Evdeki okuma-yazma çevresinin okuduğunu anlama becerisi gelişimi üzerindeki rolü: Bir aracılık modeli

A stimulating and enriched home literacy environment in preschool years is necessary for a successful literacy development. In this research, we focused on how home literacy environment in early childhood was associated with children's reading comprehension at school ages through language skills, verbal working memory and word reading. Children's earlier receptive vocabulary knowledge and cognitive skills (e.g. visual-spatial working memory assessed both at ages three and six and verbal working memory at age six) were used as covariates. Home literacy environment was conceptualized as the parental teaching of pre-literacy skills, shared book reading and the availability of books at home. The data of the Early Childhood Developmental Ecologies in Turkey (ECDET), which was designed as a longitudinal study and conducted with a nationally representative sample in Turkey (N=1052), was used. The results showed that supportive home literacy environment was significantly associated with receptive vocabulary knowledge and other foundational language skills. Maternal responsiveness and warmth were as closely related to children's verbal working memory development as home literacy environment. Home literacy environment in early childhood had an indirect association with reading comprehension through language skills (e.g. receptive vocabulary) and word reading, even when controlling for children's cognitive skills and earlier receptive vocabulary knowledge. However, verbal working memory did not significantly mediate the association of home literacy environment with reading comprehension. On the other hand, home literacy environment in early childhood was directly associated with reading comprehension at school ages.