Paternal Support of Emergent Literacy Development: Latino Fathers and Their Children

Jackson J. Taylor

Despite growing evidence supporting the notion that fathers influence their children’s education, few studies examine the intersection of father involvement and children’s emergent literacy development. The present study explored the ways in which fathers support children’s developing literacy skills among a low-income Latino community. Twelve English-speaking fathers and their preschool-aged children participated in this study. In addition to completing self-report measures of involvement, home literacy, and an account of daily activities, fathers were asked to share a wordless picture book with their children. Fathers reported adopting several daily involvement routines, highlighting the important roles fathers play in their children’s lives. The documented variety of involvement activities lends support to the study of fathering as a multifaceted construct and serves to challenge past stereotypical depictions of Latino fathers as uninterested and uninvolved. Furthermore, fathers were observed to provide rich linguistic environments during the book sharing activity. Trends among narrative participation scores support past literature suggesting cultural differences in narrative style during parent-child book sharing. Results provide important contributions to the development of a contemporary framework for studying Latino fathering, and suggestions are made for future researchers.