Dimensions of Parental Involvement as Antecedents of Attitude towards Reading English (EFL): A Case Study from Omani Basic Education Schools, Cycle One (1-4)

The study examined the relationship between parental involvement and attitude towards reading English in the Sultanate of Oman. This study adopted the two-dimensional approach of parental involvement, using encouragement from parents and building positive modelling. The study involved cycle one student in Basic Education level specifically, in grade. The parents who participated were from Batinah South Governorate. They voluntarily completed the 24-items questionnaire regarding their involvement towards their children’s reading in English. A total number of 413 questionnaire were completed and analysed quantitatively using PLS-SEM. The major findings of the study revealed that both of the dimensions of parental involvement have positive effect on the students’ reading attitude. Specifically, the predictors of attitude towards reading indicated that Parental Encouragement ( = 0.48, = 0.463, < 0.01) is positively related to attitude towards reading; both explaining 78.6% of variance on attitude towards reading. This study extends the body of knowledge especially in the Middle East region (Sultanate of Oman) where the first language is Arabic. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this was the only study about reading in English particularly looking at the attitude towards reading in two dimensions manner and was the first of its kind among cycle one students in Basic Education level in the Sultanate of Oman.