LANGUAGE-DEVELOPMENT, METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS, AND EMERGENT LITERACYSKILLS OF 3-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN IN RELATION TO SOCIAL-CLASS

This is an investigation of the relationships among selected aspects o f normal language development, emerging metalliguistic skills, concept s about print, and family literacy experiences in 3-year-old children who vary in their socioeconomic background. Forty-three normally devel oping children, whose family incomes ranged from under $10,000 to over $100,000, were given 4 tests of language development; 12 metalinguist ic tasks measuring phonological awareness, word awareness, and structu ral awareness; and 2 measures of literacy knowledge. The children's fa mily literacy experiences were described following a parent interview. The data analysis had two main purposes. The first was to examine the family literacy experiences of the children using a qualitative analy sis. The second was to describe, in a quantitative way, the relationsh ips among family literacy experiences, socioeconomic factors, language development, metalinguistic performance, and concepts about print. Th e interview data revealed that, while parents varied in the emphasis t hey placed on literacy activities, all of the children were at least s omewhat involved in literacy activities at home; family report of lite racy activities was associated with family income. Quantitative analys es revealed that amount of family literacy involvement and the childre n's race were related to oral language development, and language devel opment was the most powerful predictor of metalinguistic awareness. Wh en language development was controlled statistically, family literacy and socioeconomic factors had negligible effects on metalinguistic ski lls; however, knowledge of print concepts was related to metalinguisti c performance, especially in the photonological domain, and was associ ated with the children's family literacy experiences, maternal educati on, and race.