The Relationship Between the Home Language and Literacy Environment in Costa-Rican Families and Children’s Vocabulary

• In Event: Home Language and Literacy Environment in Latin America – Family Processes, Child Outcomes, and Intervention Efforts

Abstract

There is strong evidence regarding the influence of the HLLE on the development of children’s oral language and literacy skills. Vocabulary is a central component of oral language and provides the building blocks for higher-order skills necessary for successful reading. Early language and literacy are receiving greater attention in Costa Rica since a national preschool curriculum focused on emergent literacy was set in force in 2015. However, children overall but specifically from low-income homes are often deprived of the opportunity to develop in stimulating and linguistically rich environments. Nevertheless, few studies have been carried out in Costa Rica exploring the relationship between the HLLE and children’s oral language and literacy skills. To address this research gap, this study investigated the HLLE in Costa Rican families as one of the predictors of children’s vocabulary development. We addressed the following research questions: (1) Does the home literacy environment consist of separate and meaningful factors? (2) Which specific aspects of the HLLE are related to vocabulary scores as measured by Woodcock-Muñoz Picture Vocabulary test? Participants were 111 preschool children from kindergarten classrooms and their families living in the Greater Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica. Consistent with previous evidence from the northern hemisphere, it was hypothesized that the HLLE would consist of two factors, one related to book reading/meaning activities and the other one to code-related activities. This hypothesis was confirmed through exploratory factor analysis. We also hypothesized that the code component of the HLLE would be unrelated to vocabulary but the book reading component would predict children’s vocabulary scores. As expected, code related activities were not correlated with children’s vocabulary. However, results from OLS regression analysis showed limited support for the relationship between the book reading component and children’s vocabulary, indicating that this relationship is small. Although, the effect of the HLLE was p < .05, the confidence interval for B was [0 - 0.11], suggesting a trend rather than a secure effect. Findings are discussed in light of the international research evidence, including Spanish speaking countries. To inform educational policy and practice regarding what best helps children develop vocabulary and other emergent literacy skills in Latin America, more research and more nuanced theories are needed, especially since most of the research evidence mainly comes from global north high-income and English-speaking countries.

Authors

• Valeria Ortiz Villalobos, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
  Presenting Author

• Kathy Sylva, University of Oxford
  Non-Presenting Author