Parental influence on the reading ability of the child aged 7-11

Abstract

Literacy is one of the major necessities in today's world. In spite of efforts made to build a totally literate society, a small percentage of students always leaves school without knowing how to read. In the first part of this study, the child is viewed from three aspects : the processes within him necessary for reading; parental influence together with the child's home environment; and the school. In the second part, emphasis is made on parental influence and the home environment. This is done totally in the light of the local context. For this purpose, 462 primary school students were randomly selected from the six Regions of the Maltese islands. Comparisons are made between the child's reading results and information about his parents and his home environment as gathered from a questionnaire administered to his parents. In this way, it can be observed to what extent certain factors in the child's home environment influence his reading results.