ABSTRACT

Understanding the factors influencing children's reading attitudes is vital for educators, parents, and policymakers. This quantitative, non-experimental correlation study involved 374 six-year-old Malaysian children and their parents. It aimed to examine the relationships between the preschoolers’ physical literacy environment, parent-child interaction in language and literacy activities, and reading attitude. Parents completed demographic forms and the Home Literacy Environment Questionnaire, while children were assessed using the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and Structural Equation Modelling to explore the mediating effect of parent-child interaction. Results showed no significant direct relationship between the physical literacy environment and children's reading attitude. However, parent-child interaction in language and literacy activities was significantly related to both the physical literacy environment and reading attitude. Mediation analysis revealed a full mediating effect, indicating that the physical literacy environment impacts reading attitude only through parent-child interaction. These findings highlight the crucial role of active parental involvement in language and literacy activities, emphasizing that simply having resources is not enough-how parents engage with their children matters. This insight helps guide parents in fostering more effective support for their children's literacy development at home.

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