Elisabeth Duursma

University of Wollongong | UOW · Faculty of Education

It is well known that reading aloud affects children’s language and literacy development. Little is known though, about fathers reading to their children. This study examined paternal and maternal bookreading frequency among 430 low-income families and investigated whether paternal bookreading and maternal bookreading predicted children’s early lan...

Bookreading has proven to be beneficial for children’s language and literacy development (e.g. Bus, Van Ijzendoorn and Pellegrini, 1995; Fletcher and Reese, 2005; Mol and Bus, 2011a). Families in Western countries are often advised to read to their young children, and many parents appear to be aware of the positive effects of bookreading. However,...

Most research on parental bookreading has focused on mothers reading to their children. This study examined bookreading practices among approximately 800 fathers and mothers in low‐income families. We looked at differences and similarities between families where both parents read frequently compared to families where only mothers read frequently. I...

Reading aloud to young children, particularly in an engaging manner, promotes emergent literacy and language development and supports the relationship between child and parent. In addition it can promote a love for reading which is even more important than improving specific literacy skills.21 When parents hold positive attitudes towards reading, t...

Most studies of parent–child bookreading have focused on mothers reading to their children. Though the role of fathers in children's lives is widely emphasized, we know almost nothing about father–child bookreading, particularly among low-income families. The present study was designed to examine how often low-income fathers report reading to their...

This article describes a series of studies that examine the development of literacy in elementary school Spanish-speaking second-language learners. Findings from the research that addresses our first question-regarding cross-language relationships-indicate that first-language reading skills are related to second-language reading skills, but that ch...