Abstract
AbstractRecent research supports the potent role of the environment in the development of language and literacy. While substantiated in research addressing language and literacy of many young children from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds, the role of the environment has received scant attention in research focusing on children who learn Arabic, a Semitic language characterized by diglossia. This chapter examines the role of environmental variables (parent education, beliefs, and home language use and literacy practices) in language and literacy outcomes of 64 bilingual English-Arabic children in the US. Results reveal a strong relationship between parent home language use and participantsʼ Arabic word reading, morphological awareness, and vocabulary skills; and between Arabic home literacy practices and Arabic reading comprehension skills. These findings corroborate previous cross-linguistic research and point to the importance of experience, namely parent language use and literacy practices, in predicting language and literacy outcomes in bilingual children. Implications for research, instruction, early intervention, and prevention of language and reading disorders in children acquiring Arabic are highlighted.KeywordsArabicBilingualCognitive advantageDiglossiaHome literacy environmentLanguageLiteracyParent language useParent beliefsStatistical learning
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