both of which are key aspects of reading comprehension. This suggests that the relation between the mother-child bond and emergent literacy skills is multi-dimensional and involves more than simply reading out loud. The importance of decontextualized discussion is further emphasized by a study conducted by Beals et al (1993), which showed that explanatory and narrative discussion between the mother and her child is one of the main contributors to the development of both reading comprehension skills and expressive language capacity. This study serves as a reminder that it is important for parents to focus on aspects of reading that transcend mere phonetics or word order, as semantic comprehension is not affected by these A study by Rodriguez et al (2009) further expands on this point showing that mother-child interactions were uniquely important in fostering the development of reading skills in young children. The study attempted to measure the correlation between relevant lifestyle factors, such as the frequency of literacy activities or the quality of mother-child interactions, and the subsequent development of reading skills. The children were assessed at fourteen, twenty four, and thirty six months of age. Both literacy activities and high quality mother-child interactions were significantly correlated with higher levels of reading ability. In addition, the availability of reading resources was also strongly correlated with the development of literacy skills, further showing the hurdles that children from low-income families face in catching up to their peers. Payne et al (2002) conducted a studied corroborating this concept, showing that the home learning environment is one of the most important determinants of overall language skills in preschool children. The primary caregivers of three hundred and twenty three four year old children in head start programs were giving questionnaires seeking to determine the characteristics of their unique home literacy environment. The nature of the home literacy environment was determined through questions asking the primary caregiver about the frequency of literary activities, such as taking trips to the library, shared picture book reading, or the child choosing to read on their own with no prompting. The results of the study clearly pointed towards the positive effect of a rigorous and engaging home literacy environment. Even when controlling for IQ, children who came from a household that regularly involved them in literacy activities showed higher scores on measures of overall language ability, sometimes outscoring their less involved peers by eighteen point five percent. This serves to drive home the unique importance of the primary caregiver in fostering the growth of their children as readers and writers. Perhaps one of the most comprehensive studies conducted on the effect of the home environment on emergent literacy was a study conducted by Bennett et al (2002), which sought to assess the family structures that were most effective in contributing to the child’s acquisition of literacy skills. They conceived of family structures as falling into three main archetypes: Family as Educator, Parent-School Partnership, and The Resilient Family. Each archetype, while by no means entirely separate from the others, is founded on variables that are clearly distinct from one another. Families falling into each archetype were studied to see the impact that their parenting style had on their children’s subsequent literary ability. The Family as Educator archetype is distinguished from the other two by a focus on parent child interaction where the parent is seeking to directly build literacy skills through organized activities, like shared reading or even more formal reading practice. The five variables defining the Family as Educator type are as follows: The number of books in the home, direct teaching, creating opportunities to learn (such as taking a trip to a library), parental education, and parental expectations. Of the three family models discussed, The Family as Educator type was the only one to consistently show significantly superior literary outcomes for their children. Play activities also contribute towards emergent literacy, as shown by a study by Nicolopoulou et al (2015). The study showed that pre-school aged children from low-income families exhibited clear improvements in their reading skills after going through a program focused on story-telling and story-acting. In addition to the growth they demonstrated in narrative comprehension and word awareness, the children were also less disruptive in class and showed better self-monitoring skills. Being able to understand and relay narratives is important for school work, but it also a vitally important skill in healthy social interactions. Low-income children appear to respond positively to reading programs that teach phonological and semantic awareness through the use of age appropriate narratives, as shown by a study by Bernhard et al (2008). The study evaluated the effectiveness of a twelve month program for three-to-five year olds that had the children writing their own stories under the guidance of their teachers. At the end of the program, the children showed significantly greater gains in linguistic skill as compared to age-matched controls but not in other academic domains, suggesting a causal effect of the program that cannot be attributed to general developmental processes. The teachers involved in the study commented that the study was pleasant and sustainable, suggesting that widespread implementation might benefit both teachers and students. A study by Tivnan et al (2005) provides some support for the most popular literacy reform programs aimed at low-income children. The researchers assessed the reading skills of first graders from sixteen high poverty schools that utilized one of four literacy reform models: Building Essential Literacy, Developing Literacy First, Literacy Collaborative, and Success For All. The children were assessed on their mastery of phonemic awareness, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing ability, among other literacy skills. The results of the study were mixed. All of the programs were more or less equally successful in improving the basic skills associated with reading, despite the sometimes dramatic differences in how the programs were implemented and the philosophies they were founded on. However, both vocabulary scores and reading comprehension were significantly below grade-level for all four programs for most children. The researchers emphasized the importance of building basic word reading skills early on so that educators can focus their efforts on developing the more advanced skills related to semantic construction and reading comprehension. The teacher-student relationship is another variable of interest when surveying the factors contributing to the development of any academic skill. A study by Maier et al (2012) sheds light on the synergistic relationship between the child’s temperament, home life, and the classroom environment. In this study, a sample of two hundred and seventy five low income preschool children were randomly selected from twenty nine Head Start classrooms. The teachers in these classrooms were asked to report the psychosocial strengths of the children in their class, and the classes were in turn analyzed by the researchers for process quality and overall growth in literacy and language skills. The results of the Maier et al (2012) study showed that a higher number of psychosocial skills, such as an easygoing temperament or a high degree of sociability, are predictive of the initial level of reading skill in children. This suggests that a child’s attitude has a measurable and significant impact on their ability to learn and retain information, contributing to their overall resilience. Furthermore, the study showed that the process quality of the classroom instruction was predictive of long-term growth in both language and literacy skills in children. Process quality was determined by warm exchanges between teachers and children, cognitively stimulating activities, and behavioral strategies intended to prevent rather than punish misbehavior. The role of the teacher goes beyond that of merely educating the students, as shown by a study by McCormick et al (2014). The study made two major points: first, that temperamental negative reactivity predicts problem behavior in school, and second, that a warm teacher-child bond can mitigate the contribution of negative reactivity to later problem behavior. A study by Morris et al (2013) shows that problematic behavior in school is negatively correlated with school readiness and reading and math skills, highlighting the connection between behavior in school and subsequent achievement. Together, these studies underscore the importance and the protective strength of a warm and accepting teacher-child bond. A study by Hauser-Cram et al (2003) helps shed light on the intertwined nature of the parent-child bond and the teacher-child bond. In this study, teachers were asked to predict the academic performance in reading and math for each child in a low-income classroom. They were also asked to report areas of perceived congruence or dissonance between the educational values that they held and the ones that they believed the parents of each child held. The results of the Hauser-Cram et al (2003) study showed that even when the child’s actual academic skill level was controlled for, teachers would assign lower academic competence ratings to children whose parents they believed to hold different educational values. This discovery holds serious implications for the future of these children, as a study of low-income children by Gill et al (1999) demonstrates that the expectations of both parents and teachers have a significant impact on a child’s future academic outcomes, with low expectations being correlated with inferior academic performance.
In conclusion, it is important to realize the multi-dimensionality of the development of early literacy skills. The research literature points to the importance of engaging the child and stimulating their sense of play and creative expression. Children benefit from these kinds of multi-modal approaches both in the home and at school, underscoring the importance of cooperation between teachers and parents, as well as sensibly designed school curriculums. This is especially important for low-income children, who need special attention and uniquely tailored teaching plans. A meta-analysis by Manz et al (2010) shows that literacy interventions designed for middle and upper class children cannot be generalized to low-income children, as the challenges they face result in different learning styles that must be addressed by both their teachers and parents. The unfortunate reality of poverty is that poor children start from behind and usually stay behind, as they are constantly beset by difficulties in both their personal and academic lives.
However, the research clearly shows that low-income children are not beyond help, and can benefit dramatically from empirically tested teaching methods. While they may face a whole host of financial and cultural obstacles in their journey towards achievement, myriad studies show that literacy skills can be measurably improved and that any improvement in those skills has a positive impact on both their academic achievement and their behavior. The tragic reality may be that poverty poses challenges to children that are simply insurmountable, and that poor children’s literacy skills may never match those possessed by middle or upper class children. Even in light of this fact, the body of evidence does suggest that major strides can be made with the intelligent application of engaging and multi-modal teaching methods, in both school and in the home.

References
Babuder, M. K., & Kavkler, M. (2014). The latent structure of reading comprehension problems in pupils living in poverty. Hrvatska Revija Za Rehabilitacijska Istraživanja, 50(1), 1-12.
Beals, D. E., & DeTemple, J. M. (1993). Home contributions to early language and literacy development. National Reading Conference Yearbook, 207–215.
Bennett, K., Weigel, D., & Martin, S. (2002). Children’s acquisition of early literacy skills: Examining family contributions. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 295-317.
Bernhard, J. K., Winsler, A., Bleiker, C., Ginieniewicz, J., & Madigan, A. L. (2008). 'Read my story!' Using the early authors program to promote early literacy among diverse, urban preschool children in poverty. Journal Of Education For Students Placed At Risk, 13(1), 76-105. doi:10.1080/10824660701860458
Crone, D. A., & Whitehurst, G. J. (1999). Age and schooling effects on emergent literacy and early reading skills. Journal Of Educational Psychology, 91(4), 604-614. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.91.4.604
Donahue, P. L., Finnegan, R. J., Lutkus, A. D., Allen, N. L., & Campbell, J. R. (2001). The nation’s report card: Fourth grade reading 2000 (NCES 2001‐499). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.
Gill, S., & Reynolds, A. J. (1999). Educational expectations and school achievement of urban African American children. Journal Of School Psychology, 37(4), 403-424. doi:10.1016/S0022-4405(99)00027-8
Hauser-Cram, P., Sirin, S. R., & Stipek, D. (2003). When Teachers' and Parents' Values Differ: Teachers' Ratings of Academic Competence in Children From Low-Income Families. Journal Of Educational Psychology, 95(4), 813-820. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.95.4.813
Maier, M. F., Vitiello, V. E., & Greenfield, D. B. (2012). A multilevel model of child- and classroom-level psychosocial factors that support language and literacy resilience of children in Head Start. Early Childhood Research Quarterly,27(1), 104-114. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2011.06.002
Manz, P. H., Hughes, C., Barnabas, E., Bracaliello, C., & Ginsburg-Block, M. (2010). A descriptive review and meta-analysis of family-based emergent literacy interventions: To what extent is the research applicable to low-income, ethnic-minority or linguistically-diverse young children? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25(4), 409-431. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2010.03.002
McCormick, M. P., Turbeville, A. R., Barnes, S. P., & McClowry, S. G. (2014). Challenging temperament, teacher–child relationships, and behavior problems in urban low-income children: A longitudinal examination. Early Education And Development, 25(8), 1198-1218. doi:10.1080/10409289.2014.915676
Morris, A. S., John, A., Halliburton, A. L., Morris, M. S., Robinson, L. R., Myers, S. S., & ... Terranova, A. (2013). Effortful control, behavior problems, and peer relations: What predicts academic adjustment in kindergartners from low-income families?. Early Education And Development, 24(6), 813-828. doi:10.1080/10409289.2013.744682
Nicolopoulou, A., Cortina, K. S., Ilgaz, H., Cates, C. B., & de Sá, A. B. (2015). Using a narrative- and play-based activity to promote low-income preschoolers' oral language, emergent literacy, and social competence. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 31 147-162. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.01.006
Payne, A., Whitehurst, G., & Angell, A. (2002). The role of home literacy environment in the development of language ability in preschool children from low-income families. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 427-440.
Rodriguez, E. T., Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Spellmann, M. E., Pan, B. A., Raikes, H., Lugo-Gil, J., & Luze, G. (2009). The formative role of home literacy experiences across the first three years of life in children from low-income families. Journal Of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30(6), 677-694. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2009.01.003
Sparks, A., & Reese, E. (2013). From reminiscing to reading: Home contributions to children’s developing language and literacy in low-income families. First Language, 33(1), 89-109. doi:10.1177/0142723711433583
Tan, M., & Dobbs-Oates, J. (2013). Relationship between emergent literacy and early social–emotional development in preschool children from low-income backgrounds. Early Child Development And Care, 183(11), 1509-1530. doi:10.1080/03004430.2012.729051
Tivnan, T., & Hemphill, L. (2005). Comparing Four Literacy Reform Models in High-Poverty Schools: Patterns of First-Grade Achievement. The Elementary School Journal, 105(5), 419-441. doi:10.1086/431885