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Abstract

Text messaging programs have emerged as effective tools for enhancing parental engagement in children’s home-based literacy development, as substantiated by a growing body of research. This paper presents findings from a doctoral study that examined parental experiences and perceptions of a literacy-based text messaging program, with particular emphasis on how such initiatives inform and shape literacy practices in families with kindergarten-aged children. Rooted in the frameworks of social constructivism and interpretivism, the research privileges participants’ unique perspectives to explore the varied meanings parents construct around their use of the Kindytxt program. The study was theoretically informed by Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, which underscores the influence of familial and cultural contexts on children’s literacy growth, as well as Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, which situates family environments as critical to early literacy outcomes. Employing hermeneutic phenomenology, the research adopted a mixed-methods approach to capture the lived experiences of parents engaged with the Kindytxt program, enabling a nuanced analysis of how text messaging might bridge potential gaps between home-based and school-based literacy learning practice. Key findings indicate that text message-based programs like Kindytxt hold the potential in mitigating common barriers identified in educational literature, including limited access to school literacy information, challenges in initiating literacy activities at home, and perceptions relating to the practical benefits of early literacy engagement. Parents reported that the prompt, accessible, and easily understood messages empowered them to integrate literacy-rich practices into daily routines. These results underscore the potential of literature-informed text messaging programs to foster stronger home-school aligned literacy learning and to improve literacy outcomes for children.

Keywords

early childhood literacy text message parents education kindergarten

Introduction

This research examined parents’ experiences and perceptions of Kindytxt, a literacy-based text messaging program designed for parents of kindergarten-aged children in Australia. Kindytxt is part of a growing global trend toward using mobile technology to support home-based learning. Text messaging has emerged as a cost-effective, accessible, and scalable strategy for engaging families in literacy development (Chamberlain et al., 2021; Wen et al., 2023). While text messaging has long been used in healthcare and behavioural interventions, its application in early childhood education—especially for literacy—represents an evolving field with promising results (Nathan et al., 2022; Zhou et al., 2023).

Using a mixed-methods approach, this study targeted families in low socioeconomic areas of Perth, Western Australia, examining their experiences with a 30-week program. Insights gained may help developers, educators, and librarians optimise text messaging initiatives to enhance literacy outcomes for children. Such programs can support the alignment of home and school literacy practices—a key factor in improving children’s academic readiness, particularly in communities with limited access to traditional educational resources (Scott, 2022; Terras and Ramsay, 2016).

Kindytxt

Kindytxt emerged from the success of the Western Australian Libraries Better Beginnings family literacy program and aims to foster parent-child literacy engagement while preparing children for school-based literacy learning (Hill et al., 2024). It offers an accessible, low-tech alternative to app-based platforms that may require Wi-Fi or advanced digital literacy skills, which can be barriers for some families (ACCAN, 2022; Law, 2023). Kindytxt was designed to support families by sending three concise messages per week: an activity message, an information message, and an extension message. This aligns with recent research suggesting that parents prefer brief, actionable messages to support engagement in home-based learning (Steiner et al., 2022; York et al., 2019).

Incorporating local curriculum frameworks such as the Western Australian Curriculum Guidelines (SCASA, 2014) and the Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 (AGDE, 2022), Kindytxt addresses three core literacy strands: understanding texts, aural/oral language, and letter knowledge. Samples of each of the three strands are provided in Tables 1 –3 below:

Table 1.

Sample of strand 1 text messages - understanding texts.

Week	Activity text (Friday)	Information text (Saturday)	Extension text (Sunday)
1	Read a children’s book and read it out loud to your child	Sharing books every day helps your child become familiar with books	Ask your child to choose a book. Read it together
2	Read a children’s book out loud to your child. Point to the picture and name the things in the picture. Ask: What can you see in the picture?	Talking about the pictures helps to understand the story	Read a children’s book out loud to your child. Point to the pictures. Ask: What is happening in this picture? Why did this happen?
3	After reading a book ask questions about the story. Ask: What was the story about? What happened in the story?	Asking questions before, during and after reading helps to understand the story	After reading a book ask questions about the story. Ask: What did you like? Why did you like this?

Table 2.

Sample of strand 2 text messages – aural/oral languages.

Week	Activity text (Friday)	Information text (Saturday)	Extension text (Sunday)
13	Ask your child what sounds they can hear around them. Make the sounds together	Listening for sounds helps children to hear the different sounds in words for speaking and reading	Help your child to make different sounds at home (e.g. tapping, clapping, stomping). Say: Make a quiet sound. Now make a loud sound
14	Sing nursery rhymes with your child. Say: Let’s sing and do the actions together	Sharing rhymes helps children hear the sounds in words. The Better Beginnings web site has some nursery rhymes. https://www.better-beginnings.com.au/rhyme-finder	Find words that rhyme. Say: Let’s find some words that rhyme, like: cat & mat, book & look, coat & boat
15	Play ‘I spy’. Choose something you can see nearby (e.g. ball). Ask your child to guess what it is. Say the sound of the 1st letter as a clue. e.g. I spy with my little eye something beginning with ‘b’. What is it? (ball)	Saying the first sound of a word helps children to hear the separate sounds that make up words	Point to something and name it. Ask your child: What sound does it begin with? Make the sound of the letter. E.g. Make the ‘c’ sound at the beginning of the word ‘cat’

Table 3.

Sample of strand 3 text messages – letter knowledge.

25	Point to items with writing on them in the supermarket or local shop. Say: This is rice, the name of its 1st letter is R Let’s say the name of the letter together… ‘R’	Each letter of the English alphabet has a name as well as a sound. Pointing to and naming letters helps children learn to recognise different letters and their shapes	Ask your child to find other written words.Say the word and then say the name of its first letter. E.g. This says bread, the name of the first letter is ‘B’
26	Write your child’s name and say: Can you point to the first letter of your name? Then say: The name of this letter is … Say the name of the first letter together	Children love seeing their name. Recognising their name helps your child to identify the first letter of their name in other words	Ask your child to find the first letter of their name in other places. e.g., on signs, at the shops and in newspapers, magazines and books
27	Choose a book with your child Point to a word and say the name of the first letter. Say: Can you say the name of this letter with me? Can you find the same letter on another page?	Being able to recognise and name different letters of the alphabet will help your child learn to read words	Ask your child to point to a word Ask them to point to the first letter of that word and name it. Then ask them to point to the last letter of the word and name it

This alignment with Australian and Western Australian educational documents ensures pedagogical relevance while catering to diverse learning styles. The program emphasises ease of use and minimal digital barriers, enhancing accessibility for low-income or digitally underserved families (Suzanna et al., 2020). This is significant when considering parents as children’s first educators.

The role of parents as children’s first educators

The theoretical framework underpinning this research draws on the sociocultural theories of Vygotsky (1978) and Bronfenbrenner (1979), both of which highlight the foundational role of the home environment in a child’s early development. The Early Years Learning Framework reiterates this, acknowledging that parents are children’s first and most influential educators (AGDE, 2022). As literacy development begins well before school, engaging parents through familiar and readily accessible tools like text messaging can bridge gaps in early education.

Modern definitions of literacy are increasingly multimodal, reflecting the evolving digital landscape (Leu et al., 2018; Scott, 2022). This expansion positions digital platforms, including Short Message Services (SMS), as legitimate and effective tools for promoting literacy at home. For families with limited digital fluency or internet access, SMS programs like Kindytxt offer an inclusive way to participate in literacy learning.

Importantly, parental involvement in early literacy is associated with long-term educational benefits. Recent research has emphasised the role of mobile-supported interventions in amplifying this involvement. Programs such as TALK (Michigan Department of Education, 2023) and TipsByText (Chamberlain et al., 2021) demonstrate that text-based interventions can significantly increase parental engagement, particularly when messages are tailored, culturally relevant, and developmentally appropriate.

The potential gap between home-based and school-based literacy learning

The transition from home-based to school-based literacy environments can be challenging, particularly when expectations and practices differ (York et al., 2019). Text messaging programs have the potential to mediate this gap by delivering school-aligned content directly to parents in digestible formats (York and Loeb, 2018). The immediacy and regularity of SMS communication fosters consistent literacy practices and strengthens the connection between home and school learning environments.

Recent studies confirm that literacy interventions using mobile messaging can positively impact early literacy outcomes, especially in low-income or linguistically diverse households (Lewis Ellison and Qiu, 2023; Wen et al., 2023). By reinforcing phonological awareness, vocabulary, and narrative skills through simple activities, text-based programs allow parents to embed literacy naturally into daily routines (Nathan et al., 2022).

Bridging this gap between home and school literacy practices may require multifaceted approaches that not only inform and empower parents, but also provide tangible resources and opportunities for engagement. Book-gifting initiatives and family literacy programs currently serve as powerful interventions by placing high-quality books directly into families’ hands and fostering shared reading routines (Tura et al., 2023).

The provision of book-gifting and family literacy programs

Book gifting programs are initiatives that provide free, age-appropriate books to children and families—often through schools, healthcare settings, or direct mail—in order to promote early reading habits and support literacy development at home (De Bondt et al., 2020). The provision of these of book-gifting programs remain valuable components of early literacy development, with initiatives like Better Beginnings and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library shown to increase access to books and shared reading practices (De Bondt et al., 2020). Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a large-scale book gifting program that mails free, high-quality, age-appropriate books monthly to children from birth to age five, aiming to foster early literacy and a love of reading in the home environment (Tura et al., 2023). Better Beginnings is an Australian early literacy initiative that provides families with free books and resources to encourage shared reading and support children’s language and literacy development from birth, often delivered through libraries and community (Barratt-Pugh et al., 2024). However, recent evaluations of such programs suggest that many parents desire more active support and reminders to engage with their children around these materials (Barratt-Pugh et al., 2024; Steiner et al., 2022).

Text messaging programs are increasingly being integrated into these broader literacy strategies to provide such support. For example, by pairing book deliveries with follow-up SMS messages containing tips, questions, or activity ideas, parents receive timely nudges to engage in literacy-rich interactions. Research supports this approach as a means to increase both frequency and quality of parent-child literacy activities (Chamberlain et al., 2021; Daniels et al., 2022).

The use of text messaging apps in education

The integration of text messaging apps into educational contexts has grown rapidly, driven by the ubiquity of mobile devices and the need for timely, accessible communication. Text messaging has been employed in various educational settings, from kindergarten to year 12 and to higher education, with the aim of enhancing student engagement, provide reminders, deliver content, and foster communication between students and educators. Text messaging interventions, particularly those involving reminders and nudges from advisors, have been shown to improve student engagement and persistence. For example, randomised field experiments indicate that students receiving text reminders are more likely to remain enrolled and complete key academic tasks, such as re-filing financial aid forms or enrolling for subsequent semesters (Castleman and Meyer, 2020; Tippetts et al., 2022). Some studies report that text messaging can positively impact academic achievement, particularly when used to provide timely information, encouragement, and feedback. For example, a program targeting high school seniors with regular text messages about college applications led to higher college enrolment rates and credit completion (Castleman and Page, 2016). In relation to home-based literacy learning practices, York et al. (2019) argue that any increases in engagement translate into measurable gains in children’s early literacy skills.

The theoretical underpinnings of these interventions are rooted in behavioural economics, particularly nudge theory, which posits that small, timely prompts can influence decision-making and behaviour without restricting choice (Weijers et al., 2021). Recent studies further support the effectiveness of SMS nudges in educational contexts, showing that motivating messages can positively affect academic engagement and outcomes, although their impact may vary depending on context and implementation (York et al., 2019).

Additionally, transactional distance theory (Moore, 1993) remains relevant, as text messaging reduces the psychological and communicative gap between educators and families, fostering greater interaction and engagement. Social presence theory also applies, as regular, personalised messages help parents feel more connected to their child’s learning community, enhancing engagement and satisfaction (Damgaard and Nielsen, 2018).

Summary

In summary, home-based literacy practices are diverse and socially situated, reflecting cultural, economic, and technological contexts (Scott, 2022). As text messaging continues to evolve as a medium for educational outreach, programs like Kindytxt represent a promising model for supporting parents as first educators. The literature increasingly highlights the effectiveness of SMS-based approaches in reaching families with limited access to traditional or digital resources, and in bridging gaps between home and school literacy environments (Lewis Ellison and Qiu, 2023; Nathan et al., 2022).

To be effective, literacy-focused messaging programs must be grounded in recent research, attuned to the needs and capacities of families, and designed to foster genuine engagement rather than passive receipt of information. As the field continues to expand, further studies—especially those considering parents’ engagement and perceptions—are essential to refine and enhance these interventions for diverse communities. If these elements are not considered in the design of such programs, parents may feel, or continue to feel, they lack the necessary knowledge and confidence to support their child in this area of learning (Cabell et al., 2019; York and Loeb, 2018). The research question considered in this article is: In what ways are parents using Kindytxt to support their parent-child literacy practices?

Methodology

This doctoral study employed a social constructivist ontology, rooted in Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978) and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1992) to explore how parents utilised the Kindytxt program to support parent-child literacy practices. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, the study captures the essence of parents’ experiences with Kindytxt, focusing on interpretation and meaning (Creswell and Poth, 2018). This article focuses on one element of this study and considers in what ways parents used the Kindytxt program to support parent-child literacy practices.

A mixed-methods design integrates qualitative and quantitative data, allowing for a comprehensive understanding of the research problem (Creswell and Plano Clark, 2023). Data collection involved semi-structured interviews, audio recordings, parent diaries, focus groups, and text message records. This approach ensured a rich, triangulated dataset, enabling nuanced insights into parental engagement with the program. Discussion in this paper are results from using semi-structured, audio recordings of parents reading a book to their child, text message record grids and focus groups.

Participants were purposefully recruited from a low socioeconomic independent school in Perth, with the school facilitating access and information sessions. The study included six parents, selected based on criteria such as age, commitment to the program, and willingness to discuss their cultural backgrounds (Table 4).

Table 4.

Participant demographics.

Age	Pseudonym	Gender	Birth country	English as an additional language	Age of child
31–40	Jalah	Female	South Africa	Yes	3
31–40	Maheshi	Female	India	Yes	4
31–40	Faila	Female	Persia/Iran	Yes	3
31–40	Carol	Female	Australia	No	4
31–40	Tracey	Female	Australia	No	3
41–50	Jade	Female	Australia	No	4

Data were analysed after collection inductively and deductively to identify patterns and validate findings, providing a robust framework for understanding how Kindytxt influences literacy practices. This methodology emphasises the interplay of individual experiences and cultural contexts, offering valuable insights into the role of digital literacy tools in early childhood education.

Data collection

This study employed diverse methods to capture comprehensive insights into parental literacy practices and experiences with the Kindytxt program. Data collection included: Semi-Structured Interviews: Conducted at four stages (pre-program, Weeks 10, 20, and 30), these interviews explored literacy practices and program engagement and were initially conducted face-to-face, but then moved to an online format via Zoom due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and member-checked for accuracy. The interview questions were divided into two parts. Part One focused on a discussion about the audio recording of the parent reading to their child for that period of the Kindytxt program, for example, questions on how and why the book for the recording was chosen and reading habits. Part Two, discussed parents use of the Kindytxt program and a review of the parent text message record grid, which participants emailed to the researcher prior to the interview. Questions in this part focused on parents’ experiences of each of the three weekly text messages, for example, what was your experience of the Activity messages that were delivered on Fridays? Audio Recordings: Parents submitted recordings of shared reading sessions with their children before each of four interviews, providing authentic insights into home literacy practices. As stated above, these were discussed in Part One of the semi structured interviews. Text Message Record Grids: These grids tracked engagement with Kindytxt messages, offering a quantitative measure of program interaction and serving as discussion prompts during Part Two of the interviews. Focus Groups: Conducted via Zoom at the study’s end, these sessions provided a platform for collective reflection on the Kindytxt experience, enriching data from individual interviews. At the conclusion of the study, the researcher conducted a single round of focus groups to give participants the opportunity to reflect on and discuss their shared experiences of the Kindytxt program.

Data analysis involved thematic coding using NVivo, which identified key themes. For the broader PhD study on parents’ experiences and perceptions of the Kindytxt program four barriers and four enablers of home-based literacy learning practices were considered within a conceptual framework. However, this paper focuses on those themes that relate only to the research question – In what ways were parents using Kindytxt to support their parent-child literacy practices?

Discourse analysis of all participant audio recordings further illuminated changes in parental engagement prompted by Kindytxt activities, by aligning terminology and questioning used in the weekly text message prompts with parents’ oral prompts during the recorded reading activities. The use of discourse analysis aligned with the theoretical positioning of this research in that discourse analysis explores not only what people say but also how they say it, considering the broader social, cultural, and power dynamics that shape language use (Gee, 2011). For consistency across data collection and analysis, all data collection and data analysis were conducted by a single researcher for the purposes of completing a doctoral research study.

Findings

The research question considered in this article asked – In what ways are parents using Kindytxt to support their parent-child literacy practices? These finding were taken from a larger doctoral study that delves deeply into individual participants’ perceptions and experiences of the Kindytxt program. Data was gathered from interviews, participant grids, and concluding focus groups. Also, eevidence of discourse from the participant audio recordings of themselves reading to their kindergarten aged child in the home context were analysed. From this, the parents’ Kindytxt-related discourse was identified in reference to the text messages sent and converted into a percentage of parent discourse, excluding the text from the book, for comparison across the whole group. Kindytxt-associated discourse related to the use of prompted questioning and terminology suggested and used in the Kindytxt text messages across the 30-week program. The results are displayed in Table 5.

Table 5.

Participants’ percentage of parent discourse linking to the Kindytxt program.

Participant	Reading 1 (baseline) %	Reading 2 %	Reading 3 %	Reading 4 %	Percentage point difference from Reading 1 to 4
Jalah	00.58	26.11	10.37	04.59	+04.01
Carol	06.36	42.87	13.86	17.32	+10.96
Maheshi	24.57	23.36	12.08	26.94	+02.37
Tracey	03.05	17.98	27.73	34.21	+31.16
Jade	14.20	15.21	03.75	26.47	+12.27
Faila	12.88	20.75	34.61	39.57	+26.69

The data in Table 5 identified a widespread increase in parent discourse related to the Kindytxt text messages, from participants’ first pre-Kindytxt recording to their fourth and final recording after receiving the messages from Kindytxt. These data sets are based on discourse that can be directly linked to the content of the Kindytxt text messages. This can be seen in the graphical representation of the data in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Percentage of parent discourse associated with the Kindytxt program.

The findings in relation to the ways in which each participant used the Kindytxt program to support parent-child literacy practices will now be considered in relation to each of the six participants.

Jalah

Jalah stated that she enrolled in the Kindytxt program because she felt that the text messages would be a good reminder to engage in literacy-based activities with her child. She said, “Him being the third child, and life as it is, I’m curious to see if that involves me more at home.” She also added that she hoped to increase her “awareness of what my child is learning. Does it increase, based on the, the program?”

Regarding her use of the Kindytxt program, Jalah commented that she “started enthusiastically” with all of the different types of text messages from the Kindytxt program. She reviewed the activities as “fairly straight forward.” Jalah initially perceived that the extension text messages were “just more, rather than necessarily harder”; however, as the program developed her perception changed, and she commented that “some of them were a little bit more advanced and that we couldn’t do [them].” She perceived “that [child’s name] just wasn’t there.” This perceived difficulty of the extension text messages subsequently put a dampener on her and her child’s use of the program. As the program progressed, Jalah stated, “I guess my enthusiasm for the extensions and the fact that [child’s name] couldn’t even do that activity then I didn’t even bother going to the extension.” The extension in Jalah’s comments references the third weekly text message sent to her mobile phone from the Kindytxt program.

Despite her reduced use of the extension text messages, Jalah reported that her engagement with the Kindytxt program had resulted in her being more informed about what the term literacy meant: “Yeah, I’ve learned, as I said before, now literacy, and everything else it encompasses other than reading a book, so it definitely was informative, and I learned a great deal about it [literacy].” Despite these identified challenges, Jalah commented that she felt an increased level of engagement with her child during parent-child book-sharing activities: “It’s not just me reading the book to my child, it’s us involved in a story together.” Jalah stated that the Kindytxt program gave her “tools” to use when engaging in literacy-based activities: “I sort of saw it like a toolbox, things being added to my toolbox, er, that helped me.” This was corroborated in the four progressive audio recordings she made of herself reading to her child at home, shown in Figure 1. In this figure, the data identified an increase of four percentage points from Jalah’s first audio recording to her fourth, with a higher spike evident after the texts focused on book-sharing.

The increase from the pre-Kindytxt audio recording (Recording 1) to the Week 10 audio recording (Recording 2) identified an increase in Kindytxt-related discourse of 26 percentage points. Table 6 displays some of the key Kindytxt-associated discourse identified during the analysis of the data from Jalah’s four recorded readings.

Table 6.

Key examples of Jalah’s Kindytxt-associated discourse.

Kindytxt text message	Faila’s associated discourse
Activity text message Week 7 Read a book and say: How do you think the people/animals feel? Why do you think they feel this way?	Look at that sun. Is he happy or sad? How do you know that? (Recording 2)
Activity text message Week 5 Read a children’s book out loud to your child. Choose a page and read the words. Say: Point to the picture that goes with the words	All right, can you show me where the words are? (Recording 2)

Carol

According to Carol, she enrolled in the Kindytxt program because she was seeking “a little bit of inspiration to motivate” her second child whom she believed did not have the same love of reading as her first child. Despite Carol having potentially mixed feelings over the different types of text messages, she perceived that her enrolment in the Kindytxt program had influenced her eagerness to engage in literacy-based activities: “Yes, it’s made me more keen to engage in literacy activities.” Carol also reported that she would “spend a bit more time” on literacy-based activities. She expanded on this by saying:

So instead of, like, you know she [her child] might say ‘fish’ rhymes with ‘dish’, and in the past, I might have said, ‘Yes it does, good job’. Whereas now we would expand on that and be like ‘What other words rhyme?’

The data presented in Figure 1 identified that by the conclusion of the Kindytxt program (Recording 4), Carol had increased her percentage of Kindytxt-related discourse from her pre-Kindytxt recording (Recording 1) by almost 11 percentage points. Figure 1 also identified a spike in Kindytxt-associated discourse during Carol’s second audio recording. This second reading was recorded at approximately Week 10 of the program. This is noteworthy because it was taken towards the end of the section that focused on the understanding of texts and, therefore, was specifically focused on discourse during parent-child book-sharing. Examples of Carol’s Kindytxt-associated discourse and how it was associated with specific text messages from the program are displayed in Table 7.

Table 7.

Key examples of Carol’s Kindytxt-associated discourse.

Kindytxt text message	Carol’s associated discourse
Activity text message: Week 8 Read a book your child knows. Read the title together. Say to your child: This is the title. The words always say the same thing	All right so you’ve chosen this book My Spaghetti ABC. That’s what that bit is. That’s called the title (Recording 2)
Extension text message: Week 2 Read a children’s book out loud to your child. Point to the pictures. Ask: What is happening in this picture? Why did this happen?	What are they doing in the pictures? (Recording 3) Why do you think they’ve drawn this all over the inside? What does it look like? (Recording 2) Look who’s enjoying the spaghetti cake. Can you see there’s a secret picture hidden in there? Can you see? Who’s enjoying the spaghetti cake? (Recording 2)

Maheshi

Maheshi commented that one of the main reasons that she enrolled in the Kindytxt program was to support her child’s developing English skills. Maheshi stated:

I wanted to see if he can learn English because now I'm always speaking with him in Gujarati because I wanted to. I wanted to, like, for him, especially the youngest now, that he can learn our language as well, you know, so I wanted to see if we can learn English with this literacy way as well.

Maheshi suggested that the use of the Kindytxt program had influenced the literacy-based activities with her kindergarten-aged child because it improved her own understanding of Australian kindergarten literacy requirements. She noted, “I learnt actually, like so many things that are new.” Maheshi added that it had made her prioritise home-based literacy activities more: “So yeah, actually I made myself sit down with him and do this stuff. Otherwise, I don’t think so, like without this Kindytxt or without this knowing, I wouldn’t do anything with him.”

Maheshi found creating the recordings of herself reading to her child at home challenging because her child was not interested in the activities. She commented, “Week 3 says ‘After reading a book ask questions,’ and that activity, I didn’t do with him because he wasn’t interested at all.” She added that it would also depend on the child’s mood: “So yeah depends sometimes he, when he asks me, like, can you read a book, and sometimes I say come on, come on, come like, and he said no.”

As the program progressed beyond the understanding of the texts section (Weeks 1–12) and into the aural and oral language section (Weeks 13–24), Maheshi reported that “the last couple of messages was like a bit easy, ones like making sounds or playing ‘I spy’ that you can do any time.” However, as this literacy focus changed to letter knowledge, patterns, and symbols (Weeks 25–28), she commented that “he’s not really into sounds at the moment” and “I think, er, maybe he actually doesn’t get that understanding of sounds at the moment.” Maheshi added that “sometimes even for me, it’s like it’s hard to pronounce some certain words.” Regardless of this, Maheshi suggested that these activities were a positive stimulus because they were still being used by her to support parent-child literacy practices. She explained, “I just keep it in my mind and then whenever, like, he’s with me or I see something then I would just do it. So, for an example, when we went to the Indian grocery store and he sees me to buying rice and I was like, oh yes, yes, it’s a rice - ‘r’ for rice.”

Maheshi mentioned that the addition of examples for each of the activities would have been beneficial: “Maybe if it is a text message and then also the description of the activity, like an example at the same time, then I think it’s a bit easier for the, all the families with the language barrier.”

Figure 1 identified a small increase in Kindytxt-associated discourse from audio recording 1 (pre-Kindytxt) to audio recording 4 (post-Kindytxt). A decrease in this type of discourse was identified in the third audio recording suggestive of some inconsistency across the four audio recordings. Table 8 provides some key examples of the Kindytxt-associated discourse and questioning used by Maheshi.

Table 8.

Key examples of Maheshi’s Kindytxt-associated discourse.

Kindytxt text message	Maheshi’s associated discourse
Extension text message Week 2 Read a children’s book out loud to your child. Point to the pictures. Ask: What is happening in this picture? Why did this happen?	Can you see what’s inside the picture book? Oh! Look at this boy. What’s this one? (Recording 2) Look! Uh oh! What do you think? What’s Jonny doing? (Recording 2) Look at him. What is he doing [child’s name]? (Recording 3)
Activity text message Week 7 Read a book and say: How do you think the people/animals feel? Why do you think they feel this way?	Uh oh! [Child’s name], look at the teacher’s face. Do you think she is happy? How is she? How is she feeling? (Recording 2) Look at the mummy standing at the door. What do you think? Think she’s happy? (Recording 2) Why is she happy now? (Recording 2)

Tracey

Tracey commented that she enrolled in the Kindytxt program because she was “hoping to find different ways to engage in literacy activities with [child’s name] because his brother is so far ahead and takes over.” She added that she felt some concern that “I show him a letter and he can tell me the sound, but he’s not really computing if you put three letters, three sounds together it makes a word.” She hoped that Kindytxt would provide her with some new skills to support her child’s literacy development because she felt that “I don’t necessarily have the skills to do that myself.”

Despite Tracey’s background in education, she stated that enrolment in the Kindytxt program had increased her knowledge of home-based literacy activities and given her more confidence. In reference to the text messages that focused on letter knowledge, patterns, and symbols (Weeks 25–28), Tracey said, “I’m primary teacher trained, but I’ve always taught middle school and I teach English, but, and I struggled to remember how to break things [words] down for him. So, it’s given me the confidence in how to do that.” Tracey added that she found reassurance in the fact that participation in the Kindytxt program made her feel like her child was on the right track with his literacy learning. Tracey also reported that the Kindytxt program had “made me slow down a lot more with my reading and talk through a lot more of it.” In reference to the Week 9 extension text message, she stated that “there are some things I’ve really just assumed that he [her child] knows, where, what the last word on a page is, and he really doesn’t.”

In reference to the text messages that focused on aural and oral language (Weeks 13–24), Tracey commented on how she had used the program to support her parent-child literacy practices. She referenced Week 15 of the program, which invited parents to play ‘I spy’. “So, during the, like a lot of the sounds ones, we would use like at the dinner table, and we’d start playing ‘I spy’.” When Tracey was asked if she would continue with the activities after the program had finished, she stated:

So yes, some of them would be ongoing or okay, like I found, like, the reading ones, the book ones, again doing [them] after the fact that it wasn’t like I’m looking at this and going well this activity I’m going to do while I’m reading this book. It was that doing those activities for the first ten weeks put it into my routine.

Analysis of the data showed that Tracey was less likely to action the text messages when she felt that the activity was not new or when her child was not interested in the activity/extension. Tracey gave the following example: “Choose the page and read the words. Say: point to the picture that goes with the words (Week 5 activity text message). I feel like, I don’t know, we kind of do that anyway.” Tracey also suggested that her child lacked confidence and was reluctant to engage in the discourse and questioning recommended by the Kindytxt program:

So, when it was the, why did this happen? When he had to really articulate himself, he just wasn’t interested. I think right in the beginning it was a bit advanced in that, and he lacks a lot of confidence. So, a lot of the time [child’s name] won’t like to answer, if he doesn’t feel that it’s going to be right.

Figure 1 identified that Tracey progressively increased her Kindytxt-associated discourse and questioning in each one of her four audio recordings. Notably, Tracey had the biggest increase in Kindytxt-associated discourse of all participants at an increase of over 31 percentage points. This is supported by the interview data and Tracey’s comment that “when I’m reading with him, I’m asking those questions and talking about what we’re reading a lot more. So, I think we used it ongoing, but not necessarily because of continued texts, because of that first half [of the Kindytxt program].” Table 9 presents key examples of the discourse and questioning used by Tracey during her audio recordings.

Table 9.

Key examples of Tracey’s Kindytxt-associated discourse.

Kindytxt text message	Tracey’s associated discourse
Extension text message: Week 2Read a children’s book out loud to your child. Point to the pictures. Ask: What is happening in this picture? Why did this happen?	[Child’s name], what’s happening? Yeah, that’s Earth. What are these things? (Recording 2) Oh! What do you think he’s just done there? (Recording 2)
Activity text message Week 4Choose a book your child knows and read a few pages. Stop and ask: What do you think happens next? Turn the page to see what happens next	[Child’s name], what do you think he is going to say? (Recording 2) What do you think if you were at work in a space command and you saw an elephant walk up to you and ask to be an astronaut? (Recording 2) What do you think happens in this story? (Reading 3)

Jade

Jade enrolled in the Kindytxt program to gain “some ideas for things that perhaps we are working on and advance in, err, so we might be reading the story and some of the messages coming through, you know.” She also added that she hoped that the Kindytxt program would “encourage you to [go] further, than just reading the story.”

In the early stages of the Kindytxt program, Jade commented that the text messages had prompted her to talk to her child about the pictures on the front covers of books before opening them up to read her child the story. When Jade was asked if she thought Kindytxt had influenced any of her behaviour or language during parent-child literacy activities she commented:

So, there definitely has been, for instance when we were coming down from the car and she saw the book. She was like, ‘Oh, I know that story!’. So, I was like, ‘Tell me about it. What happens?’ I was able to take some of those, er, suggestive activities to [go] further, before we had even opened up the book.

As the program moved away from the understanding of texts, Jade suggested that she felt that she was already doing the activities. Jade stated, “I think I was already incorporating a lot of that discourse with the girls anyway. It didn’t have an impact on any changes to the way that I approached activities or did things with the girls, with [child’s name].”

In reference to the text messages arriving on her mobile phone, Jade stated:

If I can’t answer that, a certain text, I will leave it so that it reminds me to go back, because as soon as I read it and I’m not in a position to respond or find that information it gets forgotten about.

Despite this suggested flexibility around reading and engaging with the text messages in the program, Jade reported that “the ones that I wouldn’t have opened up to read would have been on the Sunday.” She further explained that this was “because we do our regular routine reading on an evening – Monday to Friday. Generally, the weekends are a bit hit and miss.” This suggests that how she utilised the Kindytxt program was influenced by other factors, such as the timing of the messages and what other things were going on at home. The delivery of the Kindytxt text messages occurred weekly Friday to Sunday with the activity sent to parents’ mobile phones Monday, followed by the information text on Saturday and then the extension activity text message on the Sunday.

Jade commented that the information text messages were useful, but she added: “I think I actually knew a lot of the information already, so it wasn’t anything new for me.” This may suggest that she was less likely to go on to action a text message if she felt the activity was not new or not suitable for her or her child.

Regardless of this perceived lack of newness in the program, Jade’s discourse and questioning relating to the Kindytxt program from Audio Recording 1 to Audio Recording 4 identified an increase of 12 percentage points (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 identified some inconsistency regarding Jade’s discourse, with a notable decline in the third recording, which was taken around Week 20 when the Kindytxt program focused on aural and oral language. Despite Jade’s previous comment that the Kindytxt program “didn’t have an impact,” when prompted to consider if she was engaging in more questioning with her kindergarten-aged child during book-sharing, she responded, “Potentially yes. Er, with er or maybe just reminding me to ask those sorts of questions.” Table 10 presents some of the key discourse and questioning associated with the Kindytxt text messages implemented by Jade during her audio recordings.

Table 10.

Key examples of Jade’s Kindytxt-associated discourse.

Kindytxt text message	Jade’s associated discourse
Activity text message Week 2 Read a children’s book out loud to your child. Point to the picture and name the things in the picture. Ask: What can you see in the picture?	I think that breakfast looks yummy. Can you see what it is? (Recording 2) Can you see all this plant here? Well, that’s Ivy. See how it’s covered all the walls up. (Recording 2)
Extension text message Week 8 Read a book your child knows. Read some parts of the book together	Can you find the word ‘the’? Mm, that’s it. (Recording 2)

Faila

Faila commented that she enrolled in the Kindytxt program because she was interested in learning new things “to be a better mum.” She added that she had lived in Australia for the past two and half years and she was interested in learning more about the “training strategies here.” She stated that she used the Kindytxt program to support parent-child literacy practices, and “it was a very good experience for me to be a part of the program.” She reported that she was keen to engage in the Kindytxt program:

…because I already [have] been a part of a program in my home country, so I want to try this one in Australia and see how your program strategies is, and how you try to let the families know how to work with their children in terms of literacy-based program, which was so good for me.

Faila commented that her use of the Kindytxt program had made her more aware of the importance of engaging in literacy-based activities with her child: “We had some literacy kind of activities, like for example, reading a book, singing, and dancing together, and things like that, but from Kindytxt I [have] become more conscious about the importance of each [of the] activities.” Faila also added that she now gives her child more time to think and talk about the literacy-based activities and provides her child with more opportunities to share her ideas. Faila stated, “[I] ask [child’s name] to talk more instead of just me talking. Yeah, that she also shared her ideas, thinking with me and create her own story.”

The findings displayed in Figure 1 show how Faila used the Kindytxt program and how it influenced her discourse during parent-child book-sharing activities. Figure 1 identified a progressive increase in the Kindytxt-associated discourse and presents an increase of over 36 percentage points from Recording 1 to Recording 4. In reference to the activity text message in Week 4, which states “Choose a book you know and read a few pages. Stop and ask: What do you think happens next?” Faila commented, “I really find, I find it useful and interesting because I really receive, I’m really a fan of receiving these kind of text messages.” She also suggested that the text message format “gives me time to think about it and then when I read a book for [child’s name] it gives me, gives me an idea what questions to ask, how to engage with her, which is really good.” Table 11 provides some key examples of Faila’s Kindytxt-associated discourse.

Table 11.

Key examples of Faila’s Kindytxt-associated discourse.

Kindytxt text message	Faila’s associated discourse
Activity text message Week 1 Ask your child to choose a book. Read it together	Ok [child’s name], which book do you like? Do you like this one? (Recording 2)
Activity text message Week 7 Read a book and say: How do you think the people/animals feel? Why do you think they feel this way?	How do, how do these animals feel? How do they feel? (Recording 2) Why are they happy? Because they are playing? (Recording 2) It seems to be happy. Why is it happy? (Recording 3)

Discussion

This study examined how parents used the Kindytxt text messaging program to support home-based literacy learning. The findings reveal that the arrival of Kindytxt messages on parents’ phones consistently acted as prompts, encouraging engagement in literacy activities with their kindergarten-aged children. Parents’ use of the program varied according to individual circumstances—mainly, their preferred times and routines—but overall, the regular text prompts kept literacy learning present in their daily awareness. Although the timing of reading each message was flexible, the repeated receipt of messages suggests sustained parents’ focus and attention on literacy-based practices over the 30-week program.

Analysis of participant audio recordings showed a notable increase in literacy-related language and questioning styles suggested by Kindytxt from the beginning to the end of the program. This shift occurred regardless of how frequently parents reported using the program, suggesting that mere exposure to regular, tailored messaging helped embed literacy activities more firmly in family routines. In line with previous research (e.g., Cunningham et al., 2014), these findings highlight that text-based reminders can effectively prompt parental engagement and keep literacy learning front-of-mind at home.

The data from this study suggests that the two main findings were that Kindytxt was used by parents as a prompt to engage in literacy learning with their kindergarten aged child, and the program was used to improve parent knowledge on literacy-based practices that were aligned with school-based learning. Findings also suggested literacy-based text messaging programs like Kindytxt may offer support for parent-child literacy learning in families where English is an additional language or dialect.

Reminders and prompts for home literacy

A principal finding was that Kindytxt’s text messages served as ongoing reminders for parents to prioritise and initiate home-based literacy activities. The consistent messages encouraged parents to integrate literacy-rich experiences into their daily routines, even if the tasks were not completed immediately after a message was received. Rather than prompting only task completion, the messages operated as catalysts for parents to sustain their commitment to home literacy learning, resulting in increased parent-child interactions around these activities throughout the program. This aligns with evidence that text messaging has the potential to improve home-based educational engagement by providing timely prompts, information, and encouragement (Castleman and Page, 2016).

Enhancing literacy knowledge aligned with schools

The study also found that Kindytxt expanded parents’ understanding of literacy concepts and practices relevant to school-based learning. Interview feedback and audio recordings of parent-child book-sharing sessions indicated that parents began using more of the terminology and questioning strategies modelled in the Kindytxt text messages. This demonstrates potential in bridging a well-documented gap in parent access to school literacy expectations (Barratt-Pugh and Rohl, 2021) and reinforces the concept that digital interventions supporting home-school alignment can enhance children’s literacy outcomes (Mol and Bus, 2011; Steiner et al., 2022).

Participation also increased parent-child engagement with fundamental literacy components, such as letters and sounds, supporting previous findings about the value of guided, interactive reading at home. For parents from linguistically diverse backgrounds—those less familiar with the Australian education system—the program was especially useful in providing accessible, curriculum-aligned content, helping them overcome common barriers faced by culturally and linguistically diverse families (Hannon et al., 2020).

Supporting diversity

By delivering evidence-based literacy activities and information directly to parents—including those with English as an additional language—Kindytxt helped create a more inclusive environment and empowered broader participation in school-aligned home literacy learning. This targeted support for underserved families facilitated active involvement and potentially bridged knowledge gaps, aligning with the goal of fostering equity in educational opportunities.

Limitations

This study had limitations, such as a small sample size, participation drop-out in relation to completion of the Kindytxt program (the study commenced with nine participants), and disruption due to COVID-19 and the challenges it placed upon meeting participants face-to-face. Recommendations include expanding participant numbers and refining Kindytxt program content.

Conclusion

The research aimed to understand how the program influenced parents’ engagement with their children’s literacy learning, employing a mixed-methods, phenomenological approach. In asking how parents utilised the Kindytxt program to support their parent-child literacy practices, the findings indicate that the program potentially contributed to an increase in parent-child literacy interactions, notably through regular reading and questioning during book-sharing activities. Notably, an increase in parent-child interaction has the potential to enhance communication and understanding of texts between parents and children, which may lead to improved home-based literacy practices.

The study makes several key contributions. It provides early insights into the program’s effects and underscores the importance of incorporating parental perspectives into program design. Additionally, it offers strategies for bridging the gap between home and school literacy learning, particularly for families from low socioeconomic backgrounds and those with additional language needs. These findings have significant implications for developing targeted interventions that support literacy development in diverse family contexts.

Overall, this study concludes that Kindytxt demonstrated the potential to increased parent-child readiness for school-based literacy learning, enhanced parents’ knowledge and confidence on school-based literacy learning practices and fostered a more supportive and inclusive approach to home-based literacy learning.

Footnotes

ORCID iD

Amanda Binns

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Parents’ utilisation of the literacy-based text message program Kindytxt

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Kindytxt

The role of parents as children’s first educators

The potential gap between home-based and school-based literacy learning

The provision of book-gifting and family literacy programs

The use of text messaging apps in education

Summary

Methodology

Data collection

Findings

Jalah

Carol

Maheshi

Tracey

Jade

Faila

Discussion

Reminders and prompts for home literacy

Enhancing literacy knowledge aligned with schools

Supporting diversity

Limitations

Conclusion

Footnotes

ORCID iD

Funding

Declaration of conflicting interests

References