Naslov
Socioeconomic characteristics and language abilities of children from rural areas attending a preschool programme

Autori
Srebačić, Ivana ; Matić, Ana ; Čačko, Sana ; Jurjević, Josipa ; Ćurić, Marija ; Brdarić, Blanka

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Izvornik
9th International Conference of the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences of the University of Zagreb / - , 2017

Skup
9th International Conference of the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences of the University of Zagreb

Mjesto i datum
Zagreb, Hrvatska, 17.05.2017. - 19.05.2017

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Poster

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
socioeconomic status ; preschool ; screening ; language abilities

Sažetak
Attending a preschool programme prepares children for later formal education and has a positive impact on their cognitive and socio- emotional development. Unfortunately, in Croatia, not all children have an opportunity to attend a preschool programme. This is especially true in rural areas. In order to solve this problem, the government has introduced an obligatory kindergarten programme that is free of charge for all children. However, because these children have not previously attended any form of early-childhood education programme, they have not received equal support in the development of the language skills expected of them by the time they reach elementary school. This research was based on the assumption that attending a preschool programme from an early age and parental socioeconomic status affect children’s language abilities. Therefore, the aim was to determine whether preschool-aged children who attend a preschool programme achieve better results on language abilities test than children who only attend kindergarten. In addition, the aim was to find out whether there is a significant difference in the socioeconomic status between the families of preschool-aged children who attend preschool and those who attend kindergarten. 93 preschool-aged children (47, 3% of five-year- olds and 52, 7% of six-year-olds) have been tested on the Screening test of language abilities (e-POTJEH ; Kuvač Kraljević et al., 2015). In addition, their parents filled up a questionnaire concerning their socioeconomic status. The results suggest that: 1) children who attend a preschool programme achieve significantly better results on all language components (phonology, lexicon and morpho- syntax) of e-POTJEH than children attending only an obligatory kindergarten programme ; 2) parents of children attending a preschool programme are more educated, more often employed and have a higher income per household member ; 3) the number of books per household also differs significantly between the two groups in a way that families of children who attend a preschool programme possess more books. The results of this research are in line with some previous studies (e.g, . Lee and Burkam, 2002 ; Nelson et al., 2011) and highlight an important role that an early and well-designed preschool programme plays in child’s language development. All children need equal starting points and opportunities so they can adequately build skills and knowledge during their further education.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Logopedija

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