Poster #42 - The Associations Between Home Literacy Environments and Chinese Preschool Children’s Literacy Trajectories

• In Event: Poster Session 13

Abstract

Background:
Early literacy skills have long been shown to be strong predictors of children’s later school-related achievement (La Paro & Pianta, 2000). Numerous efforts have been devoted to identifying the early sources of individual differences in children’s literacy skills, and home literacy environments (HLEs) have been considered one of the most critical sources (Hood et al. 2008; Krijnen et al., 2020; Sénéchal, 2006; Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2014). However, only limited studies on HLEs have focused on their multiple facets, such as parent-child literacy activities and parental expectations towards children’s literacy skills, and examined the associations of these facets with children’s literacy skills (e.g., Liu & Chung, 2022; Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2014; Zhang et al., 2020). Additionally, research on HLEs has predominantly focused on mothers’ roles, with only scarce attention paid to how fathers influence children’s literacy learning at home (Duursma, 2014). Therefore, a comprehensive examination of the relationships between different aspects of HLEs provided by both fathers and mothers and children’s literacy development is needed.
Aim:
This study assessed multiple facets of HLEs and aimed to explore the roles of both fathers’ and mothers’ literacy teaching involvement, attitudes, and expectations in Chinese preschool children’s growth trajectories of receptive vocabulary and word reading skills.
Method:
A total of 226 Chinese preschool children (age: M ± SD = 44.47 ± 3.48 months) and their fathers and mothers participated. In the fall semester of children’s first year in preschool (i.e., Time 1 [T1]), fathers and mothers independently reported the frequency of their own home literacy teaching activities, their own expectations concerning children’s literacy development, and their own attitudes towards reading. Children were assessed individually on their Chinese word reading skills and receptive vocabulary for a total of four times from T1 to the spring semester of their second year in preschool.
Results:
The results showed that the frequency of mother-child literacy teaching activities was associated with the initial level, linear growth, and quadratic growth of children’s word reading skills. Paternal expectations were associated with the initial level of word reading skills, while paternal attitudes were associated linear growth of children’s word reading skills. In contrast, none of the studied HLE factors was associated with the initial level or growth rates of children’s receptive vocabulary.
Conclusion:
Mother-child literacy teaching activities and paternal expectations and attitudes had unique contributions to children’s literacy trajectories. The findings highlight the importance of assessing various aspects of HLEs and underscore the independent roles that fathers and mothers play in children’s literacy development.

Authors

• Hao Li, University of Hong Kong (HKU)
  Presenting Author

• Si Man Lam

• Xiao Zhang, The University of Hong Kong