The Impact of Home Language, SES, and Shared Reading Practices for First-Graders’ Grammatical Skills

• In Event: Relevance of Individual and Family Environment Factors for Young Children’s Language Use and Language Skills

Abstract

Grammatical skills are critical to academic success, particularly in reading (Jago et al., 2025). As social and linguistic diversity continues to rise in today’s classrooms (OECD, 2023), identifying individual- and family-level factors that foster grammar development is increasingly important to develop targeted support. Grammar comprises syntax and inflection; the present study targets the latter because it is especially challenging for young learners of moderately inflected languages, such as German. Early inflectional differences between first-language (L1) and second-language (L2) learners are well-documented (Bratlie et al., 2022), but the role of socioeconomic status (SES) remains unclear (Schiff & Ravid, 2012; Weiler & Decker, 2022). Furthermore, it is well documented that the home literacy environment (HLE), particularly informal activities such as shared reading, significantly shapes language development (Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2002). However, its influence on L2 learners’ grammar development and the effect of the chosen reading language are understudied.

This study examines German case-inflection, a challenging domain that relies on accurate gender assignment (masculine, feminine, neuter) and lacks one‑to‑one form-function mapping. We examined:
RQ1: How are (a) language‑minority background (LMB), (b) SES, (c) shared‑reading frequency, and (d) the language used during shared-reading related to first‑graders’ case-inflection skills?
RQ2: To what extent do shared‑reading frequency and the use of an L2 during shared reading mediate the relation between LMB and case-inflection skills?

Participants were 443 first-graders from 24 German classrooms (M=78.51 months, SD=4.65; 51.2% female; 52.7% L2 learners; SES: MHISEI=42.23, SD=21.63). At the beginning of the academic year, four types of case-inflection skills were assessed with an adapted ESGRAF 4-8 (Motsch & Rietz, 2019; 36 items): accusative and dative case in nominal (ANP, DNP) and prepositional (APP, DPP) phrases. Because gender assignment affects case-inflection, it was assessed using a self-developed, 25-item digital test. Parent questionnaires provided LMB, SES, and HLE data.

A cognitive diagnostic model (Ma & La Torre, 2025) estimated mastery probabilities across both case-inflection and gender assignment items (.94≤attribute-level accuracy≤.99) . Gender assignment was included in the model due to its impact on case-inflection. Missing data were handled via multiple imputation (van Buuren & Groothuis-Oudshoorn, 2011).

For RQ1, a logistic regression including all predictors showed that L2 learners were significantly less likely to have mastered all four case-inflection skills (-1.70≤b≤-0.68), whereas higher SES positively predicted ANP, DNP, and DPP mastery (0.44≤b≤0.99). For HLE variables, the effect of shared‑reading frequency was nonsignificant, but reading in German or alternating German with another language significantly boosted the odds of mastering ANP (b=0.57). For RQ2, mediation analyses showed that adding the HLE predictors did not attenuate the effect of LMB on case-inflection skills.

SES‑related disparities in case-inflection emerge as early as first grade, even after controlling for LMB, underscoring the need for early, targeted support. The language used during shared reading, but not its frequency, was linked to ANP mastery, highlighting the importance of language‑specific analyses of HLE practices. Because shared-reading measures did not mediate the LMB-inflection link, future research should examine additional family-level mechanisms that promote grammatical development in L2 learners (e.g., interaction quality).
 

Authors

• Svenja Wehrhöfer, TU Dortmund University

• Leonie Dargiewicz, Technische Universität Dortmund

• Fani Lauermann, University of Bonn

• Ulrich Ludewig, TU Dort­mund University

• Nele McElvany, TU Dortmund University

• Annika Ohle-Peters, TU Dortmund University