Family Literacy Environment and Early Literacy Development

Abstract

A battery of reading-related and reading measures was used to select samples of good (N = 30) and poor readers (N = 19) in Grade 1. Parents of these children completed a questionnaire about current and preschool home literacy practices and socio-economic status (SES). The 2 groups were compared with t tests and in a discriminant analysis. The t tests indicated that the homes of the good and poor readers differed in many characteristics, including several aspects of home literacy, numbers of books in the home, and mothers’ education. The 2 best unique discriminators of the groups were parents’ teaching of letters and mothers’ education. The limitations of the study and the implications are discussed.