Differential influences of parental home literacy practices and anxiety in English as a foreign language on Chinese children's English development

This study investigated the differential influences of maternal and paternal factors on Chinese children’s English as a foreign language development. It took into account both behavioral (i.e. parental home literacy practices, HLP; and children’s vocabulary knowledge) and emotional (i.e. parental and children’s foreign language reading anxiety, FLRA) aspects of home literacy environment and children’s language outcomes. Forty-eight Chinese first graders were tested individually on English vocabulary knowledge. Subsequently, both parents of participating children completed a questionnaire rating their HLP on English as a foreign language, their FLRA and their child’s FLRA. Results from hierarchical regression analysis showed that paternal HLP predicted children’s English vocabulary knowledge and paternal FLRA predicted children’s FLRA, after controlling for children’s age, family income and parental education level. However, when the effects of maternal factors were accounted for, these paternal factors did not uniquely contribute to children’s English vocabulary knowledge or FLRA. In contrast, maternal HLP and FLRA explained unique variance in both children’s English vocabulary knowledge and FLRA, even after paternal factors were accounted for. These results have provided a more comprehensive picture of how home literacy environment contributes to children’s foreign language development, by indicating maternal and paternal contributions both behaviorally and emotionally.