The Home Literacy Environment Is a Correlate, but Perhaps Not a Cause, of Variations in Children’s Language and Literacy Development

Puglisi, Marina, Hulme, Charles, Hamilton, Lorna G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0526-8252 and Snowling, Margaret (2017) The Home Literacy Environment Is a Correlate, but Perhaps Not a Cause, of Variations in Children’s Language and Literacy Development. Scientific Studies of Reading, 21 (6). pp. 498-514.

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Official URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/108884...

Abstract

The home literacy environment is a well-established predictor of children’s
language and literacy development. We investigated whether formal, informal,
and indirect measures of the home literacy environment predict children’s
reading and language skills once maternal language abilities are taken into
account. Data come from a longitudinal study of children at high risk of
dyslexia (N = 251) followed from preschool years. Latent factors describing
maternal language were significant predictors of storybook exposure but not
of direct literacy instruction. Maternal language and phonological skills respectively
predicted children’s language and reading/spelling skills. However, after
accounting for variations in maternal language, storybook exposure was not a
significant predictor of children’s outcomes. In contrast, direct literacy instruction
remained a predictor of children’s reading/spelling skills. We argue that
the relationship between early informal home literacy activities and children’s
language and reading skills is largely accounted for by maternal skills and may
reflect genetic influences.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Published
DOI:	10.1080/10888438.2017.1346660
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
School/Department:	School of Education, Language and Psychology
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/2373