UC Berkeley

While the study of family literacy in Latino communities has grown in the U.S. since the 1990s, this is a nascent research area in Latin America, with Chile being no exception. Limited information is available about the impact of parents’ literacy practice on child literacy outcomes at different developmental stages, the shared reading practices implemented by Chilean caregivers with their young children, and the distribution of said practices by family members. To address this gap, this dissertation seeks to explore the situated literacy activities conducted by Chilean parents with their pre-reading children.

Using a mix-method approach, this dissertation explores family literacy practices from three different dimensions, each represented by a study. In the first study, using a nationally representative longitudinal database from Chile, it is explored how mothers and fathers share the responsibility of conducting practices that support child language and cognitive development. Random effects at the child level and fixed effects at the time level were used to identify the causal impact of mother-child and father-child activities on child development. In the second study, utilizing the same database and a similar methodology, it is analyzed how the frequency of parents' literacy practices change across early childhood and how changes in these practices are associated with child language and literacy outcomes. Finally, in the last study, caregivers' behaviors during a shared reading event with their toddlers using a video data set from 120 Chilean families are examined. The goal of this dissertation is to highlight the assets and possible needs of Chilean parents when supporting their young children's literacy acquisition process.