Differences between parents' beliefs about supporting preschoolers' mathematics versus language learning

A great deal of research has shown that parents' beliefs about supporting preschoolers' learning can have important consequences for their children's achievement. However, few researchers have directly compared parents' beliefs concerning different subject matters, in particular mathematics and language.; The current study explored differences between parents' beliefs about three features of supporting preschoolers' mathematics versus language learning: (1) the emphasis that should be placed on supporting children's learning of mathematics versus language and the reasons why, (2) preschoolers' ability to learn specific mathematics and language content, and (3) the pedagogy of supporting children's mathematics and language learning. In addition, I examined the relationship between the subject matter differences described above and parents' background characteristics.; To conduct this examination, two groups of mothers were interviewed. One group of mothers was from a low-middle SES Latino background ( n = 21) and the other was from a middle-high SES Caucasian background (n = 19).; I found minimal differences between groups. For all the aspects of parents' support studied, parents displayed a partiality towards language. Specifically, parents believed in supporting children's learning of language over mathematics. Parents also had more nuanced beliefs about preschoolers' ability to learn language than mathematics. Further, parents believed, more for the learning of language than mathematics, that pedagogy should consist of: (1) a determination to ensure children actually acquire specific knowledge about subject matter, (2) a desire to delve deeply into children's subject matter understanding, and (3) facilitating children's learning in the course of their everyday lives.; I interpret these findings in relation to the literature on parenting and teaching. For instance, I examine whether parents' beliefs about pedagogy were sufficiently captured by the prevailing visions of good pedagogy described in the early childhood education literature. I also describe what these findings imply for interventions with parents. In addition, I discuss how the beliefs that I examined might relate to one another, parents' teaching practices, and children's achievement. Finally, I consider the limitations of this study and fruitful directions for future research.