Options
Malay and Chinese children's literacy and home-school relationships
Citation
Mukhlis Abu Bakar, & Koh, G. H. (2009, August). Malay and Chinese children's literacy and home-school relationships (Report No. CRP 19/04 MAB & CRP 12/06 MAB). National Institute of Education (Singapore), Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice.
Subjects
Abstract
This report examines the home and school literacy practices of Malay and Chinese children of different socio-economic background and how these impact on their academic performance upon entering school. It is based on a longitudinal study of the home and school literacy experiences of seven Malay children and seven Chinese children from the time they attended kindergarten until they completed Primary 1 (roughly from 4 to 7 years old). The impetus for the study was in part due to the continuing unequal literacy outcomes between Malay and Chinese students on the one hand, and between students of different socio-economic classes regardless of ethnic groups, on the other. Data analysis show that participant parents, regardless of their socio-economic background, value their children's educational success, want their children to do well in school, and correspondingly see themselves as supporting their children in one way or another. The evidence, however, demonstrates a variation in familial perspectives and needs and a considerable distinction in how families of different background define literacy and which literacy they consider worth transmitting to the children. These in turn affect the way they foster their children's acquisition of literacy.
Date Issued
August 2009
Call Number
LB1028.25.S55 C77 2009/12
Description
Note: Restricted to NIE staff
Project
CRP 19/04 MAB
CRP 12/06 MAB