The Relationship between Children’s Early Language Competencies and Parental Engagement in Learning Activities in Pre-Primary Schools in Busia County, Kenya
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Date
0202
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European Journal of Special Education Research
Abstract
This study aimed to explore the relationship between children’s early language
competencies and parental engagement in learning activities in pre-primary schools in
Busia County, Kenya. This study used Joyce Epstein's parental involvement model to
inform the study, while correlation design was used to guide the study. The target
population was pre-primary school children plus their teachers and parents in 67 public
schools and 40 private schools. Out of these schools, 7 public schools and 4 private schools
were sampled. Early language skills checklist, questionnaire and interview schedules
were used for data collection. A pilot study was conducted in two primary schools.
Content validity was used to determine the research tools' validity, whereas the reliability
of the instruments was established using the test-retest method. When analysing
qualitative data, thematic analysis was used, while quantitative data was analysed using
inferential statistics, where frequencies, percentages, and means were generated. A t-test
and correlation were used to test null hypotheses. Results revealed that average language
competencies had a mean score of 2.32 (M=2.32) to average parental engagement, which
had a mean score of 2.20 (M=2.20) with a mean difference of 0.12 (M=0.12). The mean
difference is 0.12, which indicates that parental engagement had a very small influence
on the acquisition of early language competencies. The correlation coefficient between
parental engagement with (M=2.20; SD=.874) and language competencies with (M=2.32; SD=.817; t (254) =.832' p=.000 two-tailed) indicated that the relationship between parental
engagement and language competencies was positive and had high significance.
Averagely, the mean score for parental engagement in private schools was 3.49 (M=3.49),
and the mean score for public schools was 1.91(M=1.91) with a mean difference of 1.58
(M-1.58). It was concluded that the majority of parents did not participate in their
children's early language acquisition activities. However, parents of children from
private schools participated more in their children's language acquisition than parents of
children from public schools. This research recommended that public school parents
encourage each other to be actively involved in their children’s language activities at
home. Parents from public schools should inspire each other to collaboratively work
together to support the provision of language teaching and learning resources. Public
school administrators and managers should organize workshops for parents to educate
them on how they can guide their children on where, when and how to do language
activities, how to access educative language resources from the internet, and how to find
developmentally appropriate language programs on television.
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Citation
Onyango, C. N., Begi, N., & Mugo, J. W. (2024). THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILDREN’S EARLY LANGUAGE COMPETENCIES AND PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT IN LEARNING ACTIVITIES IN PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN BUSIA COUNTY, KENYA. European Journal of Special Education Research, 10(4).