The home language and literacy environments theoretical model: evidence from systematic reviews of naturalistic variation across diverse contexts

A challenge to current theorizing on home language and literacy environment (HLLE) is the naturalistic variability of homes globally. Our work draws on this variability to better understand the characteristics of home environments. Studies, including meta-analytic reviews, suggest significant, but w...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Vagh, SB, Nag, S
Other Authors: Georgiou, G
Format: Book section
Language:English
Published: Springer 2024
Description
Summary:A challenge to current theorizing on home language and literacy environment (HLLE) is the naturalistic variability of homes globally. Our work draws on this variability to better understand the characteristics of home environments. Studies, including meta-analytic reviews, suggest significant, but weak, associations between HLLE and child learning attainments. Relatedly, some distant factors like country-level wealth disparity moderate the association between HLLE and child learning, but the home-school language mismatch, a more proximal factor, does not. Although studies do not explicate the underlying mechanisms or pathways by which homes and the wider ecosystems relate to child language and literacy skills, they help provide a nascent theorizing of how HLLEs are conceptualized across diverse contexts. In this chapter, we explicate our model showing both the micro- and macrolevel factors that may account for the naturalistic variability across homes. A multiple risk factors model is thus proposed to direct future research priorities.