Parental Involvement in Enhancing Emergent Literacy Skills Among Pre-Primary Children: A Case Study of Parents Who Are Academic Staff

This study examined parental involvement in enhancing emergent literacy skills in their pre-primary children at home. Specifically, the study intended to assess parents' availability of time for their children's home schooling, identify the types of emergent literacy skills that parents develop in their children at home, and explore the challenges that parents encounter in this regard. The study employed a qualitative, phenomenological design informed by Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler's Revised Parent Involvement Process model and the sociocultural theory of Vygotsky (1978). 9 academic staff from the Open University of Tanzania (OUT), including four males and five females, participated in the study. Parents who participated in this study had their children in pre-primary education. Data were collected through interviews and analysed through thematic analysis. The study found that some parents had time to be involved in their children's education, while others were unable to do so due to work-related exhaustion. Parents enhance both code-focused and meaning-focused literacy skills using strategies such as speech development and tools like flashcards and alphabet blocks. The study found challenges to parental involvement in child literacy development. The  challenges include work-related exhaustion, the disparity between home and school language, a lack of awareness about which tools work best for various literacy skills, and a lack of understanding of emergent literacy development. Parents demonstrated a strong desire to participate in their children's emergent literacy development, despite the challenges they face. Parents recommended an increased interaction between parents and teachers regarding strategies for promoting emergent literacy skills. The study recommends that there is a need to examine the role of parents' gender in supporting emergent literacy at home.