The Matthew Effect: A Home Literacy Environment

 

Most families provide a supportive environment for literacy development in different ways and the level of support differs enormously.  The degree of support at home is an indication of an individual child's degree of risk for reading difficulty.  5 areas of family functioning have been identified by Hess and Holloway (1984).

1.  Value placed on literacy:  if parents/guardians themselves read and encourage children to read, they are demonstrating the value of reading.

2.  Press for achievement:  Parents that express their expectations for achievement, provide reading instruction and respond to their children's own reading interests and initiations are parents that foster achievement.

3.  Availability and instrumental use of reading materials:  literacy experiences are more likely to occur in homes that contain children's books and other reading and writing materials. 

4.  Reading with Children:  parents should read to their children and listen to their school age children read orally and provide assistance as needed.

and last but not least...

5.  Opportunities for verbal interaction...I'll let you ponder on this one for awhile.  Think about what this means to you and I will address this last area in my next literacy post.

All the above mentioned areas are all related and work together.  

There is considerable evidence through research and interviews that differences in the home literacy environment of preschoolers are related to achievement differences.  A preschooler whose home provides few opportunities for acquiring knowledge and skills in relation to literacy (reading and writing) is at a higher risk for reading difficulties than a child whose home has a rich literacy environment. 

In the Gospel according to Matthew, 25: 29, "For to every one who has more will be given, and he will have in abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away."   The topic of this post is relevant to what some call The Matthew Effect.  The more your child has been given in the way of literacy, the more your child will gain.

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