Home Learning Environment, Personal Qualities, and Socioeconomic Differences in Preschoolers' Language Competences

• In Event: 53.034 - Family and School Contexts in Early Childhood: Effects on Academic and Developmental Outcomes

Abstract

This paper presents results on socioeconomic inequalities in language competencies of preschool children. The analytical framework chosen goes beyond mean-based methods using quantile regression to research size and shape of inequalities (by education background, social class, and income), and includes children’s personal qualities for the explanation of early social inequalities, beyond usual mediators. The results indicate (1) a group of linguistically early left behind children from families with little education and (2) that a child’s curiosity and openness to new experiences contributes over and beyond language stimulations at home to the explanation of socioeconomic differences in preschool age. The findings can contribute to the discussion on equality of opportunity at an early educational stage.

Authors

• Tobias Linberg, Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories

• Anja Linberg, University of Bamberg