Exploring a refined model of home literacy activities and associations with children’s emergent literacy skills

Abstract

Based on the Home Literacy Model, this study explored a refined model of home literacy activities and their relations with children's emergent literacy skills in a linguistic and socioeconomic diverse sample of 214 Dutch kindergartners (mean age 4 years and 7 months, 46% girls and 29% monolingual speakers of Dutch). The study examined a typology of home literacy activities that explicitly addressed didactic approach and was not restricted to activities involving print. Next, the study explored the relations between activity types and children's emergent literacy skills. Three activity categories were identified: code, oral language exposure and oral language teaching activities. Results of multilevel structural equation modeling showed that all types of home literacy activities were related to children's oral language skills, although the association between oral language teaching and oral language skills was negative. Oral language skills were associated with children's code and phonological skills. The outcomes indicate the existence of a more nuanced pattern of interrelations between elements of the home literacy environment and children's literacy skills in this diverse sample than observed before.

Measuring Parental Literacy Beliefs in a Socio-Economically, Linguistically and Ethnically Diverse Sample

“…Martini & Sénéchal, 2012;Sénéchal, 2006;Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2002, 2014. Krijnen et al (2020) expanded the work by Sénéchal and colleagues and showed that parents not only perform direct teaching activities centered around letters and print but also direct teaching activities concerning oral language, such as the teaching of new words and definitions.…”

“…Numerous studies into the HLEs of families from various backgrounds have shown that parents involve their children in a multitude of activities which may contribute to children's literacy development. Families may engage their children in a wide array of oral language activities that support literacy-related skills, such as singing songs, storytelling, and mealtime conversations Krijnen, Van Steensel, Meeuwisse, Jongerling, & Severiens, 2020;Van Steensel, 2006;Weigel et al, 2006). Additionally, families carry out informal print-related activities other than shared reading, such as playing letter games and discussing bible texts (Purcell-Gates, 1996).…”

“…Activities focusing on the meaning of language and print, such as shared reading, were found to contribute to children's meaning-related skills, which involve all skills necessary to understand the meaning of spoken and, eventually, written language, such as vocabulary knowledge, narrative knowledge, listening, and text comprehension. Nevertheless, research outcomes concerning the relations between types of home activities and children's literacy skills vary across contexts, with regards to the socio-economic, ethnic, and linguistic background of the samples (cf., Krijnen et al, 2020;Kim, 2009;Manolitsis et al, 2011;Sparks & Reese, 2012). Measures of parental literacy beliefs need to reflect the reality that parents involve their children in a variety of home literacy practices.…”

“…Following Hannon (2000Hannon ( , 2003, didactic beliefs can be framed in terms of a continuum with a preference for a formal, instructional approach on the one end, and a preference for a more playful, "child-centered" or "facilitative" method on the other (Hannon, 2000(Hannon, , 2003Stipek et al, 1992). Home literacy practices that take an instructional approach are activities in which parents apply explicit instruction, such as teaching letter names, practicing writing, correcting a child's language use, and teaching new words and definitions (Krijnen et al, 2020). Home literacy practices that take a facilitative approach are activities in which parents expose their children to language and print in a more informal, playful way, such as shared reading, having parent-child conversations, playing letter games, and citing nursery rhymes (Krijnenet al, 2020).…”

“…Instructional activities may include both code-oriented practices, such as teaching letter names, and meaning-oriented practices, such as teaching new words and definitions. Similarly, facilitative activities may include code-oriented practices, such as playing letter games, as well as meaning-oriented practices, such as parent-child conversations (Krijnen et al, 2020). Parents may vary in how they value all these types of practices.…”