| Description |
Children's engagement in literacy-related tasks has been identified as a contributor of literacy skills and achievement for elementary age children (Guthrie, Wigfield, & You, 2012). However, literature is limited on the development of reading engagement and its predictors, especially for young preschool children who are beginning to experience reading activities at school and develop literacy interest. Engagement in learning tasks is a multidimensional concept, encompassing regulation of behavioral (e.g., involvement in activities and following directions), cognitive (e.g., regulation of attention and commitment to the learning process), and emotional elements (e.g., affective reactions to teachers, peers, and activities) (Fredericks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004). Given the importance of regulation of these components, it is likely that engagement may be influenced by children's self-regulation (SR) skills -regulation of attention, working memory, and inhibitory control. Our current study assessed children's engagement during a whole-class reading activity with a multifaceted measure in an attempt to answer the following research questions: (1) How do preschoolers' reading engagement develop over the school year? ; and (2) Are reading engagement and SR scores associated? Participants of the study were preschoolers from low-income backgrounds (N=175, aged 3-5) from three Head Start sites in urban areas of Mountain West Regions. Preschoolers' skills were assessed during fall and spring of the school year. Teachers reported children's engagement in classroom reading, and SR skills were directly observed using a behavioral regulation task. |
