The Home Literacy Environments of Turkish Kindergarteners: Does SES Make a Difference?

Abstract

This study investigated the possible differences in the home literacy environments (HLE) among Turkish kindergarteners from three different SES (socio-economic) strata. 341 parents of a total of 341 kindergarteners from 24 kindergarten classrooms in low, middle and high SES neighbourhoods across Ankara completed the Socio-Demographics Form and the Home Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ). Results of MANOVA and the Kruskal-Wallis test revealed significant differences among the three SES levels, with high SES scoring significantly higher than the middle and low SES and the middle SES scoring significantly higher than the low SES in all HLQ subscales. These findings imply that low and partly middle SES kindergarteners may be at a disadvantage for quality HLEs and so we educators have to look for ways to support these families. However results also point that all three groups fell within the "moderate HLE" range which shows that Turkish kindergarteners from all SES strata may need to be supported through systematic interventions.