The home literacy environment and television exposure as mediators between migration background and preschool children’s linguistic abilities

Abstract

AbstractThe development of key linguistic abilities is essential for young children and their academic success at school, in particular for children with a migration background who are at a greater risk of developing language deficits. Here, family interactions can provide valuable opportunities to support children’s linguistic learning within the Home Literacy Environment (HLE). Although the importance of the HLE for children’s language acquisition has often been investigated, research has not focused on specific facets of the HLE and other influencing factors that may be associated with early linguistic abilities such as television exposure (TE). A sample of 190 preschool children (Mage= 63.58 months, SDage = 4.42) was used to analyse the associations of the facets of the HLE and TE with children’s early linguistic abilities, namely phonological awareness (PA), vocabulary, and letter knowledge. In particular, this study aims to understand the role of the HLE facets and TE as potential mediators between migration background and children’s early linguistic abilities, when controlling for socioeconomical status (SES), children’s sex and age. The findings indicate that the association between migration background and children’s early linguistic abilities was fully mediated by all four facets of the HLE and by TE. Consequently, these mediators may be good targets for intervention and the support of preschool children’s linguistic development.