Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of parents' reading habits, shared-reading activities, and socio-cultural characteristics on the receptive and expressive language development levels of their children. In this correlational study, 302 parents and their 48-72 month olds children, who were selected through random sampling, participated. Data were collected using the Turkish Early Language Development Test (TELD-3) to measure children's language development, and Child-Parent Shared Reading Activities (ÇEBOE) to determine co-reading habits and activities. For data analysis, the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation coefficient and hierarchical regression were used. The results of the study showed that as the education level of the parent, the age of the child, and the frequency of reading increases, the language development scores of the children increase. On the other hand, as the number of children in the family increased and the age of purchasing the first book for the child increased, the language scores of the children decreased. Except for the “opinions about shared reading” dimension, there was no significant relationship between reading activities and children's language development. Socio-cultural factors including the age children, income and parental education level, and the time of purchasing the first book and the frequency of reading had significant effects on predicting language development.

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