Examining the role of home literacy environment in the growth of morphological awareness from kindergarten to Grade 2

Abstract

Background: Early morphological awareness skills are well-known predictors of later literacy skills, but little is known on how young children develop this early morphological knowledge without formal instruction. Home literacy environment is considered as a supporting context for several early literacy skills' growth, but no studies have examined effects on early morphological awareness growth. The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect effects of different aspects of the home literacy environment (HLE; code-related HLE, meaning-related HLE and access to literacy resources) in the growth of morphological awareness (MA) skills. Methods: One hundred and sixty Greek children (79 girls and 81 boys; Mage = 67.22 months) were assessed in kindergarten on letter knowledge, phonological awareness and vocabulary. Their MA skills (Word Analogy and Compounding) were also assessed in kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2. Their parents filled out an HLE questionnaire when their children were in kindergarten. Results: Results of structural equation modelling showed that code-related HLE had both a direct effect on the intercept of Word Analogy and an indirect effect on the growth of Word Analogy and the intercept of Compounding through letter knowledge. In turn, access to literacy resources predicted the intercept of Word Analogy and Compounding indirectly through the effects of vocabulary. Conclusions: Taken together, the present findings suggest that HLE is important in the early stages of MA development, but its effects are mostly mediated by the emergent literacy skills.