As a future educator, I am currently enrolled in a course at my university that looks at literacy in

society. Recently, the topic of home literacy has come up and the impact that has on a child’s

literacy future. This topic has much discussion behind it and has research to back up the benefits

supporting home literacy involvement.

The home literacy environment, also known as HLE, can be defined as “...encompassing

variables such as literacy artifacts, functional uses of literacy, verbal references to literacy,

library use, parental encouragement and value of reading, parental teaching of skills, child

interest, parental modeling of literacy behaviors, parental education, and parental attitudes

toward education” (Yeo, Ong, Ng, 2014, p. 792). So as seen, HLE is rather centered around the

parental involvement of literacy in a child’s life. There is a strong relationship between how

active children are in their literacy involvement at home, and their reading skills and interests in

school and in society. An example of this is shown in research done on children of kindergarten

age, which is one of the most impactful times in a child’s life. “The more parents taught their

children to read during kindergarten, the stronger the children’s letter knowledge and word

decoding” (Yeo, Ong, Ng, 2014, p. 793). This study shows the impact parents have on their

children’s schooling. Although children spend 7-8 hours a day at school and therefore that is

their biggest way of learning, they can also be influenced largely through what they do at home

and the activities they are involved with not during school hours. A child who is more involved

with reading and letter recognition than playing video games while at home will have a stronger

literacy background to go into school with.

Another huge impact on home literacy is whether or not parents believe that them being

involved will actually benefit their child. “In an earlier study, DeBaryshe (1995) found that

parental beliefs highly predicted the extent to which parents exposed their children to joint book
reading and the quality of the parent–child reading interactions” (Yeo, Ong, Ng, 2014, p. 793,

794). Some parents may believe school is the only place where their children should be taught,

but I will easily counteract that statement in saying learning should never end. There is no

specific time and place for learning; it should happen everywhere because life is a learning

experience. Teaching children this aspect is important in their growth as citizens of the world.

Another huge take away from home literacy research is seeing how children are so much

more interested in literacy if they are exposed to it more often. “ What experts do know from

existing research is that parents’ positive belief in reading as a fun activity contributes

significantly to children’s motivation in reading” (Yeo, Ong, Ng, 2014, p. 794). If parents

continuously look at reading to their children as a chore rather than an act of spending time with

them, the child will begin to notice this. Children pick up on things way faster than people

actually think. Children want to be loved and want parents to want to spend time with them, and

strengthening a child’s literacy is a great way to spend time with a child. The more enthusiastic

and excited parents are about wanting to spend time with their children through literacy

exercises, the more children will be excited to learn.

With all the research done on English preschool students and Asian preschool students,

promoting literacy in the home environment always comes back as a positive aspect. “That

parents’ effort to foster their children’s reading development needs to be intentional is an

important outcome suggesting that active elements in the HLE are most effective in promoting

emerging reading competencies in young children” (Yeo, Ong, Ng, 2014, p. 812). Due to the fact

preschool and younger aged children are most impacted at this point in their lives, the time to

promote literacy and ways that will help them be strong citizens is now. Though the acts of
reading to children and helping kids with letter recognition may seem small, this will

tremendously benefit children in the long run.

References

Yeo, L. S., Ong, W. W., & Ng, C. M. (2014). The Home Literacy Environment and

Preschool

Children's Reading Skills and Interest. Early Education and Development, 791-814.