Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology
Effects of a home-based family involvement program on preschool children's early literacy skills: A randomized controlled trial in Kosovo
Sezen Haskuka Abdullahi 1 * , Şenay Bulut Pedük 1
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1 Department of Preschool Education, Faculty of Education, Trakya University, Türkiye
* Corresponding Author
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Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, Online First, pp. -
https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202647616

Article Type: Research Article

Published Online: 19 Aug 2026

Views: 3 | Downloads: 1

ABSTRACT
Early literacy inequalities weigh most heavily on minority-language children in post-conflict societies, where structured family support programs are scarce and largely untested. This randomized controlled trial examined whether a 12-week Home-Based Family Involvement Program improves preschool children's early literacy skills and parent-level outcomes in the Turkish-speaking community of Prizren, Kosovo. Forty children aged 5 to 6 years and their parents were recruited through convenience sampling from a single multilingual preschool during the spring semester of the 2023-2024 school year and were assigned to experimental and control groups with equal gender distribution in each. Children's early literacy was measured with the Early Literacy Test at pretest, posttest, and a 4-week retention assessment, and parents completed measures of reading beliefs and the home literacy environment. Data were analyzed with mixed-design analyses of variance in R, using a Bonferroni-adjusted significance criterion. Children in the experimental group showed large and durable gains in overall early literacy and in six of seven subskills, while phonological awareness did not change reliably, a result consistent with the multilingual environment in which these children grow up. Parent beliefs and home-environment measures did not change, indicating that the program altered parent behavior without altering underlying beliefs. The findings suggest that brief, structured, family-delivered literacy activities offer a practical and scalable strategy for supporting minority-language children's school readiness in multilingual, post-conflict contexts, and that such programs should be evaluated primarily on what parents do rather than on what parents believe.
KEYWORDS
early literacy family involvement home-based intervention Kosovo preschool education
In-text citation: (Haskuka Abdullahi & Bulut Pedük, 2026)
Reference: Haskuka Abdullahi, S., & Bulut Pedük, Ş. (2026). Effects of a home-based family involvement program on preschool children's early literacy skills: A randomized controlled trial in Kosovo. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202647616
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Haskuka Abdullahi S, Bulut Pedük Ş. Effects of a home-based family involvement program on preschool children's early literacy skills: A randomized controlled trial in Kosovo. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology. 2026. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202647616
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Haskuka Abdullahi S, Bulut Pedük Ş. Effects of a home-based family involvement program on preschool children's early literacy skills: A randomized controlled trial in Kosovo. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology. 2026. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202647616
In-text citation: (Haskuka Abdullahi and Bulut Pedük, 2026)
Reference: Haskuka Abdullahi, Sezen, and Şenay Bulut Pedük. "Effects of a home-based family involvement program on preschool children's early literacy skills: A randomized controlled trial in Kosovo". Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology (2026). https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202647616
In-text citation: (Haskuka Abdullahi and Bulut Pedük, 2026)
Reference: Haskuka Abdullahi, S., and Bulut Pedük, Ş. (2026). Effects of a home-based family involvement program on preschool children's early literacy skills: A randomized controlled trial in Kosovo. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202647616
In-text citation: (Haskuka Abdullahi and Bulut Pedük, 2026)
Reference: Haskuka Abdullahi, Sezen et al. "Effects of a home-based family involvement program on preschool children's early literacy skills: A randomized controlled trial in Kosovo". Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, 2026. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202647616
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