Home learning environments and children's language and literacy skills: A meta-analytic review of studies conducted in low- and middle-income countries.

A robust finding from research in high-income countries is that children living in resource-poor homes are vulnerable to difficulties with language and literacy but less is known about this association in low- and middle-income (LMI) countries. We present a meta-analysis of 6,678 correlations from studies in 43 LMI countries. Overall, the results indicate a small but significant association (r = .08) between home language and literacy environment and children's language and literacy skills. After examining a range of moderators, adult literacy practices and books-at-home had a significantly larger association with children's language and literacy skills than did home tutoring. Studies using customized measures demonstrated a more marked association between home attributes and children's outcomes (r = .14) than studies using a common measure across multiple sites (r = .06). Published studies showed significantly larger associations than unpublished studies, and countries with greater income inequality showed a larger association than relatively egalitarian societies. We conclude that the small overall association should not be taken as support for the absence of, or a vanishingly small relationship between the home learning environment and children's language and literacy skills in LMI countries. Rather, an important factor in detecting this relationship is that assessments must better reflect the nature of homes in different cultures to capture true variation in the population. Such contextually situated measurement would lead to an inclusive conceptualization of home learning environments and can better inform intervention programs to enhance children's educational success, a critical target for many LMI countries. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

See and Eat! The impact of repeated exposure to vegetable ebooks on young children's vegetable acceptance.

Vegetable consumption in young children in the UK is well below the recommended five child-sized portions per day. Effective and practical strategies are therefore needed to encourage vegetable consumption in young children. In this exploratory study, we examine the effects of visual familiarization to foods via See & Eat ebooks, which show vegetables on their journey from 'field to fork'. As part of a larger study, in which 242 British families completed a range of measures about their family's eating habits, child's food preferences and potential parent and child predictors of these (Masento et al., 2022), parents were invited to download a See & Eat ebook about a vegetable their child did not eat. Thirty-six families participated in the intervention, looking at the ebook with their child for two weeks and reporting on their child's willingness to taste, intake and liking of the vegetable targeted by the ebook and a matched control vegetable before and after the intervention period. Results showed significant increases in parental ratings of children's acceptance of the target vegetable. Willingness to taste and intake ratings improved for the target vegetable, but not the control vegetable, while liking was reported to increase for both vegetables. These results corroborate previous research demonstrating the benefits of familiarising children with vegetables before they are offered at mealtimes and suggest that ebooks can be added to the set of tools parents can use to support children's vegetable consumption.

Parent, child, and environmental predictors of vegetable consumption in Italian, Polish, and British preschoolers.

This study compared the vegetable intake of preschool children from three European countries [Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom (UK)] and explored the parent, child, and environmental factors that predicted intake in each country. A total of 408 parents of preschoolers (Italy: N = 61, Poland: N = 124, and UK: N = 225; child mean age = 32.2 months, SD = 9.47) completed an online survey comprising a set of standardised questionnaires. For all three countries, the questionnaires included measures of children's vegetable intake (VegFFQ), child eating behaviour (CEBQ-FF), parents' mealtime goals (FMGs), and sociodemographic questions about family background and environment. In the UK and Italy, additional questionnaires were used to assess child temperament (EAS-T) and parents' feeding practices (CFPQ). The results showed that the number of child-sized portions of vegetables consumed per day varied significantly across countries; Polish children consumed the most (∼3 portions) and Italian children the least (∼1.5 portions). Between-country differences were seen in parents' goals for family mealtimes; compared to Italian parents, Polish and UK parents were more motivated to minimise mealtime stress, increase family involvement in meal preparation, and share the same foods with family members. British and Italian parents also adopted different feeding practices; parents in the UK reported more use of healthy modelling behaviours and more use of foods to support their child's emotion regulation. In terms of child factors, Italian children were reported to be more emotional and more sociable than British children. Analyses of the relationships between the parent, child, and environmental factors and children's vegetable intake revealed both similarities and differences between countries. Negative predictors of vegetable intake included child food fussiness in the UK and Poland, child temperament (especially, shyness) in Italy, and the use of food as a reward and child emotionality in the UK. Positive predictors included the parental mealtime goal of 'family involvement' in the UK. These results highlight differences in the extent to which European preschoolers achieve recommended levels of vegetable intake, and in the factors that influence whether they do. The results suggest a need to develop healthy eating interventions that are adopted to meet the specific needs of the countries in which they are implemented.

Corrigendum: See & Eat! Using E-books to Promote Vegetable Eating Among Preschoolers: Findings From an Italian Sample.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.712416.].

See & Eat! Using E-books to Promote Vegetable Eating Among Preschoolers: Findings From an Italian Sample.

Different strategies have been developed to help parents with introducing new or disliked vegetables. Nonetheless, many parents of preschoolers struggle against children's refusal to eat vegetables. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of e-books in promoting positive attitudes toward vegetables through repeated visual exposures. A total of 61 families with preschoolers joined the See & Eat study and received an e-book about one of two vegetables chosen from a list of 24. Parents provided ratings of children's willingness to taste, intake, and liking of the chosen vegetables before and after reading the e-book; parents also evaluated their children's food fussiness and their agreement with respect to three mealtime goals of the family. Using a 2 (vegetable: target or non-target) × 2 (time: pre-test or post-test) within-subjects analysis, results from 53 families revealed a significant increase in children's willingness to taste, intake, and liking at post-test of both target and non-target vegetables. Following a two-week parent-child e-book reading intervention, children's food fussiness and parents' endorsement of positive mealtime goals slightly but significantly increased. Results suggest that e-books are effective in encouraging healthy eating among preschoolers and that the positive effect of e-book reading can generalize to other vegetables.

How do phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and vocabulary contribute to early numeracy and print knowledge of Filipino children?

The current study investigated the contributions of phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), and vocabulary to early numeracy and print knowledge developmental trajectories. A total of 128 young Filipino children were tracked three times at mean ages of 4.5, 5.0, and 5.5 years. The initial level (the intercept) and the growth rate (the slope) of early numeracy and print knowledge were estimated. Results showed that phonological awareness, vocabulary, and age significantly predicted the initial level of early numeracy. RAN and vocabulary explained significant variance in the growth rate of early numeracy. Phonological awareness, RAN, and vocabulary accounted for unique variance in the initial level of print knowledge. Results highlight the differential roles of phonological awareness, RAN, and vocabulary knowledge in the development of early numeracy and print knowledge among Filipino children.

Home Literacy and Numeracy Environments in Asia.

The home learning environment includes what parents do to stimulate children's literacy and numeracy skills at home and their overall beliefs and attitudes about children's learning. The home literacy and numeracy environments are two of the most widely discussed aspects of the home learning environment, and past studies have identified how socioeconomic status and parents' own abilities and interest in these domains also play a part in shaping children's learning experiences. However, these studies are mostly from the West, and there has been little focus on the situation of homes in Asia, which captures a large geographical area and a wide diversity of social, ethnic, and linguistic groups. Therefore, this paper aims to review extant studies on the home literacy and numeracy environments that have been conducted in different parts of Asia, such as China, the Philippines, India, Iran, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Specifically, we explore how parents in these places perceive their roles in children's early literacy and numeracy development, the methods they regard as effective for promoting young children's literacy and numeracy learning, and the frequency with which they engage their young children in different types of home literacy and numeracy activities. We also examine studies on the relationship of the home literacy and numeracy environment with young children's developmental outcomes, and the effectiveness of parent training programs to improve the home literacy and numeracy environments in these contexts. By examining potential trends in findings obtained in different geographical areas, we can initially determine whether there are characteristics that are potentially unique to contexts in Asia. We propose future research directions that acknowledge the role of cultural values and social factors in shaping the home learning environment, and, by extension, in facilitating children's early literacy and numeracy development.

Reciprocal effects of morphological awareness, vocabulary knowledge, and word reading: A cross-lagged panel analysis in Chinese.

There are strong correspondences among syllable, morpheme, and orthographic representations in Chinese. For this reason, bidirectional relationships have been hypothesized among morphological awareness, vocabulary knowledge, and word reading from an early age. Our study examined the reciprocity of these skills among Hong Kong Chinese primary school children. Data were collected from 160 first graders at two time points and were analyzed using a cross-lagged panel design with the three skills modeled simultaneously. No reciprocal pathways were demonstrated in the model; instead, unidirectional relationships emerged. Morphological awareness facilitated later word reading, and word reading facilitated later vocabulary knowledge. Results are discussed in relation to a developmental account of learning to read in Chinese.

Parents' characteristics, the home environment, and children's numeracy skills: How are they related in low- to middle-income families in the Philippines?

The home numeracy environment is often assumed to play a role in early numeracy development. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive picture of the home numeracy environment of children living in low- to middle-income communities in the Philippines. Moreover, it examined the relations among various parents' characteristics, the home numeracy environment parents created, and their young children's numeracy skills. Data were collected from 290 families through parental questionnaires, numeracy tests for children, and numeracy tests for parents. Results of structural equation modeling showed that parents' education level, calculation fluency, own reported math activities, home numeracy resources and home numeracy activities all had direct associations with children's numeracy skills. Parents' calculation fluency and own math activities also had indirect links with children's numeracy skills through home numeracy resources and home numeracy activities. These findings provide insights into the question of which children are at risk for poor numeracy development and how to support children's early numeracy learning.

Family and individual variables associated with young Filipino children's numeracy interest and competence.

Children's early numeracy outcomes set the foundation for mathematics learning in their future school years. This study examined how different family and individual variables were associated with the numeracy interest and competence of disadvantaged young children in the Philippines. The numeracy and literacy skills of 673 children living in low-middle income communities were tested. Their parents were also asked to complete a questionnaire on demographics, their home numeracy practices, attitudes about numeracy learning, and children's numeracy interest. Structural equation modelling analyses showed that children's numeracy interest was linked with their parents' practices and attitudes. Children's numeracy competence, on the other hand, was related to their gender, age, socioeconomic status, and literacy abilities. These findings suggest that family and individual variables might play different roles in disadvantaged children's early numeracy development. Moreover, parents can be encouraged to make effective use of home numeracy experiences to promote their children's numeracy competence. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? In developed countries, home environment is occasionally found to link with early numeracy development. Some individual variables are also found to play significant roles in early numeracy development. What does this study add? Among young Filipino children from disadvantaged backgrounds, home environment is related to numeracy interest. Family socioeconomic status plays a significant role in early numeracy competence. Early literacy and numeracy skills are interrelated with each other.

Stress errors in a case of developmental surface dyslexia in Filipino.

This paper reports the case of a dyslexic boy (L.A.) whose impaired reading of Filipino is consistent with developmental surface dyslexia. Filipino has a transparent alphabetic orthography with stress typically falling on the penultimate syllable of multisyllabic words. However, exceptions to the typical stress pattern are not marked in the Filipino orthography. L.A. read words with typical stress patterns as accurately as controls, but made many more stress errors than controls when reading Filipino words with atypical stress. He regularized the pronunciation of many of these words by incorrectly placing the stress on the penultimate syllable. Since he also read nonwords as accurately and quickly as controls and performed well on tests of phonological awareness, L.A. appears to present a clear case of developmental surface dyslexia in a transparent orthography.