Riley1

Kiante Riley
Ms. Coco
English 1001
27 November 2015
Audience: My audience is intended for expecting parents and parents of children ranging the ages
ten months to five years old.
Preface: The Home Literacy Effect
My train of thought is working at my advantage right now thus far in my essay. I have
chosen to narrate my story introducing facts and evidence to support my theory. However, I feel
as if my paper is not organized in the way I want it to be. I also feel as id if my paper is too
lengthy; it needs to be more concise. My introductory paragraph is bit sketchy and not well put
together but I am looking to adjust that. One difficulty I encountered in doing the research was
that of sorting through the findings that took me on different paths. I narrowed down the findings
along to schools of thought. The first is centered on print-rich home environment with lots of
books, story time, read-louds, and parents modeling literacy in front of child. The second school
of thought is centered on how conversation helps between the parent and child, as books are read.
As a result, I learned that having lots of books at school is more important, but the conversation
between the parent and child has a more significant impact on child development of literacy
skills.

The Home Literacy Effect

1
I grew up in a household where a good book was always handy. My mother was a true bibliophile
so as a child she showered me with books. My mother loved books and in a way she made me love them
too, because they were always around me. Before I could even talk, my mom read me bedtime stories; the
tale of Hansel and Gretel became my favorite, as I got older. My mom started my very own collection of
books by the time I started preschool. I could remember having every Dr. Seuss book you could think of,
from Green Eggs and Ham to the Cat in the Hat. I didnt grow up in a rich environment with rich
parents who had a vast majority of learning materials. Instead, my mother embedded the act of reading in
me by giving me books and bought me a LeapFrog to keep me engagingly reading. Since I was
introduced to the land of stories and tales early on, I became fascinated in the world of literature.
Becoming an avid reader early on has caused me to advance in school, especially in English. Because I
had already had a healthy home literacy environment, it has helped me to develop reading skills easier
and faster. In school, I found that a lot of kids didnt like to read and didnt have much of an interest in
books. I thought maybe this was because they just didnt grow up in an environment like mine where
reading was expected. This led me to the question of: Does the home environment of a child affect his or
her development in literacy?
2
There is a large enough body of research that clearly shows that the home learning environment
has an early, and long- lasting impact on the childs development of literacy skills. Aikens and Barbarain
(2008) found that children who have a rich home literacy environment in which they are read to and have
access to literacy materials demonstrate better reading performance, regardless of their Socio-Economic
Status. Children of less-educated mothers who provide reading materials for their children and model
reading behaviors perform better on language measures than that of children of better-educated parents
(Christian et al,. 1998). As it became evident in these studies and others similar to these, Ive come to the

realization that it was the rich-print environment of lots of books, newspapers, along with the early
experiences of being read to that gave me the early foundation for literacy success in school and
throughout my life. My family was not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but reading and knowledge
was highly valued for as early as I can remember. These literacy values were evident in my home
throughout my entire school years. In my gut I knew this to be true when I was about twelve years old.
However, I needed and longed for a more scientific or academic explanation for the impact of my
literacy-rich home environment on my success with reading and writing.
3
As I embarked on this journey to find the answer to my inquiry question, I gained new insights
beyond what I initially thought about the effects of the home learning environment on the child
development in literacy. It was clear before my very eyes, but did not become crystal clear to me until I
read it in print. It is the amount of interactions between the parent and child as books are being read. As so
eloquently said in an article for Education Week titled Research on Quality of Conversation Holds
Deeper Clues into Word Gap, Ms. Gilkerson stated, Conversation turns are vastly more important than
the number of words a child is exposed to. As I thought upon her words, I warmly recalled the numerous
times my mother held me on her lap, read a book to me, and at the very same time, engaged me in
thought-provoking question- and answer-talks about the book she was reading to me. After reading to me,
she would often ask questions like: who was in the story, what was the problem, what was my favorite
part. This caused me to actually think back to the story and repeat what I learned.
4
While much of the research on home learning environments attend to the various literacy
activities, such as the ones I previously stated, these activities gives a child a direct understanding of the
purpose and the function of words in print, thereby providing a foundation upon which later reading skills
are built. According to Deborah Glaser and Louisa C. Moats (2008), these kinds of literacy activities

provide real-life application as to how, when, why, and how people use printed words in their daily lives.
The book-talk that my mother engaged me with was her modeling of what good readers do as they
interact with the words on the page. Its the intimate conversations we had about The Three Little Pigs
and Cinderella that gave me a yearning to read by myself and to read more. It is the numerous turns my
mother gave me to express my understanding while expanding my vocabulary. I would often watch my
mom read books, magazines, and newspapers and this helped me to see reading as part of our daily lives.
Even before I could read on my own I would look at the pictures in the book and pretend to read the
words, but I was actually just repeating what I heard my mother say. As I began to read like this, more
words became recognizable to me. My mother made index cards in which she would point to words like
pig or they, to see if I recognized them and wed talk about this word. Consequently, seeing words,
hearing them, and me saying them aloud helped me, overall, to become a better reader.

5
According to Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley (1995), literacy development for young children is
greatly influenced by the emergence of oral language skills, including vocabulary that is both receptive
and expressive, and word knowledge. Children who are read to have a far greater deposit of words and
word understanding gained from a variety of literary text rich with words that are above their reading
level. Thus, when these children enter school, the vocabulary in the text they encounter has a better
chance of already existing in their mental dictionary of words and word knowledge.
6
It is widely known and verified by research that the home learning environment plays a vital role
in the development of literacy skills for children long before they enter school. The interactions and
conversation being the parent and child as a book is read, greatly increases the number of words children
are exposed to and expands their vocabulary. A study by Hart and Risley (1995) illustrates how the

quantity and quality of interactions between a parent and child within various socio-economic groups has
a direct impact on quantity of vocabulary-acquired children. Within one hour, children in professional
homes heard more than 2,250 words. Children heard about 1,250 words in an hour if they were raised in
the homes of working-class families. Children heard a little more than 600 words in an hour in they were
raised in the homes of families who received welfare benefits. From these hourly rates, the researches
predicted that by the age of three, children of professional families would hear about 45 million words,
whereas children in less fortunate homes would only hear about 13 million words. This predictive rate of
words generated the coined phrase, 30-million word gap. In regard to the quality of the interactions in
the Hart & Risley study, families of low poverty spoke directives, such as dont touch that while
families of professional workers engaged in verbal interactions such as What do you think of that? It is
when the talk between the parent and child allows for back and forth discussions that the home learning
environment supports the childs development of literacy.
7
When I reflected on my inquiry question I was compelled to ask my mom why was she so obliged
to enforce reading in my life early on? She told me that her parents did the same for her, which led to her
love for books and be academically successful. She also told me about her older cousin who wasnt so
fortunate enough to have parents who cared about her learning or academic success. As a child her cousin
didnt have the drive to read or care about reading at all. This resulted in her not doing so well in school
and even failing third grade because her reading skills were too low. As a parent my mother took on the
responsibility of ensuring that I would be academically successful by encouraging me to read and making
sure reading was a part of my everyday life.
8
As I read more of the study by Hart and Risley, my thinking shifted once more from the quantity
of words a child is exposed to before entering school. Hearing patterns of adult talk, being read numerous

books, and having lots of books in the home is not enough to close the literacy gap between poor and
affluent children, nor is it sufficient to lay the foundation for literacy success when entering school.
Children need the opportunity to process what they hear and verbally express their understanding of the
books they read. They need to be allowed to express their ideas through age appropriate drawings, like
young children writing squiggly lines. Drawing is connected to reading because it allows pictures to relate
the things they draw to significant words. For example, if a child knows what the word box means they
could draw it this helps the child to process and understand the words even more. As I think back this I
remember in elementary in about 3rd grade my teacher would give us a list of vocabulary words in which
we would have to write the word, define it, find synonyms and draw a picture. This enforced the meaning
of the word even more allowing me to process and internalize its meaning.
9
Although the Hart and Risley study is well accepted among their peers and others, the small
sampling size only included 42 families. The 30-million word gap is based on the findings of these 42
families and is predictive based on them. Even though I agree with and understand the findings, I am
more inclined to lean toward the larger body of research on the home learning environment and its
findings based on actual interactions between the parent and child as well as the observed behaviors
instead of predictive behaviors. As other researchers have noted, this research must be viewed in the light
of the larger context of home learning environments and literacy success.
10
Home learning has been attributed with the cause of various levels of literacy skills among young
children entering school. The toddler years in a childs life is of significance importance because there is
a distinct gap in the language development between children in disadvantaged homes and those in more
affluent homes. This gap becomes evident as early as the toddler years and continues to remain evident
throughout the later years. Evidence exists that clearly shows the effects of the home learning

environment on literacy is greater in toddlers than in older children. According to Glaser and Moats, not
only can a literacy-rich home learning environment have a positive effect on early literacy success, but it
also has a cumulative effect on the childs ability to master such early literacy skills decoding and
phonological awareness. Both are critical for calling out words on the page and associating spoken sounds
with words and the printed symbols (letters) on the page with sounds blending into words, thereby
enabling children to draw upon their mental vocabulary and then making sense of the words heard as they
read books. Without a rich home learning environment for young children prior to entering school,
children struggle with printed words. The words on the page seem to be a foreign language because they
lack the listening vocabulary, and the speech patterns for our English language, thus spending more of
their mental energies trying to say the words instead of making meaning for the text in the books.
11
How does the home learning environment affect the child development in literacy? It affects
literacy in every way, from poor speech patterns and verbal expression of thoughts to poor decoding of
words on a page. Children in poor home literacy environments often have very little mental energy
available to figure out the words that seem foreign, to an inability to verbalize thoughts and ideas because
of poor oral skills, due to lack of reasoning and comprehension skills. On the other hand, children who are
fortunate to live in a rich environment with literacy activities and engage in abundant book conversations
with the parent are far more likely to be successful with literacy and perform at higher achievement levels
that those who dont. Looking back at the time when I was younger I am thankful that my mother took the
time out to make me read. Her efforts to introduce literacy early on has outstandingly benefited me in so
many ways, not only in school but also in life- as now books are now my safe haven.

Works Cited

Brown, P. Margaret, Linda J. Byrnes, Linda M. Watson, and Bridie Raban. "Young Learners:
Aspects of Home Literacy Environments Supporting Hypotheses about the Structure of
Printed Words." Journal of Early Childhood Research 11.3 (2013): 262-73. ERIC. Web.
29 Nov. 2015.
Hart, Betty, and Todd R. Risley. Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young
American Children. N.p.: Baltimore, Md. : Paul H. Brookes, C1995., 1995. Cat00252a.
Web.
Liebeskind, Kara G., Jessica T. Piotrowski, Matthew A. Lapierre, and Deborah L. Linebarger.
"The Home Literacy Environment: Exploring How Media and Parent-Child Interactions
Are Associated with Children's Language Production." Journal of Early Childhood
Literacy 14.4 (2014): 482-509. ERIC. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
Moats, Louisa, and Deborah R. Glaser. An Introduction to Language and Literacy. Longmont,
Co.: Sopris West Educational Services, 2008. Print.
"The Role of Home Literacy Environment in Toddlerhood in Development of Vocabulary and
Decoding Skills." Child & Youth Care Forum 44.6 (2015): 835-52 18p. Ccm. Web. 29
Nov. 2015.
Sparks, Sarah D. "Early Literacy; 'Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young
American Children'" Education Week 2010: n. pag. Edsgbc. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
Wasik, Barbara A., and Annemarie H. Hindman. "Talk Alone Won't Close the 30-Million Word
Gap." Phi Delta Kappan 96.6 (2015): 50-54. ERIC. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.