quality:corruption
Home Literacy Environment (HLE)

Home literacy environment (HLE) is the literacy that takes place in the home. This involves a variety of parent and child interactions that are related to literacy. Studies have found HLE to be a predictor of children’s language and literacy skills. This is true across different languages. HLE is a combination of code-related (formal) and meaning-related (informal) interactions between the parent and the child. Code related refers to direct teaching of literacy skills, reading, spelling and more. Meaning-related activities expose children to literacy but do not teach them directly such as a read aloud. Literacy artifacts, literacy events, and information gained from literacy experience all contribute to forming emergent literacy. Literacy artifacts is the same as environmental print including the print seen all around them: cereal boxes, calendars, labels, etc. Literacy events are the interactions of the child watching an adult perform a literacy task such as a read aloud. When children grow up in an environment where these things are constantly present, children will have a large advantage over students who do not. These children can start learning the features of written language at early ages. Of the literacy interactions shared book reading is one of the most important and most effective practices. Shared book reading is positively correlated with oral language, phonological awareness, reading, spelling and IQ. As we know, literacy skills such as phonics, phonological awareness, alphabetical knowledge, and word awareness as well as other reading and writing skills are crucial for children to develop at a young age. It is important to note when seeing children develop emergent literacy that these skills are entirely connected to language acquisition. In order for children, infants, and babies to begin to improve their literacy skills, they need to have language acquisition. Language acquisition is a process that starts at birth and in home literacy environments.