Home Literacy Environment and its Influence on Singaporean Children’s Chinese Oral and Written Language Abilities

Abstract

In a bilingual environment such as Singaporean Chinese community, the challenge of maintaining Chinese language and sustaining Chinese culture lies in promoting the daily use of Chinese language in oral and written forms among children. Ample evidence showed the effect of the home language and literacy environment (HLE), on children’s language and literacy abilities. This study examined Singaporean Chinese–English bilingual children’s HLE and its influence on their Chinese oral and written language ability. Parents of seventy-six Chinese–English bilingual preschoolers completed a HLE survey. Children’s Chinese oral and written language abilities were measured with age appropriate tasks. Results of the HLE survey revealed that, on the average, children’s Chinese language and literacy related activities, either carried out independently or with parents, were not frequent, but correlated significantly with children’s oral and written language ability. A set of regression analyses showed that, after controlling for family socioeconomic status (SES), children’s language preference at home made a unique contribution, both to their Chinese language and literacy related activities and to their Chinese oral language ability. Similarly, children’s Chinese language and literacy related activities were found to make unique contribution to their Chinese written language ability after the effect of family SES and language preference was accounted for, emphasizing the crucial aspects of home literacy activities for developing children’s Chinese written language ability.