Characteristics and influence of home literacy environment in early childhood-centered literacy orientation

Background:The home literacy environment (HLE) and joint parent–child book reading are key factors in children’s language and literacy acquisition. Child-centered literacy orientation (CCLO) refers to the child’s level of engagement in literacy events.Aim:To describe the HLE and identify demographic and HLE variables associated with a poor CCLO at 12 months of age.Methods:Parents of Singaporean children enrolled in the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO; n = 1152, birth cohort 2009–2010) completed a childhood literacy questionnaire at 12 months to obtain scores on HLE (0–17) and CCLO (0–6). Logistic regression analyses were employed to identify predictors of low CCLO.Results:Parents of 525 children completed the questionnaire. Mothers were the main caregivers in half the households. Mandarin was the main language (34%). Majority of the respondents had a library card that was used less than weekly, and had fewer than 10 children’s books. 18% of parents read to the child daily, of whom ...