Literacy starts at home: Examining the interplay between parental involvement, socioeconomic factors, and preschoolers’ cognitive development

Research Findings: This study explored the association between the home literacy environment (HLE), conceptualized as comprising parents’ reading beliefs and home literacy practices, and preschoolers’ reading skills and reading interest. It also identified factors in the HLE that predict emerging reading competence and motivation to read. A total of 193 children age 6 years from 14 preschools across Singapore and their parents participated in the study. The parents completed a reading belief inventory, a family literacy activity inventory, and a demographic questionnaire that surveyed the child's reading interest. The children were administered a battery of standardized literacy tests. The study found a moderate relationship between the HLE and children's reading competencies and a strong relationship between the HLE and children's reading interest. When parents’ education level and children's age were controlled, hierarchical multiple regression analyses found that family literacy activities contributed more unique variance to children's reading outcomes and reading interest than did parents’ reading beliefs. Active parental involvement was the strongest component of the HLE, with parent–child engagement in reading and writing emerging as the best predictor of both the child's emerging reading skills and reading interest. With respect to reading beliefs, parents’ efficacy in supporting literacy development before their child attended school positively predicted reading competence, as did parents’ affect and verbal participation in fostering reading interest. However, verbal participation negatively predicted Singapore children's reading competence. Practice or Policy: The implications of the results were discussed.

Children's reading skill development is influenced by availability of reading materials, reading habits and opportunity to read. Save the Children's Literacy Boost data have replicated this finding across numerous developing contexts. Meanwhile international large-scale reading assessments do not capture detail on current home literacy. The consistent positive association of reading skills with home-based materials and reading habits and the negative association with chores suggest that in developing contexts, opportunity to read outside the classroom is as important to development of reading skills as opportunity to learn these skills inside the classroom. Without data on home literacy environment, calls for action center only on schools and policies, and thus incompletely address learning and equity. Results of Literacy Boost program evaluations find that participants with reading opportunities outside of schools learned more than non-participating peers. Children from homes without books, without readers and without reading opportunities, as well as struggling girls benefited more from provision of opportunities to read outside the school than did more advantaged peers. With the same teachers, reading instruction quality and limited class time, an enhanced home/community literacy environment generated greater learning. Including indicators of home literacy environment alongside skill assessments, whether large scale or small, can best inform effective support for learning and equity.

We examined the bidirectional relations between home literacy environment, reading interest, and children's emergent literacy and reading skills in a sample of 172 English-speaking Canadian children (Mage =75.87months) followed from Grade 1 to Grade 3. Results of cross-lagged analysis revealed that the reading comprehension activities (RCA) at home positively predicted children's reading skills at the end of Grade 2 and the reading skills negatively predicted the RCA in Grade 3. Parent-rated reading interest was bidirectionally related to reading skills, whereas child-rated reading interest was only predicted by earlier reading skills, but not vice versa. These findings suggest that parents are sensitive to their children's reading performance and modify their involvement accordingly.

We examined the relation between home literacy environment (HLE), parents' reading skills, and children's emergent literacy skills (pinyin letter knowledge, phonological awareness, and vocabulary) and reading (word reading and reading comprehension) in a sample of 168 Chinese children (Mage = 74.26 months) followed from kindergarten to Grade 1. Results of structural equation modeling showed that code‐related HLE activities and access to literacy resources continued to predict children's emergent literacy skills after controlling for the effects of family's socioeconomic status and both parents' reading skills. Parents' reading skills also exerted a direct effect on children's reading comprehension. These findings suggest that HLE exerts a true environmental effect on children's reading skills that is not due to a genetic confound.

This review delves into the intricate interplay between family dynamics and children's reading proficiency and intellectual growth. In recent decades, researchers have increasingly recognized the pivotal role of familial environments in shaping children's cognitive development, particularly in the realm of literacy acquisition. Drawing upon a wide array of scholarly literature, this paper synthesizes existing research to elucidate the multifaceted influences exerted by family-related factors on children's reading skills and overall intellectual advancement.The review identifies and examines various dimensions of family life that impact children's reading abilities, encompassing parental involvement in literacy activities, the quality of parent-child interactions, socioeconomic status, family structure, parental education level, and cultural factors. Additionally, it scrutinizes the significance of home literacy environments, including access to books, reading materials, and conducive learning settings, in fostering children's language acquisition and cognitive development.

We examined the cross‐lagged relations between the home literacy environment and literacy skills in Japanese, and whether child's gender, parents' education and child's level of literacy performance moderate the relations. One hundred forty‐two Japanese children were followed from Grades 1 to 2 and assessed on character knowledge, reading fluency and spelling. Their parents responded to a questionnaire assessing the frequency of their teaching and shared reading. Results showed that parent teaching increased and shared reading decreased from Grades 1 to 2. Cross‐lagged path analysis indicated that the literacy skills in Grade 1 were negatively associated with parent teaching in Grade 2. The results further suggested that more educated parents of higher performing children, particularly boys, adjusted their involvement to their children's literacy skills, while less educated parents of lower performing children did not. These findings indicate the importance of parents' sensitivity to their child's performance.What is already known about this topic Home literacy environment (HLE) plays an important role in children's literacy acquisition in Western and some East Asian contexts. Children's early reading skills can have an impact on later HLE. The direction of the relationship between HLE and children's reading skills may change from positive in Kindergarten to negative in Grade 1. What this paper adds In line with the findings of previous studies in other languages, Japanese parents adaptively adjust their home literacy activities to their child's literacy skills. The effect of children's literacy skills on later shared reading is stronger among boys than among girls. More educated parents of higher performing children adjust their involvement to their child's literacy skills, while less educated parents with lower performing children do not. Implications for theory, policy or practice We should encourage parents to be sensitive to their child's literacy skills to help them build a foundation that will boost future literacy development. This can be particularly true of less educated parents with poorly performing children. We should encourage educators to communicate the children's literacy achievement to their parents and also suggest the means by which HLE could be beneficial for their children's literacy development.

Associations between home literacy environment and children's reading ability are often assumed to reflect a direct influence. However, heritability could account for the association between parent and child literacy‐related measures. We used data from 101 mother/father/child triads to consider the extent to which associations between home literacy and children's reading fluency could be accounted for by parental reading fluency. Although home literacy correlated significantly with children's reading, no variable predicted significant variance after allowing for parental reading, except the number of books in the home. By incorporating measures of heritable parental traits into studies investigating home environment effects, we can start to identify which variables are correlates of parental traits and which might play a causal role in fostering children's development.

<p id=C6>Home literacy environment (HLE) refers to a variety of resources and opportunities provided to children as well as the parental skills, abilities, dispositions, and resources that determine the provision of such opportunities for children. For more than half a century, a large body of studies have shown that HLE can significantly promote children's receptive vocabulary development. However, the blurry operationalization of HLE's construct and the inconsistency of effect sizes (ESs) in recent studies have made it difficult to understand what really works for children's receptive vocabulary development at home. This meta-analysis systematically reviewed empirical studies published from 1990 to 2021 regarding the relationships between these two variables in order to clarify HLE's construct, investigate the main effects, and explore potential moderators. <p id=C7>Through literature review, we found that HLE was usually conceptualized from either the perspective of ecological system theory or interaction theory. Ecological system theory was more widely adopted by researchers, which involved home literacy resources, motivational atmosphere, and literacy activities. Next, we completed a comprehensive search of peer-reviewed published research, and 84 articles with 212 effect sizes and 65,550 children were finally included. We used CMA 3.0 for statistical analysis and results showed that: (1) Except for the age children began to be read to, there was no publication bias in the ESs of HLE and other sub-constructs or items. (2) Results of random effects model indicated a significant, moderate relation between HLE and children's receptive vocabulary development, <italic>r</italic>=0.31, <italic>p</italic><0.01. Among sub-constructs, items related to shared reading, i.e., the number of children's books, the frequency of shared reading, and the frequency of children's reading request demonstrated the highest ESs, followed by motivational atmosphere, including parents' literacy beliefs and parents' own reading habits. As for literacy activities, the ESs of informal literacy activities were low but significant, while formal literacy activities were not associated with children's receptive vocabulary development. (3) As the ESs of HLE and the frequency of shared reading had a high level of heterogeneity, we used meta-regression to explore whether time periods, cultural backgrounds, child's age and measurement methods were potential moderators. Results suggested that the ESs of HLE decreased significantly across time periods. One possible explanation was that the influx of multimedia has significantly changed HLE, and the other may lie in that the time children spent in pre-primary schools has increased significantly. It was also found that the ESs of the frequency of shared reading were stable during past 30 years, which supported previous literature that interactive reading between adults and children was an effective way for children's receptive vocabulary development. The moderating effects of measurement methods were different for HLE and the frequency of shared reading. Specifically, the ESs of HLE obtained by questionnaires and the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment did not lead to significant differences, while the ESs of the frequency of shared reading obtained by Children's Title Checklist (CTC) were significantly higher than those obtained by questionnaires. We found that except for problems in understanding deviation, difficulty in recall, and social desirability effect, researchers may have different understandings of CTC measurements over time. Lastly, no moderating effects of cultural backgrounds or child's age were detected. <p id=C8>Taken altogether, this study supports previous literature that HLE is positively correlated with children's receptive vocabulary, especially resources and opportunities related to shared reading. Findings also suggest that HLE is a changing and multifaceted construct and more research is needed to extend its conceptualization, especially tech-enabled literacy practices. Furthermore, researchers should also pay more attention to cultural differences in HLE and employ cross-cultural perspectives to improve the reliability and validity of measurements. All these would help advance future HLE research and practice.

The development of phonological awareness (PA) before school age was modeled in association with the development of vocabulary and letter knowledge, home literacy environment (HLE), children's reading interest, and beginning reading skill in children with and without familial risk of dyslexia. A total of 186 children were followed from birth to the age of 6.5 years. Of these children, about half had a familial background of reading difficulties (the at-risk group), and the other half came from families without such background (the control group). The data from several measures and assessment time points were analyzed within an SEM framework, and a latent analysis of growth curves was employed. Vocabulary and letter knowledge were found to predict PA development, and vice versa, PA predicted them. The effect of HLE on PA was mediated by vocabulary skills, and of the HLE variables, the only variable predicting vocabulary development was shared reading. In spite of the difference in level, favoring the controls, the pattern of effects of vocabulary and letter knowledge on PA development was highly similar in children with and without familial risk for dyslexia. However, in the at-risk group, the HLE variables and children's reading interest had stronger associations with each other and with skill development than in the control group, and vocabulary predicted parental reports on children's reading interest in the at-risk group only.

ABSTRACTThis study examines the effects of family involvement on the literacy gap between rural and urban Chinese primary students via mediation analysis. Altogether, 1080 students in Grades 1, 3, and 5 were randomly sampled from three urban and three rural primary schools from Shandong and Guizhou Provinces, representing eastern and western China, respectively. The Primary Chinese Reading Literacy Scale was administered to all participants in group sessions. Parents were surveyed on parental educational levels, home literacy environment, and parental involvement in home literacy activities. The findings show that the urban students significantly surpass their rural counterparts in Chinese literacy attainment, parental education levels, and home literacy environment and activities. The structural equation model indicates that the rural-urban literacy gap is mediated by parental education level and family literacy environment (resources, informal and formal literacy). Theoretical and practical implications of these findings and possible directions for future educational studies are discussed.

A rich home literacy environment (HLE) fosters students’ academic achievement. However, the link between HLE and children’s reading comprehension is unclear. This study examined the effects of HLE factors on children’s reading comprehension through a meta-analysis of 59 studies conducted between 1998 and 2018. Results of the meta-analysis indicated three main findings. First, the overall positive correlation between HLE and children’s reading comprehension was moderate (z = .32). Second, sampling area, type of home literacy resource and parental involvement styles did not show a significant interaction effect between each HLE factor and children’s reading comprehension. Third, parents’ involvement and literacy expectations of children had a significantly higher correlation with children’s reading comprehension than home literacy resources did. Findings of this study suggest that parental literacy activities involvement and parental literacy expectations contribute more to children's literacy knowledge enhancement.

Unpacking the relations between home literacy environment and word reading in Chinese children: The influence of parental responsive behaviors and parents’ difficulties with literacy activities

Using data for 4th graders in primary schools from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), I compare across 25 countries the ways in which home literacy environments influence children's reading performance. Examined are three indicators: early home literacy activities, parental attitudes toward reading, and number of books at home. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analyses show that the 3 measures of home literacy environments positively affect children's reading performance in almost all countries, while the strength of the effects varies substantially across countries. The extent to which the effect of parental education on children's reading is mediated by home literacy environment is only modest except for a few countries. Finally, multilevel models show that the effects of early home literacy activities and parental reading attitudes vary across countries according to their levels of economic development, while the effect of number of books shows the U-shaped relationship with the economic level.

BackgroundResearch has suggested that one of the most important variables for the development of reading comprehension is the home literacy environment, composed of the literacy interface and what is known as the limiting environment. The current study investigated Spanish children's reading comprehension in relation to these two dimensions.MethodData have been drawn from measures of reading competence and the Learning to Read Survey undertaken for the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016 assessment in Spain. Our secondary analysis of the PIRLS 2016 data has enabled the production of two multiple regression models from a sample of 14,595 Spanish pupils aged 9–10 years old.ResultsThe analyses performed have allowed us to determine the limiting environment elements that relate to the reading comprehension results. Moreover, they have highlighted the importance of the literacy interface prior to schooling. Both variables of the home literacy environment appear to be linked with the reading comprehension results taken from the PIRLS 2016 and may orientate the improvement of reading skills at home.ConclusionsOur research supports the implementation of family literacy programmes in Spain, especially for low‐income families, which might enhance their literacy interaction with their children in the early stages. The promotion of family literacy programmes oriented to preschool children could improve not only emergent literacy skills but also the social value of literacy from a sociocultural perspective.HighlightsWhat is already known about this topic Reading comprehension is a crucial skill in education. Owing to its links with the common teaching and learning methods in primary education, a weak or late development of reading comprehension may impede academic outcomes. Literacy development may be influenced by the socioeconomic status of families. Although important, there are other familial factors influencing children's literacy development. For this reason, the concept ‘home literacy environment' offers a wider perspective on the nature of the links between families and literacy. The home literacy environment has been described as the mixture of two different dimensions: the literacy interface and the limiting environment. An analysis of both dimensions shows the importance of the activities promoted and carried out by families (the literacy interface). What this paper adds There is a scarcity of research about the development of reading comprehension among primary pupils and its relationship with the home literacy environment in Spain. Family context is currently one of the less well‐understood aspects of the Spanish educational system. The current research points to the Spanish families' limiting environment as one of the elements that may predetermine, from early childhood, the later development of reading comprehension. The research identifies variables within the home literacy environment which are more relevant to the development of reading comprehension. Implications for theory, policy or practice The first implication is that literacy development and reading comprehension depend not only on the socioeconomic status but also on the number, nature and diversity of activities offered within a family. Improvement and enrichment of these activities could enhance pupils' reading comprehension. Both a limiting environment and the literacy interface have a fundamental role in Spanish pupils' reading comprehension, in line with previous research in other countries. Consequently, family programmes that aim to address specific aspects of the literacy interface and limiting environment could improve the literacy development of children. At the moment, for the most part, the Spanish education system has little opportunity to influence the limiting environment of children. Therefore, there needs to be more emphasis on the implementation of programmes designed for families, supporting and assessing activities related to the literacy interface. In Spain, these programmes are rare; so, for this reason, educational institutions and relevant social agents should collaborate to design and implement such programmes.

This study aims to analyze the relationship between parental educational background, self-efficacy, and children's reading habits in the digital era. Using a correlational quantitative research method, the study involved 408 parents in West Jawa with children aged 4–8 years. The sampling technique used was multistage random sampling. Data were collected through an online Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed using ordinal logistic regression. The findings indicate that parental self-efficacy significantly influences children's reading habits (B = 0.247; p &lt; 0.001), while parental educational background does not have a direct significant effect (p &gt; 0.05). The model's Nagelkerke R² value of 0.494 suggests that 49.4% of the variance in children's reading habits can be explained by parental self-efficacy and educational background. These results highlight the importance of parental confidence in supporting children's literacy, which can be enhanced through family literacy intervention programs. Thus, this study contributes new insights into the psychological and environmental factors affecting children's reading habits.