ISSN: 2226-6348
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The purpose of this study was to examine kindergarten children’s story comprehension and production in relation to emergent literacy in a sample of final-year kindergarten children. This study employed a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional survey design involving 104 final-year kindergarten children in Chengdu, China, to examine emergent literacy and differences in story comprehension and production across family backgrounds. Kindergarten children’s scores on story comprehension and production received a mean score of 3.64 (SD= 0.60) and total emergent literacy score of 51.13 (SD= 8.30). When comparing the four emergent literacy domains, there were no significant differences found, F (3, 309) = 2.364, p = .071, partial ?² = .022. However, scores for story comprehension and production did differ across the three family structures significantly, F (2, 101) = 5.51, p < .01, partial ?² = .098. Furthermore, scores for the four emergent literacy domains differed significantly for paternal and maternal education on the four sub-tests received higher average scores when their parents had obtained postsecondary education compared to parents with high school education or less, F (2, 101) = 18.26, p < .001, partial ?² = .265, and F (2, 101) = 14.28, p < .001, partial ?² = .220, respectively. There were also significant differences found for paternal and maternal occupation, F (6, 97) = 8.982, p < .001, partial ?² = .357, and F (6, 97) = 6.615, p < .001, partial ?² = .290, respectively. In summary, the results of this study revealed that kindergarten children's performance on measures of story comprehension and production varied as a function of several family characteristics. Implications of the study include support of children’s storytelling in kindergarten and at home, using scaffolded narrative and reading practices, in a variety of family forms and with parents of differing educational backgrounds.
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