Parent - Child Home Reading - Exploring activities with children from pre-school to grade 4 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Abstract

Parent – child interaction plays an important role in a child’s language development in all aspects of life. Home reading activities (HRAs) such as reading a book, singing a song together, playing flashcard games together are reported as a most effective interaction activity (Kam Tse et al., 2017). These types of home reading activities support children not only in reading prior to entering school and during early grades, but also in fueling positive parent and child relationships which is a predictor of children’s success in studying and in life. Frequent home reading activities have a positive impact on children’s reading skills at school, critical thinking skills, and behavior positivity (Kam Tse et al., 2017)

This research investigates home reading activities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam among a sample of parents of children from pre-school to grade 4. The main purpose of this study is to find out the level of awareness among parents in a fast-developing city and to explore how active they are in home reading. By collecting data among parents, this work will provide information on which factors affect this practice.

Research results show that parents in Ho Chi Minh City have a general awareness of the benefits of home reading activities. However, parents still have a vague understanding of home reading activities regarding their method and specific benefit. The research also shows that the cultural and societal factors in Vietnam have a strong impact on the low frequency of home reading activities.