Early Lexical and Literacy Skills and Language-Literacy Environments

This study examined relationships among home literacy environments, classroom language-literacy environments, and lexical and early literacy skills for 101 preschool and kindergarten children between the ages of 48 and 69 months. Data for multiple regression analyses were collected from 14 classrooms across 7 early childhood education centers in central Florida. Although all of the classrooms in the sample were located in middle- to upper-middle class neighborhoods, results revealed a wide range of instructional quality across the sample. Teachers' educational backgrounds were related to classroom quality. Analysis of results by age group (over 5 years old versus under 5 years old) indicated a statistically significant difference. The home literacy environment accounted for a statistically significant amount of the variance in student vocabulary and literacy scores above and beyond teacher and parent education levels. This study had implications for early childhood education in terms of identifying children at-risk for academic difficulties, teacher preparation, student assessment, parent education, and language-literacy environments for young children.