Home language, school language and children's literacy attainments: A systematic review of evidence from low‐ and middle‐income countries

The general consensus in the field is that when the home language is different from the language of instruction in school then children's literacy attainments could slow down. In this 26-year review of the literature on children's literacy attainments in low- to middle-income countries, 40 correlational, ethnographic and intervention studies provide the data. We test the ‘home language advantage’ hypothesis where we expect children who speak the same language at home and school to show better literacy learning. We also examine other attributes in the home language and literacy environment (HLLE). Among the multivariate studies, trends differ across countries, age and grade levels, and child measures. Rather than a universal home language advantage, the evidence shows that home language advantage is context-sensitive. The correlational and ethnographic evidence point to a multiple risk factors model of home and school language disconnection; and the ethnographic and intervention studies provide complementary evidence of both feelings of unease, disempowerment and wish to help among family members, and increased confidence following guided support. Possible underlying mechanisms are examined through parallel synthesis of evidence from multiple research methods on three HLLE dimensions—books-at-home, home tutoring and adult literacy practices. The data partially corroborate findings from high-income countries (e.g. home environments impact literacy development, responsive parenting is present across families) but also bring focus on context-specific realities. Neither low-income nor low-print environments are uniform constraints because communities differ and some homes use available resources more efficiently than others

Roles of Perceived Control and Coping Strategies on Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms of Turkish Adolescents

This study aimed to test the importance of the match between control appraisals and coping responses as relating to the psychological symptoms of anxiety and depression in adolescents. Besides this match, by means of a survey study the main effects of control appraisals and coping strategies were tested via hierarchical regression analyses, which were run for anxiety and depression symptoms separately. Participants were 396 students (204 girls, 192 boys) whose ages were 11 to 18 years. After controlling for potential factors such as appraisals concerning the problem features, some subject variables, and perceived general stress, results indicated an important discriminative feature among these symptoms, addressing greater use of problem-focused coping than emotion-focused coping, was associated with alleviated depression symptoms of adolescents. On the other hand, the preferring coping strategies were not related to anxiety symptoms. Importance of problem appraisals and coping responses in alleviating depression and anxiety symptoms were discussed together with their potential function in discriminating associates of these symptoms