Home language and literacy environments at the age of four: determinants and their relation to reading comprehension up to age nine (Ambientes de lenguaje y alfabetización inicial en el hogar a los cuatro años: determinantes y relación con comprensión lectora hasta los nueve años)

ABSTRACT

This study determines (a) which factors of the parenting context, the child and their mothers are associated with environments that differ in their home literacy environment in a Chilean low-SES sample of 53-month-old children, and (b) whether reading comprehension at second and fourth grade is predicted by the socialization in the literacy environment. First, it found that the factors of maternal educational level and cognitions and the child’s task orientation and prosocial behaviour are related to the type of home literacy environment. Likewise, it found that the type of literacy environment predicts reading comprehension at age seven, with a major difference of one standard deviation between the two types of literacy environments. A similar distribution was found at age nine. This article discusses the implications of these results in informing early interventions in disadvantaged socioeconomic levels.