RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTAL READING  BELIEFS, HOME LITERACY PRACTICES AND READING  INTEREST OF CHILDREN IN NURSERY SCHOOLS IN  ANAMBRA STATE

Tonia Uchechi Chigbo-Obasi; Ngozi Eucharia Anyikwa; Ngozi Diwunma Obidike

Tonia Uchechi Chigbo-Obasi Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria
Ngozi Eucharia Anyikwa Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria
Ngozi Diwunma Obidike Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria

Keywords: Parental Reading Beliefs, Home Literacy Practices, Children’s Reading Interest

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between parental reading beliefs, home literacy practices and reading interest of children in nursery schools in Anambra State, Nigeria. A correlation survey design was used. Three research questions guided the study and three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The sample consisted of 1,435 parents of nursery school children from 287 Early Childhood Care and Development (EDDC) schools in the state. Two-stage sampling procedure involving purposive and stratified random sampling technique was used to draw the sample. The researcher adapted three instruments for the study which were Home Literacy Practice Questionnaire (HLPQ), Children’s Reading Interest Questionnaire (CRIQ) and Parental Reading
Beliefs Inventory (PRBI). These instruments were adapted from DeBaryshe (1995). The instruments were validated and its reliability tested using Cronbach Alpha method which yielded the following indexes .80 for HLPQ, .81 for CRIQ and .75 for PRBI. Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to answer the research questions. The hypotheses were tested using Point Biserial correlation at 0.05 alpha level. Findings revealed a very high positive relationship between
parental reading beliefs and home literacy practices; a high positive relationship between home literacy practices and reading interest and a high positive relationship between parental reading beliefs, home literacy practices and children’s reading interest in nursery schools. Consequently, it was recommended among others that parents should be encouraged to have a positive reading beliefs and employ rich literacy home practices.