ePapyrus PDF Document International Journal of Early Childhood Education 2012, Vol 18 No 2, 131 145 | 131 | Home Math Literacy Environment, Mathematics Ability, and Disposition toward Mathematics of Y.This study investigated the relations of young children’s math literacy experiences at home, their disposition toward mathematics, and math ability. Fourhundred eighty mothers of 3 to 6 yearold children completed questionnaires about their home math literacy environment and ninetynine children were assessed on their disposition toward mathematics and mathematics ability. Results showed that differences in home math literacy environment were associated with child’s age, mother’s educational level, and regular math class attendance. The child’s disposition toward math was positively associated with the home math literacy environment, but not math ability. These findings suggest that disposition toward math may be related to play materials space and math play－like games while math ability may be
International Journal of Early Childhood Education 2012, Vol 18 No 2, 131-145 Home Math Literacy Environment, Mathematics Ability, and Disposition toward Mathematics of Young Children 1)Haekyung Hong Chonnam National University, Korea Abstract This study investigated the relations of young children’s math literacy experiences at home, their disposition toward mathematics, and math ability Four-hundred eighty mothers of 3- to 6- year-old children completed questionnaires about their home math literacy environment and ninety-nine children were assessed on their disposition toward mathematics and mathematics ability Results showed that differences in home math literacy environment were associated with child’s age, mother’s educational level, and regular math class attendance The child’s disposition toward math was positively associated with the home math literacy environment, but not math ability These findings suggest that disposition toward math may be related to play materials & space and math play－like games while math ability may be related to parental involvement and supports rather than math learning activities [Key Words] home math literacy environment, mathematics ability, disposition toward mathematics, preschoolers Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to Haekyung Hong, Department of Early Childhood Education, College of Education, Chonnam National University, Gwang-ju, 500-757, KOREA E-mail: hkhong@jnu.ac.kr | 131 | Hong INTRODUCTION Recently, many researchers and educators have focused on early childhood mathematics education for several reasons First, high-technology and information society requires workers with a high-level of mathematical literacy Cognitive developmental and educational research over the past thirty years shows that young children are more competent and capable of math learning than Piaget’s theorists might perceive There is growing consensus that math competence in early childhood is a more powerful predictor to later school achievement than literacy ability is Many researchers reported that the differences of mathematical competence in early years had a significant effect on later math achievement in elementary school (Fielding, 2006; Princiotta, Flanagan, & Hausken, 2006) Several longitudinal studies show mathematics knowledge and skills at kindergarten were associated with their fifth-grade mathematics achievement scores (Melhuish, Phan, Sylva, Sammons, Siraj-Blatchford, & Taggart, 2008; Princiotta, Flanagan, & Hausken, 2006) and many mathematics difficulties in elementary school can be traced to weakness in early childhood Therefore, how young children acquire their mathematics knowledge and skills in early childhood is a major concern to researchers and educators Young children are born as active thinkers consistently trying to make sense of their world They construct their knowledge through interaction with their physical and social environment from birth Even Geist (2009) said “children are born mathematicians.” Young children have many opportunities to learn about mathematics in the context of everyday activities They construct an informal knowledge of mathematics in their everyday experiences (Ginsburg, Klein, & Starkey, 1998) Their early mathematical experiences play an enormous role in the development of their understanding of mathematics Young children enter preschool or kindergarten with different amounts of mathematics knowledge acquired through their daily experiences Recently, the view of ‘everyday mathematics’ or ‘emergent mathematics’ has been widely accepted One possible source of variation in children’s mathematical abilities may be the physical and social supports of early numbers skills children receive at home The daily experiences of young children are closely related to their home math literacy environment First of all, parenting practice, such as helping children with specific skills, using complex language, responsiveness, and warmth interactions, is associated with better developmental outcomes (Bradley, 2002) In addition, home learning environment factors, such as the availability of educational resources, attitude toward math of parents, and mathematical activities with children, can play a vital role in determining how well young children will in math (Sousa, 2008) | 132 | Home Math Literacy Environment However, there is little research on the amount and type of math experiences young children have at home A few studies on home learning environment have been conducted in the field of early childhood math education but the reports are contradictive Children who did better in math were from families with high scores on the home environment, while quality of the home environment independently predicted math score of young children (Campbell, 1996) Middle-class parents reported providing more mathematics activities to their children than did working-class parents (Starkey & Klein, 2000) However, other research reported that children of different socioeconomic groups and race have had no significant differences in mathematical experiences (Ginsburg, Klein, & Starkey, 1998; Tudge & Doucet, 2004), even though maternal education is a powerful predictor of math achievement (Downer & Pianta, 2006) While other family factors, such as parent’s education and SES are also important, the extent of home learning activities exerts a greater and independent influence on educational attainment (Melhuish, Phan, Sylva, Sammons, Siraj-Blatchford, & Taggart, 2008) Such evidence suggests that the extent to which children are involved in mathematical experiences may be different depending on variables For example, the home learning environment’s effects size on the achievement of age five were larger than that of age seven (Melhuish, et al., 2008) Korean parents of 4-year-old children felt more pressure to hurry to teach Korean characters and bought more picture books for literacy learning than parents of younger or older children (Jean, 2005) From these studies, it may indicate the differences in providing home math literacy environment according to children’s ages Therefore, which variable makes a difference in home math literacy environment needs to be explored Furthermore, the type and amount of mathematical experiences that Korean parents provide may be different from those that parents in Western countries as seen in the report that 78% of kindergarteners attended regular math class after school in Korea (Han, 2007) The primary goal of this study was to investigate the differences in home math literacy environment according to mothers’ educational level, children’s ages, and regular math class attendance On the other hand, relations between math experiences and math achievement were reported (Campbell, 1996; Skwarchuk, 2009) But there is a lack of research which deals with the relations between home math literacy environment and disposition toward math of young children, as well as math ability The reports from the studies on early literacy that affective quality of reading interaction was a powerful predictor of children’s motivation for reading (Farver, Xu, Eppe, & Lonigan, 2006; Kwon, 2011; Park, 2011; Sonnenschein & Munstyerman, 2002) imply a possible relation between home math literacy environment and disposition toward math of young children The second goal | 133 | Hong of this study was to explore the relations between home math literacy environment and either disposition toward math of young children or mathematics ability of young children METHOD To understand the differences in home math literacy environment of young children and the relations of their disposition toward mathematics and math ability, two research questions were addressed in the present research: “Are there differences in home math literacy environments according to mothers’ educational level, age of children, and attendance of regular private math class?” and “Are there correlations between a children’s home math literacy environment and either mathematic ability or disposition toward mathematics?” Participants To address the first question, 480 mothers of young children aged between three and six from the Gwangju and Jeollanam-do areas completed questionnaires about their child’s home math literacy environment In the mother sample, 58.3% of the mothers ranged in age from thirty to thirty-five and 30.6% ranged from thirty-six to forty; 22.3% of mothers graduated from high school, 35.4% of them attended a 2-year college, and 42.3% attended a 4-year college 16.9% of their children were 3-year-olds, 35.8% were 4-year-olds, 31.3% were 5-year-olds, and 16% were 6-year-olds 56.0% of mothers were not working and 32.9% of them were working full time; 46.3% of their children attended regular private math classes To address the second question, ninety-nine preschoolers aged between four and six from kindergartens in Gwangju were assessed on their disposition towards mathematics and mathematic ability In the children sample, 58.6% of the children were boys and 41.4% of them were girls, 22.2% were 4-year-olds, 40.4 % were 5-year-olds, and 37.4% were 6-year-olds Materials The Home Math Literacy Environments Questionnaire (HMLEQ) The HMLEQ (Hong, 2011) is a measurement for the math literacy environment at home It is composed of four subscales of solitary play materials and space, math activities related with games, parental involvement and support, and didactic math learning | 134 | Home Math Literacy Environment activities Twenty items were rated on a 4-point Likert-type scale The Cronbach alpha reliability was 84 (ranged 78 for play material and space, 51 for math activity related games, 81 for parental involvement and support, and 52 for math learning) Table Description of Home Math Literacy Environment Questionnaire subscales items description Play space and materials play area for child, solitary play materials, such as unit blocks, Lego blocks, dominos, and puzzles etc Math play related to game playing games with a dice, card games, and board games, which are play with parent or sibling Parental involvement and support encouraging counting, demonstrating counting, engaging in math talk, such as labeling shape or numeral, correcting child’ mistakes, visiting supermarket, postoffice or bank with child, showing how to use number in daily life, etc Math learning activities doing worksheet every day, math learning with a visiting teacher, or attending private math class The Test of Math Ability of Young Children using pictures (TMAY) The TMAY (Hwang & Choi, 2007) is a standard measurement for the mathematics ability of young children It is composed of four subscales: algebra, number and operation, geometry, and measurement Sixty items were scored as correct or incorrect The Cronbach alpha reliability were 94 (ranged 75 for geometry, 81 for algebra, 85 for number and operation, and 82 for measurement) The Test of Disposition toward Mathematics of Young Children (TDMY) The (Yoon, 2010) is composed of six subscales: applicability, confidence, preservation, self-monitoring, adaptability, and interest Thirty-one items were rated on a 4-point Likert-type scale The Cronbach alpha reliability were 93(range 94 for flexibility, 89 for confidence, 96 for preservation, 87 for self-monitoring, 75 for applicability, and 82 for interest) Data were analyzed by t-test and one-way ANOVA with the Sheffe test using the SPSS Win 12.0 program | 135 | Hong RESULTS Overview of Home Math Literacy Environments Age difference in Home Math Literacy Environments To examine the age differences in Home Math Literacy Environments, analyses of variance were conducted As shown in Table 2, there were no significant differences in overall HMLE associated with age of children However, the analysis for two subscales, such as play related to math games and math learning activities, revealed significant differences in the age of children The Scheffe post-hoc tests were conducted to examine the age differences There were significant differences between 3-, 4-, 5- and 6-year-olds in math play related to games (F (3, 476) = 5.095, p < 01)and in math learning activities (F (3,476) = 10.55, p < 001) Table Differences in math literacy environment associated with children’s ages Dimension Play materials and space Math play related to games Parental involvement and support Math learning activities HMLE **p < 01, ***p < 001 | 136 | Age N M SD yrs yrs 81 172 16.76 16.83 2.75 3.06 yrs yrs yrs 150 77 81 16.64 16.62 5.11 2.96 3.41 1.26 yrs yrs yrs 172 150 77 5.14 5.31 5.87 1.55 1.46 1.41 yrs yrs yrs 81 172 150 21.88 21.61 22.19 3.19 3.95 3.46 yrs yrs yrs 77 81 172 21.86 4.64 4.76 3.36 1.74 1.97 yrs yrs yrs 150 77 81 5.07 6.10 48.4 1.90 1.86 6.11 yrs yrs yrs 172 150 77 48.34 49.21 50.45 7.80 7.10 6.68 F Scheffe 14 5.095** 3-, 4-, 5-yr < 6-yr 706 10.55*** 3-, 4-, 5-yr < 6-yr 1.77 Home Math Literacy Environment Figure Differences in math literacy environment associated with children’s ages Differences of mother’s education level in Home Math Literacy Environment To examine the differences of mother’s educational level in Home Math Literacy Environments, analyses of variance were conducted As shown in Table 3, there were significant differences in overall HMLE associated with mother’s education level The Scheffe post-hoc tests revealed significant differences among three education levels (F (2,477) = 5.05, p < 01) The analysis for two subscales, such as play material & space and parental involvement and supports, revealed significant differences in mother’s education levels The results of Scheffe post-hoc tests showed that there were significant differences among high school, 2-year, and 4-year colleges in play materials & space (F (2,477) = 13.52, p < 001)and in parental involvement and support(F (2,477) = 3.73, p < 05) | 137 | Hong Table Differences in math literacy environment associated with mother’s education Dimension Education N M SD High school 107 15.52 2.91 Play materials and space Community college (2 yrs.) 170 16.73 2.93 University (4 yrs.) 203 17.35 3.00 Math play related to games High school Community college (2 yrs.) University (4 yrs.) 107 170 203 5.32 5.30 5.30 1.53 1.52 1.40 High school 107 21.26 3.87 Community college (2 yrs.) 170 21.69 3.06 University (4 yrs.) 203 22.36 3.77 High school Community college (2 yrs.) University (4 yrs.) 107 170 203 5.18 5.11 4.94 2.01 2.03 1.84 High school 107 47.28 7.95 Community college (2 yrs.) 170 48.82 6.94 University (4 yrs.) 203 49.96 6.75 Parental involvement and support Math learning activities HMLE F Scheffe 13.529*** high school < 2-yr., 4-yr college 01 3.73* high school < 2-yr., < 4-yr college 61 5.05** high school < 2-yr., < 4-yr college *p < 05, **p < 01, ***p < 001 Figure Differences in home math literacy environment associated with mothers’ education | 138 | Home Math Literacy Environment Differences of regular private math class attendance in Home Math Literacy Environments To examine the differences of regular private math class attendance in Home Math Literacy Environments, analyses of variance were conducted As shown in Table 4, there were significant differences in overall HMLE associated with regular private math class attendance (F (1,478) = 52.84, p < 001) There were significant differences in play materials and space between attending and not attending math class (F (1,478) = 9.39, p < 01), activities related to math game(F (1,478) = 5.77, p < 05), parental involvement and support(F (1,478) = 13.07, p < 001), and math learning activities(F (1,478) = 219.93, p < 000) The overall results showed children with regular private math class attendance had higher than those who did not attend regular private math class in HMLE Table Differences in math literacy environment associated with children’s attendance in regular private math class Dimension Attending private math class N M SD Attend 222 17.18 3.12 Not attend 258 16.34 2.91 Attend 222 55.48 1.50 Not attend 258 55.16 1.44 Attend 222 22.51 3.48 Not attend 258 21.34 3.59 Attend 222 56.23 1.71 Not attend 258 54.04 1.53 Attend 222 51.40 6.76 Not attend 258 46.87 6.84 Play materials and space Math play related to games Parental involvement and supports Math learning activities F 999.39** 555.77* 313.07*** 219.93*** HMLE 552.84*** *p < 05, **p < 01, ***p < 001 | 139 | Hong Figure Differences in home math literacy environment associated with children’s attendance in regular private math class Other variables in Home Math Literacy Environments The differences of other variables, such as mothers’ ages, mothers’ working, and residential areas in HMLE, also were analysed by ANOVA The results of these variables revealed no significant differences in Home Math Literacy Environments Math Ability, Disposition toward Math, and HMLE Relation between math ability and Home Math Literacy Environments Secondly, to examine how aspects of home math literacy environment were related to child’s math ability and disposition, the correlation analysis was conducted The overall math ability was not significantly correlated with HMLE, as shown in Table However, math ability was significantly correlated with aspect of parental involvement and support (r = 24, p < 05) and not with math learning activities | 140 | Home Math Literacy Environment Table Correlations between HMLE and Mathematics Ability Number & operations Algebra Geometry Measurement Math ability Play materials and space -.018 -.031 -.078 119 -.064 Math play related to games -.019 -.018 -.081 088 -.004 Parental involvement and support -.237* -.165 145 292** -.243* Math learning activities -.044 -.030 -.014 055 -.019 HMLE -.134 -.086 -.096 242* -.159 *p < 05, **p < 01 Relation between disposition toward math and Home Math Literacy Environments The overall disposition toward math was significantly correlated with HMLE(r = 32, p < 01) as shown in Table The disposition toward math was significantly correlated with aspects of play materials and space(r = 30, p < 01) and math play related to games(r = 29, p < 01) and not with aspects of parental involvement and supports or math learning activities Table Correlations between HMLE and Disposition toward mathematics Dimension Flexibility Confidence Preservation Disposition SelfApplicability Interest toward math monitoring Play materials and space 265** 252** 283** -.347*** -.288** 290** 296** Math play related to game 264** 263** 229* -.275** -.310** 310** 285** Parental involvement and support 204* 180 195 -.126 -.123 200* 186 Math learning activities 018 030 051 -.003 -.037 001 015 291** 315** -.313** -.275** 324** 319** HMLE *p < 05, **p < 01, ***p < 001 | 141 | Hong The results suggest that disposition towards math may be related to play materials and space and math play such as games, while math ability may be related to parental involvement and supports rather than math learning activities DISCUSSION This study investigated the differences in home math literacy environment according to children’s ages, mothers’ educational levels, and regular math class attendance The results showed that some aspects of home math literacy environment, such as math play related to games and math learning activities, differed in ages Six-year-old children who are just about to enter elementary school had more math play and math learning activities than younger children Similar results were reported by Jean (2005) who found that Korean parents felt more pressure for school readiness and bought books for learning It seems these differences are associated with preparation for children’s school success It is consistent with the research reports that 77.7% of 5- and 6-year-old children had regular math learning activities for school readiness of young children in Korea (Han, 2007; Shin, 2004) Higher mothers’ education level had better scores on the home math literacy environment Mothers’ educational level may also contribute to the quality of home math literacy environment The importance of mother’s education variable is supported by Parcel and Menaghan’s (1990) report that mothers with more intellectually stimulating jobs provided more support and stimulating materials for their children This finding indicates that the play materials and space as well as parental involvement and support are associated with the quality of home math literacy environment Many studies confirm the effects of mothers’ education on school achievement and interaction with their children (Campbell, 1996; Farver, Xu, Eppe, & Lonigan, 2006) The results showed that children who attended regular private math class had a better home math literacy environment than children who did not attend This is partially supported by the report that parents’ expectations predicted home numeracy practice and outcomes(LeFevre, Polzoi, Skwarchuk, Fast, & Sowinski, 2010) In addition, it may be a reflection of Korean parents’ concern about the learning of their children as Lee, Moon, Kim, & Yang (2009) reported that many parents wanted to provide their children opportunities for specialized learning This speculation deserves further research attention The second part of this study investigated the relations of children’s math literacy at home, their disposition toward mathematics, and math ability The results showed no relation between math ability and home math literacy environment in general These | 142 | Home Math Literacy Environment findings are not consistent with other research reports that quality of home environment predicted high math scores (Campbell, 1996; Skwarchuk, 2009) The possible explanation is that there is a little variation of home math literacy environment because of Korean parents’ high expectations and support for their children’s learning It also deserves additional research attention However, parental involvement and supports in subscales of home math literacy environment were associated with math ability of young children The result that parental involvement and support were associated with math ability of young children is congruent with the finding reported by Skwarchuk (2009) and Aubrey, Bottle, & Godfrey (2003) Benigno and Ellies (2004) also reported parents actively promoted preschoolers’ counting during games and used their turns as teaching opportunities It seems that the frequency of parent-child numeracy activities is significantly related to their children’s math ability Particularly, noteworthy in this study was the finding that disposition toward math of young children was associated with home math literacy environment Especially, play materials & space and math play related to games rather than parental involvement and support and math learning activities are strong relations to the disposition toward math In general, the findings suggest that math experiences related to play or indirect math activities may enhance disposition toward math, but parental involvement and support may enhance math ability of young children These results imply that math ability of young children and disposition toward math may be strongly affected by home math literacy environment More studies on the relationship of disposition toward math of young children to either math ability or home math literacy environment are needed for clear understanding of effects of home math literacy environment Furthermore, these findings support the importance of parental involvement, play materials, and games rather than direct math learning and may be effective for fostering young children’s math ability and disposition toward mathematics Such findings suggest that young children need a quality home math literacy environment Early childhood educators need to stand up to the academic pressure young children face In addition, they need to encourage mothers to offer more meaningful and playful eveyday math activities to their children rather than force their children to worksheets or attending private math classes Finally, the limitation of this study does not include preschool and kindergarten variables The quality of preschool and kindergarten may have powerful effects on disposition toward mathematics, math ability of young children, and home math literacy environment Future studies need to investigate the relationships with these variables and to examine the effects of home 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Early Childhood Education Journal, 37, 189-197 Sonnenschein, S & Munsterman, K (2002) The influence of home-based reading interactions on 5-year-olds’ reading motivations and early literacy development Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 17, 318-337 Sousa, D A (2008) How the brain learns mathematics Oaks, CA: Corwin Press Tudge, J R., & Doucet, F (2004) Early mathematical experiences: Observing young Black and White children’s everyday activities Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 19(1), 21-39 Youn, S E (2011) The development of a mathematical disposition scale for young children Unpublished doctoral dissertation Chonnam National University, Gwangju Manuscript Received August 30, 2012 Revision Received October 24, 2012 Accepted November 26, 2012 | 145 | ... disposition toward math of young children or mathematics ability of young children METHOD To understand the differences in home math literacy environment of young children and the relations of. .. enhance disposition toward math, but parental involvement and support may enhance math ability of young children These results imply that math ability of young children and disposition toward math. .. part of this study investigated the relations of children? ??s math literacy at home, their disposition toward mathematics, and math ability The results showed no relation between math ability and home