Predictors of maternal writing mediation to kindergartners: Analysis via a twins study

This chapter explored the nature of mothers' writing mediation to their kindergarten-age twins and attempted to better understand some of its predictors, including mothers' pedagogical beliefs and estimation of their children’s literacy skills, and children's early literacy. The chapter also tried to identify a consistent maternal writing mediation style employed with both twins. Participants were 28 sets of twin kindergartners (56 children, mean age 68.89 months) and their mothers. Children’s early literacy (letter naming, phonological awareness, and word writing) underwent individual assessment in their kindergartens. During home visits, the mother's pedagogical beliefs and estimation of each of her children’s early literacy were assessed, and two mother-child word writing interactions (one with each twin) were videotaped. Findings demonstrated that maternal pedagogical beliefs were not related to maternal writing mediation. Children’s actual literacy level contributed to task-specific mediation measures (grapho-phonemic mediation, printing mediation, demand of precision, and reference to orthography), even beyond the mother's pedagogical beliefs and her estimation of her children's literacy. The mother's estimation of her children’s literacy contributed, beyond maternal pedagogical beliefs and the children’s actual level of literacy, to the more general mediation measures (atmosphere, mutuality, reinforcements, and task perception). This study revealed that, along with sensitivity to the child’s level, mothers of twins possessed a mediation style.