Date of Award

Spring 2020

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Communication Disorders

First Reader

Dr. Nancy Hardman

Second Reader

Professor Carrie Sharp

Third Reader

Dr. Elizabeth Kelly

Abstract

Countless research articles support the connection between literacy and language development. This project explores the knowledge parents have about this connection. The paper first summarizes key findings and provides background information about the relationship between literacy and language development. Then, it discusses the results of a survey performed by the researcher. The first section of the survey collected demographic information and the second section contained 16 statements about the relationship between literacy and language development. Survey participants indicated the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with each statement, based on their previous knowledge.

Three main questions were addressed in addition to the overall picture of parent knowledge about literacy and language development:1. Do parents who have completed a higher level of education have more knowledge on this topic? 2. Do parents with an educational background in child development or childhood education have more knowledge on this topic than parents who do not? 3. Do parents with more than one child have more knowledge on this topic than parents with one child?

Results from this current survey indicated that neither level of education, type of educational background, nor the number of children significantly increased the level of knowledge of surveyed participants regarding the relationship between literacy and language development.

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