Relations between the Home Learning Environment and the Literacy and Mathematics Skills of Eight-Year-Old Canadian Children

Relations between the Home Learning Environment and the Literacy and Mathematics Skills of Eight-Year-Old Canadian Children

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Title 

Relations between the Home Learning Environment and the Literacy and Mathematics Skills of Eight-Year-Old Canadian Children 

Authors 

Sheri-Lynn Skwarchuk, Heather Douglas, Abbie Cahoon, Jo-Anne LeFevre, Chang Xu, Emilie Roy, Victoria Simms, Judith Wylie, Erin A. Maloney, Helena P. Osana, & María Inés Susperreguy (2022)

Journal and DOI 

Journal: Education Sciences, 2022, 12(8), 513 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12080513 

Previous research 

The home learning environment is a key factor in children’s academic success.  

Achievement gaps have been found before children start school.  

Children’s early literacy and mathematical skills have shown to be correlated with socioeconomic factors.  

Parental involvement has been found to be correlated with children’s academic performance.  

What did we ask? 

What does the home learning environment of eight-year-old Canadian children look like? 

Is the home learning environment for eight-year-old children related to their academic performance in mathematics and literacy? 

How did we do it? 

We recruited 81 parent-child dyads (n=50 mothers and n=31 fathers). 

One parent from each family completed a survey that included demographic questions about the home learning environment, parent attitudes toward literacy and mathematics, parent math anxiety, frequency of home literacy and home math activities, parent homework-helping frequency, parent knowledge of math games and books, and amount of homework assigned to children. 

Children’s mathematics skills (i.e., arithmetic fluency, algebra, and measurement) and literacy skills (i.e., word problem solving) were assessed.  

What did we find? 

Home Numeracy Environment 

Fathers and mothers were similar in terms of the frequency of activities reported and the time spent helping with homework. 

The most frequent math activities reported were “Doing math in your head”, “Practicing addition and subtraction facts” and “Playing with toys such as Lego”. 

Parents frequency of operational activities (e.g., math facts practice) and positive attitudes toward math predicted children’s arithmetic fluency. 

Home Literacy Environment 

Parents engage in home literacy activities beyond the demands required for school. 

Mothers more frequently engage in home literacy activities than fathers. 

The most common literacy activity reported was helping the child read English books and recognize printed words.  

Parents’ knowledge of children’s books and their attitudes towards literacy were found to be related to their children’s vocabulary.  

Why is this important? 

These findings indicate that caregivers should continue to engage in home literacy and mathematics activities even after the child starts full-time schooling. It also highlights the importance of parental attitudes towards literacy and mathematics. 

Brought to you by Dr. Erin Maloney’s Cognition and Emotion Lab at the University of Ottawa.