Children’s reading development is affected by the priority of each family, income, access to reading materials at home, and the influence of the environment, a study said.
In their research titled “Reading perceptions, needs, and practices among parents of an urban poor community in the Philippines,” Assoc. Prof. Rosalyn Mirasol and Asst. Prof. Katrina Ninfa Topacio from the Department of English found that one’s home environment influences children’s reading development, as they find schooling easier and meaningful when exposed to reading activities at home.
“Literacy-rich environment have become motivated readers posit a challenge not only the educative sector of the community but more importantly, the parents who should respond to the natural law by providing adequate support especially on education and the upbringing to their children,” the researchers wrote.
According to the study, literacy contributes to the social and economic development of a country as the success of the industries relies on education. However, most families have limited resources and budget for reading materials, making it at the bottom of their priorities despite their positive views on the importance of education and reading.
“It is a challenge among low-income families to increase literacy rate because of the fact that they cannot prioritize buying books and other instructional materials to teach their children reading and other school-related tasks,” Mirasol and Topacio wrote.
94 of every 100 Filipinos 5 years old and over are basic literate while about 91.6 percent Filipinos 10 to 64 years old are functional literate, according to the results of the 2019 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS).
274 parents of K-1 pupils from an urban poor community in Manila, Philippines were surveyed to determine their reading perceptions, needs, and practices.
The study was published at Taylor & Francis Online on June 21, 2021.
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