The differential influence of the home environment on the reading ability of children entering grade one.

This study examined the influence of the home environment on the development of early reading ability in 60 children entering Grade 1. The quality of the home environment was conceptualized along a continuum of (a) rich to moderate availability of print and (b) high to moderate interaction by the child with print. Questionnaire data revealed substantial qualitative differences between parents' reports of the availability of print in the home and children's interaction with print within meaningful and functional literacy situations. Assessment of specific reading abilities indicated the quality of the home environment differentially influenced print awareness and book and code knowledge, but not word reading accuracy, fluency or use of strategies, prior to formal instruction in Grade 1.

Research has been unanimous in reporting that a variety of relationships exist between characteristics of the home environment and children's subsequent reading performance in school (Bacon & Ichikawa, 1988; Blatchford, Burke, Farquhar, Plewis, & Tizard, 1985; Dolan, 1983; Durkin, 1987; Hewison & Tizard, 1980; Mason, 1980; Moon & Wells, 1979; Morrow, 1983; Plessas & Oakes, 1964; Sheldon & Carillo, 1952; Sutton, 1964; Wagner & Spratt, 1988; Wells, 1981, 1982, 1985). However, most studies reported between 1952 and 1988 confounded the independent influence of the home and the school. Virtually all of the survey studies described the home environment, generated variables based on those descriptions, and then correlated those variables with children's reading performance during or following Grade 1. Hence, what literacy abilities children acquire in school have not been clearly separated from what they have learned through interaction with print in the home. Furthermore, most of these studies used either standardized tests of reading achievement or focused on no more than two dimensions of reading ability. By doing so, these researchers have ignored theories of early reading (Hiebert & Fisher, 1990; Teale & Sulzby, 1989; Lomax & McGee, 1987) and literacy development (Aulls, 1982) which recognize that reading ability is a complex construct entailing multiple categories of knowledge about literacy and the use of that knowledge in a variety of reading situations.

Researchers have studied the home environment dimensions relevant to the acquisition of reading ability primarily through parent surveys and, to a lesser extent, through direct observation of events believed to be significant contexts for the emergence of literacy. Hiebert's (1986) review and critique of early reading research raised the issue that researchers typically dichotomize the nature of the print environment in the home and the child's active involvement with that print environment. Indeed, many researchers appear to infer the child's interest in print from either direct observations or parents' recollections of the extent to which the child is an active agent in getting parents or other literate individuals to read to them. Moreover, correlations between interest in print and later literacy abilities or reading achievement have either been significant (Wells, 1981) or not significant (Moon & Wells, 1979) depending on how interest was defined. Generally speaking, the majority of researchers have ignored the possibility that children who do not have access to many books but actively seek out opportunities for parents to read to them or who try to make sense of environmental print might learn as much or more than children who are surrounded with books and whose parents frequently attempt to involve them in reading events, but who are reluctant to participate. Thus, to fully understand what literacy abilities children learn in the home, it appears necessary to first determine whether the home environment can be conceptualized on a continuum of (a) rich to moderate availability of print, and (b) highly active to moderate participation by the child with the available print and the opportunities adults provide for such interactions.

The primary purpose of this study was to determine how children of parents who perceive the home literacy environment differently vary in literacy ability upon entry into Grade 1. As used here, literacy ability refers to multiple reading abilities which develop in concert with each other over time and which are influenced by the environment and the child's own knowledge use (Aulls, 1982). The secondary purpose of this study was to describe differences in children's home environments that are associated with significant differences in reading ability and the manner in which different dimensions of reading ability relate to one another. The results should help clarify previous research findings regarding the relationship of the home environment to the child's reading development prior to Grade 1. Furthermore, this study extends previous research by treating reading ability as a multivariate construct that continues to change throughout the lifespan of a reader. For example, readers continue to acquire new reading strategies and to modify ones they already possess long after they have become accurate and fluent readers.

Method

Sample

The participants in this study were drawn from an available sample of Canadian children entering Grade 1 in six classrooms from four different schools. Two of the four schools were located in the inner city of a large metropolis in Eastern Canada while the other two schools came from geographically distinct locations in the suburbs surrounding the metropolis. For a child to be included in the study the parents had to agree to complete a survey of the home literacy environment and give permission for their child to be assessed during the first week of school (September) and in mid-year (January). Three children were excused from the sample due to the fact that they were repeating Grade 1. The final sample consisted of 32 boys and 28 girls. In September the children ranged in age from 6 years, 0 months to 6 years, 11 months.