Parental influences on Chinese literacy development: a comparison of preschoolers in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Singapore

Parents of 480 Chinese preschoolers in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Singapore reported on their involvement in literacy teaching, the home literacy environment, and their beliefs about language learning. The preschoolers, ranging in age from 2 to 6 years, completed the Preschool and Primary Chinese Literacy Scale (PPCLS), in individual sessions. Results indicated significant age and societal differences on the total PPCLS score and also on the following subscales: Character Identification, Visual and Auditory Discrimination, and Word Recognition. In all three societies, older children outperformed younger children on these subscales. Preschoolers from Hong Kong and Singapore did significantly better than those from Beijing. Despite sociocultural variations (e.g., status of the Chinese language, government directives regarding the age at which to start literacy teaching, documented goals of the preschool curriculum), which contributed to societal differences, home literacy education significantly contributed to the prediction of Chinese literacy attainment in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Singapore.