The study focuses on the beliefs of Arabic-speaking mothers in Israel relating to early literacy, and the relations between their beliefs and their children’s actual early literacy skills. Participants included 113 mothers and their 5–6-year-old preschool children. At the families’ homes, mothers reported about the richness of the home literacy environment (HLE), their general beliefs relating to the importance of the literacy environment and their specific estimations of their child’s letter knowledge, phonological awareness, word writing and reading. In preschools, we assessed children’s letter knowledge, phonological awareness, word writing and reading. Results showed that mothers were aware of their children’s early literacy skills yet they over-estimated them. In a series of hierarchical regression analyses, we found that family socio-economic status (SES) significantly explained all of the children’s early literacy skills. Beyond SES, richness of the HLE contributed to most of the assessed literacy skills. Mothers’ general beliefs regarding the importance of the HLE and their estimation of their child’s literacy skills explained children’s skills beyond SES and HLE. The study has educational implications relating to the promotion of children’s early literacy skills in Arabic within the family.

该研究侧重于以色列讲阿拉伯语的母亲关于早期识字的信念，以及他们的信念与孩子的实际早期识字能力之间的关系。参加者包括113名母亲及其5-6岁的学龄前儿童。在家庭住所中，母亲们报告了家庭识字环境（HLE）的丰富程度，与识字环境的重要性有关的一般信念以及对孩子的字母知识，语音意识，单词读写的具体估计。在学前班，我们评估了孩子们的字母知识，语音意识，单词写作和阅读能力。结果表明，母亲意识到孩子的早期识字能力，但他们高估了他们的能力。在一系列的层次回归分析中，我们发现，家庭的社会经济地位（SES）可以很好地解释所有儿童的早期识字能力。除SES之外，HLE的丰富性还有助于评估大部分的读写能力。母亲对HLE重要性的普遍看法以及他们对孩子的识字能力的估计，解释了SES和HLE以外的孩子的技能。该研究具有与在家庭中促进儿童使用阿拉伯语的早期识字技能有关的教育意义。