Abstract:
The current study examined relationships between the home literacy environment (HLE),
classroom literacy environment (CLE), and emergent literacy skills for young children
from low socioeconomic, linguistically diverse backgrounds (N = 1043). Parents and
teachers completed surveys, and specialists administered language assessments to
children. Language groups included “English, “Spanish,” “English and Spanish,” and
“English and Other.” Results indicated that, within the HLE, reading frequency was
lower for the “English and Other” group, however recitation of poems was higher for this
group. Availability of literacy materials and reading frequency were positively related to
children’s book knowledge. This pattern held for children 3 years and older, but not for
those under 3. For those 3 years and up, reading frequency was positively related to
auditory comprehension. For those under 3, number of literacy materials was positively
related to language skills. For native English-speakers, reading frequency and
expressivecommunication were negatively related, while they were positively related for
Spanish speakers. For English and Spanish speakers, number of literacy materials was
positively related to auditory comprehension and book knowledge. Within the classroom,
whole and small group reading were occurring less often than desired. CLE quality was
negatively related to expressive communication, while it was positively related to book
knowledge. Cluster analyses revealed that classrooms clustered into two groups, and
children 3 years and older in the higher-quality cluster scored higher on language naming,
auditory comprehension, expressive communication, book knowledge, and book interest
than those in the lower-quality cluster. Though child gender and the HLE accounted for
significant variance in early literacy skills, the CLE only had an effect beyond this for
expressive communication skills. It also did not moderate the effects of the HLE. Future
research should focus on the gap between the HLE and CLE, especially for children from
low-income, linguistically diverse families.
