Parents' Role in the Early Head Start Children's Language Development

The development of language during a child's early years has been linked to parental involvement. While Early Head Start (EHS) researchers have theorized that parental involvement is an important factor in language development, there has been little research on how parents view their roles in the language development process. The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to explore the role and involvement of 15 EHS parents in the language development of their 3or 4-year old child enrolled in an EHS program in a Southeastern region of the United States. The guiding framework for the study was Vgotsky's theory, primarily about how socio-cultural influences can affect areas such as language development. The research questions explored the role parents play in language development, their use of prior knowledge skills in language development, and the benefits of being an involved parent in the language development skills of their 3-or 4-year old child. The method of van Kaam was utilized to collect data from parents and analyzed using the thematic approach, with bracketing and triangulation processes. Results show that EHS parents have an obligation to assist their child in language development and are comfortable in their role at home. Parents' prior knowledge in effective language skills activities, such as reading together, coloring, and computer games was a benefit in their role, coupled with spending time together as a family. Implications for positive social change include encouraging EHS practitioners to use parents as another resource for language development to improve EHS parental involvement challenges thereby contributing to long-term outcomes of language development skills in early childhood education programs.