Asimina Ralli, The relationship between language and psychosocial skills: Educational implications, Προσχολική & Σχολική Εκπαίδευση, 5|2017, 84-96

Literacy and psychosocial competence are very critical factors for school achievement. Most of the relevant studies have focused mainly on the relationship between reading skills and behaviour problems without investigating other literacy factors such as writing skills, as well as other aspects of psychosocial skills, such as social, emotional and school competence. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between literacy (reading-writing skills) and psychosocial competence (social, emotional, school competence and behaviour problems) in typically developing primary school children. Seventy-three (73) pupils from the fifth and sixth grades participated in the study. They were assessed individually in standardized psychometric tests of literacy and psychosocial competence. According to the results their reading skills were positively correlated with social and school competence and negatively correlated with behaviour problems. Furthermore, their writing skills were significant predictors of their emotional competence. The main conclusions of this research as well as their educational implications are discussed