On Parent-child Reading In The Early Elementary Years

As one important way of family reading education, parent-child reading refers to a family education activity in which parents and children read together in the families. This kind of reading has special meanings for children in developing body and mind. The scholarship at home focuses on the parent-child reading in early childhood education while that in the elementary years is not paid so much attention, not to mention that in the early elementary years. However, since the early elementary years are the transitional years from preschool education to regular education in the school, during which children's moral cultivation, manners, interests, and personality are formed, the parent-child reading in this period plays a significant role in the cultivating children's basic reading ability, great reading interest and good reading habits. Based on the scholarship in parent-child reading at home and abroad, the study takes the children in Guilin City and their families as the objects, questionnaires, and case interviews as the methods, to discuss the current situation of parent-child reading in the early elementary years.The research mainly deals with three aspects to study the current situation of parent-child reading in the early elementary years, parents'views towards parent-child reading, particular situation of implementing parent-child reading activity, and family environment building for parent-child reading. In investigating parents'views towards parent-child reading, the author does the study from parents'understanding of the notion, the meaning, the aim, and the design of the parent-child reading. In investigating particular situation of implementing parent-child reading activity, the study is done from time and frequency of the activity, reading materials'choosing and using, and reading ways and methods. In investigating family environment building for parent-child reading, it focuses on environment setting and atmosphere building.Based on the study of the current situation, the author points out that some parents have some misunderstandings over the connotations of parent-child reading, overemphasize the activity's effects in intellectual education but ignore its value in non- intellectual education, limit the content of activity in getting information and knowledge and raising study achievements but neglect the cultivation of reading interest and habits. While implementing the parent-child reading activity, some parents'knowledge structures are not complete, lacking knowledge in linguistics, cognitive psychology, reading psychology and pedagogics. Some families are short of nice reading atmosphere, including the problems of the number, kind, and freshness of reading materials, parents not being able to set up examples for children. With the result, the author discusses the relative theories and the existing problems in the investigation, and then raises suggestions on the quality and meaning of parent-child reading activity, on the specific content of the activity and on how to build nice reading atmosphere at home, etc. The author thinks that parent-child reading is a kind of family reading education with the characteristics of leisure and pleasure. Its education effects are realized by dipping in the environment and atmosphere, and parents'love for children. Its value relies on the leading and cultivating children's thoughts, habits and interests, but not teaching the special knowledge. Therefore, the main content of parent-child reading in the early elementary years is to cultivate children's reading abilities, interest, and habits. By providing rich reading materials, the environment full of reading information can be built. By setting examples for children, nice reading environment can be founded.