The home environment and Latino preschoolers' emergent literacy skills

UnrestrictedThis mixed-methods study focused on Latino children's emergent literacy skills and the relation to their home environments. The first aim was to measure the effects of mothers' perceived motivation to teach their children to read on the children's emergent literacy skills measured at the beginning of the preschool year. The second aim was to investigate child-parent reading behaviors in the home as a function of mother's perceived motivation. These two aims were addressed with a sample of 225 Latino children who were enrolled in head start programs and their mothers. The results from the structural equation modeling indicated that mothers who were motivated to teach their children to read provided a richer home literacy environment, which in turn yielded higher emergent literacy skill scores for the children. This study reaffirms the importance of parental and home influences on children's early skill development both in terms of providing print materials and parents' involvement in specific reading-related activities. It also suggests that efforts to involve parents in a meaningful way and helping parents to engage in key reading-related activities at home might increase print access. Finally, this study documented the strong parental aspirations for their children's success, in contrast to some past perceptions that these parents are unconcerned with their children's academic success