Home literacy environment and its Influence on Singaporean children's Chinese oral and written language abilities

In a bilingual environment such as the Singaporean Chinese community, the challenge of maintaining Chinese language and sustaining Chinese culture lies in promoting the daily use of Chinese language in oral and written forms among children. Ample evidence showed the effect of the home language and literacy environment (HLE), on children’s language and literacy abilities. This study examined Singaporean Chinese–English bilingual children’s HLE and its influence on their Chinese oral and written language ability. Parents of seventy-six Chinese–English bilingual preschoolers completed a HLE survey. Children’s Chinese oral and written language abilities were measured with age-appropriate tasks. Results of the HLE survey revealed that, on the average, children’s Chinese language and literacy related activities, either carried out independently or with parents, were not frequent, but correlated significantly with children’s oral and written language ability. A set of regression analysis showed that, after controlling for family socioeconomic status (SES), children’s language preference at home made a unique contribution, both to their Chinese language and literacy related activities and to their Chinese oral language ability. Similarly, children’s Chinese language and literacy related activities were found to make unique contribution to their Chinese written language ability after the effect of family SES and language preference was accounted for, emphasizing the crucial aspects of home literacy activities for developing children’s Chinese written language ability.

双语环境给新加坡华人社群带来的挑战是如何推广华语成为儿童的日常用语，以便保存华语和华族文化。充分的证据显示家庭语言和知识水平环境对于儿童的语言和识字能力是有影响的，而这项研究就针对新加坡英汉双语儿童的家庭环境来探讨它如何影响儿童华语口头与书写能力。这研究包括使用适龄测试来衡量76名学龄前儿童的口头和书写能力，并让他们的家长填写一份关于他们家庭语言和知识水平环境的问卷。问卷成绩显示语言和识字相关的活动虽然在家中不是很频繁，但对儿童的语言和识字能力有相对的影响。一组回归分析显示：在对照家庭社会经济地位后，儿童在家中的语言偏好促成他们语言和识字相关的活动以及华语口头能力。