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Moderating Factors in the Relationship between Home Literacy Environment and Early Word Reading Skills: Results from Cantonese-English Bilinguals

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Title: Moderating Factors in the Relationship between Home Literacy Environment and Early Word Reading Skills: Results from Cantonese-English Bilinguals
Language: English
Authors: Anna Jia-Jun Zhang (ORCID 0000-0002-0898-2825), Kelly Chik Wa Wong (ORCID 0000-0003-0307-9992), Cherry Sze Wing Lee (ORCID 0000-0002-7877-698X), Tomohiro Inoue (ORCID 0000-0001-8163-087X)
Source: Early Childhood Education Journal. 2025 53(7):2559-2573.
Availability: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 15
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education
Elementary Education
Grade 1
Primary Education
Grade 2
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Grade 1, Grade 2, Bilingual Students, Sino Tibetan Languages, English (Second Language), Family Environment, Family Influence, Socioeconomic Status, Environmental Influences, Early Reading, Emergent Literacy, Second Language Learning, Parent Role, Family Literacy
Geographic Terms: Hong Kong
DOI: 10.1007/s10643-024-01764-z
ISSN: 1082-3301
1573-1707
Abstract: We examined the associations between home literacy environment (HLE) and children's word reading in L1 Cantonese and L2 English and whether the associations were moderated by other child- and family-related factors (children's grade level, reading interest, and family socioeconomic status [SES]) in Hong Kong Chinese families. Participants were 190 children (M[subscript age] = 86.05 months; 54.7% female) in Grades 1 and 2, and they were tested on their word reading skills (accuracy and fluency) in L1 Cantonese and L2 English. One corresponding parent of each child responded to a questionnaire assessing two aspects of HLE (parent teaching and access to literacy resources), family SES, and their child's reading interest. Results showed that access to literacy resources was associated with L2 English reading but not L1 Cantonese reading, regardless of grade level, parent-rated reading interest, or SES. In addition, whereas parent teaching was positively associated with L2 English reading in Grade 1, it was negatively associated with L2 English reading in Grade 2. These results suggest that whereas access to literacy resources may be positively associated with L2 English reading across different family contexts, the role of parent teaching in L2 English reading may change during this developmental period.
Abstractor: As Provided
Notes: https://osf.io/p7gbw
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: EJ1483157
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0187863977;5mx01oct.25;2025Sep12.06:13;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0187863977-1">Moderating Factors in the Relationship Between Home Literacy Environment and Early Word Reading Skills: Results from Cantonese–English Bilinguals </title> <p>We examined the associations between home literacy environment (HLE) and children's word reading in L1 Cantonese and L2 English and whether the associations were moderated by other child- and family-related factors (children's grade level, reading interest, and family socioeconomic status [SES]) in Hong Kong Chinese families. Participants were 190 children (M<sub>age</sub> = 86.05 months; 54.7% female) in Grades 1 and 2, and they were tested on their word reading skills (accuracy and fluency) in L1 Cantonese and L2 English. One corresponding parent of each child responded to a questionnaire assessing two aspects of HLE (parent teaching and access to literacy resources), family SES, and their child's reading interest. Results showed that access to literacy resources was associated with L2 English reading but not L1 Cantonese reading, regardless of grade level, parent-rated reading interest, or SES. In addition, whereas parent teaching was positively associated with L2 English reading in Grade 1, it was negatively associated with L2 English reading in Grade 2. These results suggest that whereas access to literacy resources may be positively associated with L2 English reading across different family contexts, the role of parent teaching in L2 English reading may change during this developmental period.</p> <p>Keywords: English as second language; Home literacy environment; Bilingual; Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Psychology</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-2">Introduction</hd> <p>Reading is one of the most important skills acquired in childhood. Parents engage in a variety of literacy-related activities with their children and make literacy materials accessible at home (Martini & Sénéchal, [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref1">40</reflink>]). These activities and resources are known as the home literacy environment (HLE) and have been established to predict children's language and literacy (e.g., Manolitsis et al., [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref2">39</reflink>]; Torppa et al., [<reflink idref="bib66" id="ref3">66</reflink>]; Zhang et al., [<reflink idref="bib73" id="ref4">73</reflink>]). An abundance of research has shown that early HLE influences future reading development both directly and indirectly through early literacy-related skills across languages (see Sénéchal et al., [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref5">53</reflink>], for a review).</p> <p>Despite this fact, studies examining the role of HLE in reading in English as a second language (L2), especially among children whose first language (L1) is a non-European language, such as Chinese, are still rare (for exceptions, see Dulay et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref6">10</reflink>]; Liu & Chung, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref7">35</reflink>]; Yeung & King, [<reflink idref="bib72" id="ref8">72</reflink>]). In addition, only a handful of studies, to our knowledge, have directly examined whether HLE is equally important for reading development in any family context, or whether its importance varies depending on other child- or family-related factors. To fill these empirical gaps in the literature, we examined the associations between HLE and word reading skills (accuracy and fluency) in L1 Cantonese Chinese and L2 English and whether children's grade level, reading interest, family income, and parents' education moderate their associations in a sample of Cantonese–English bilingual Hong Kong children in Grade 1 and Grade 2. Following Kohnert's ([<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref9">27</reflink>]) definition, we define bilingual children here as those who receive regular input in two or more languages during the most dynamic period of communication development, typically between birth and adolescence.</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-3">Home Literacy Environment and Children's Reading Skills</hd> <p>According to the home literacy model (Sénéchal, [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref10">54</reflink>]; Sénéchal & LeFevre, [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref11">55</reflink>]), parent–child literacy activities at home are divided into two distinct categories: code-related and meaning-related activities. The model suggests that code-related activities, often measured by the frequency of parental teaching of literacy, are linked to children's code-related skills, such as letter knowledge, which in turn affect their later reading skills. Conversely, meaning-related activities, which involve interactions that focus on the meaning conveyed by the print (e.g., shared storybook reading), are assumed to contribute to children's reading development by enhancing their oral language skills, such as vocabulary (Sénéchal & LeFevre, [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref12">55</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib56" id="ref13">56</reflink>]).</p> <p>Previous studies with children learning to read in a European language, such as English, have provided evidence for these premises of the home literacy model by showing that both types of activities contribute to reading development through different pathways (e.g., Inoue et al., [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref14">24</reflink>]; Georgiou et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref15">13</reflink>]; Manolitsis et al., [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref16">39</reflink>]; Torppa et al., [<reflink idref="bib66" id="ref17">66</reflink>]; see Sénéchal et al., [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref18">53</reflink>], for a review). Studies in non-European languages, including Chinese (both Mandarin and Cantonese), have largely replicated these findings, providing further support for the roles of code- and meaning-related activities in early literacy development across languages and cultures (e.g., Liu et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref19">36</reflink>]; Wang & Liu, [<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref20">69</reflink>]; Zhang et al., [<reflink idref="bib75" id="ref21">75</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib73" id="ref22">73</reflink>]).</p> <p>Apart from code- and meaning-related activities, access to literacy resources, often operationalized as the number of children's books at home, has been shown to influence children's language and literacy skills beyond the effects of code- and meaning-related activities (Inoue et al., [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref23">24</reflink>]; Liu et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref24">36</reflink>]; Wang & Liu, [<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref25">69</reflink>]; Zhang et al., [<reflink idref="bib75" id="ref26">75</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib74" id="ref27">74</reflink>]). Examining the unique role of access to literacy resources in reading development is important for at least two reasons: First, although some studies have used access to literacy resources as an indicator of meaning-related HLE (e.g., Hood et al., [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref28">19</reflink>]; Puglisi et al., [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref29">49</reflink>]), some researchers argue that access to literacy resources should be distinguished from meaning-related activities because the presence of reading materials itself is not an activity (e.g., Lenkeit et al., [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref30">31</reflink>]; Zuilkowski et al., [<reflink idref="bib77" id="ref31">77</reflink>]). Indeed, some studies have reported a weak correlation between access to literacy resources and meaning-related activities (e.g., Dulay et al., [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref32">9</reflink>]; Wang & Liu, [<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref33">69</reflink>]; Zhang et al., [<reflink idref="bib75" id="ref34">75</reflink>]). Second, most previous studies focused only on parent-led activities without balanced consideration of the amount of resources that may facilitate children's autonomy and self-led learning activities. In fact, some studies (e.g., Liu et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref35">36</reflink>]; Wang & Liu, [<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref36">69</reflink>]) found that access to literacy resources uniquely predicted children's later reading skills, while shared book reading (a meaning-related activity) did not. Studies with large cross-national samples (e.g., Araújo & Costa, [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref37">2</reflink>]; Chiu & McBride-Chang, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref38">5</reflink>]), as well as longitudinal studies focusing on specific populations, such as English-speaking Canadian children (e.g., Georgiou et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref39">13</reflink>]), have provided evidence for the importance of access to literacy resources over and above the effects of other family factors.</p> <p>Moreover, the role of HLE in reading development has been reported in studies with children learning English as a second language (e.g., Farver et al., [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref40">12</reflink>]; Goodrich et al., [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref41">14</reflink>]; Yeo et al., [<reflink idref="bib71" id="ref42">71</reflink>]; see Dong & Chow, [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref43">8</reflink>], for a meta-analysis). For example, Goodrich et al. ([<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref44">14</reflink>]) conducted a longitudinal study with L1 Spanish children and found that access to literacy resources predicted children's vocabulary knowledge in L2 English. Similarly, in a study with Cantonese-English bilingual kindergartners, Yeung and King ([<reflink idref="bib72" id="ref45">72</reflink>]) reported that parent teaching at home and exposure to L2 English learning materials (a composite derived from the number of English books and the frequency of watching English educational videos) predicted reading skills in L2 English through letter knowledge and expressive vocabulary, respectively. A recent meta-analysis (Dong & Chow, [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref46">8</reflink>]) also showed that both parent teaching and access to literacy resources in L2 English had an effect on children's L2 English abilities. It should be noted, however, that previous HLE studies in L2 English have mainly been conducted with English language learners in the United States, where the dominant language in the community is also English (e.g., Farver et al., [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref47">12</reflink>]; Goodrich et al., [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref48">14</reflink>]). Thus, more studies are needed to examine the role of HLE in L2 English reading with children learning English in a non-English-dominant context.</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-4">Moderating Factors in the Association Between HLE and Reading Skills</hd> <p>Despite the well-established associations among parent teaching, access to literacy resources, and children's reading skills, there is still a dearth of research examining whether the associations are similar or different depending on the other child- or family-related factors, such as children's grade level, reading interest, and family socioeconomic status (SES; e.g., family income, parents' education). Previous studies often used these factors as a control variable in examining the association between HLE and reading (e.g., Lai et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref49">28</reflink>]; Li & Tan, [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref50">33</reflink>]; Torppa et al., [<reflink idref="bib66" id="ref51">66</reflink>]). However, as described in the review of existing studies below, it is also possible that the influence of HLE on children's reading varies between families depending on these child- and family-related factors (see Fig. 1 for an illustration of the possible relations between these variables).</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 1 The conceptual model for the associations between home literacy environment, children's word reading, and potential moderators</p> <p>First, several studies have shown that the relationship between HLE and reading skills may differ across children's grade levels (e.g., Deng et al., [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref52">7</reflink>]; Georgiou et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref53">13</reflink>]; Manolitsis et al., [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref54">38</reflink>]; Silinskas et al., [<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref55">60</reflink>]; Tanji & Inoue, [<reflink idref="bib64" id="ref56">64</reflink>]). In a longitudinal study with children followed from Grade 1 to Grade 3, Georgiou et al. ([<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref57">13</reflink>]) showed that the relationship among direct teaching (a code-related activity), reading comprehension activities (a meaning-related activity), and reading skills changed developmentally during the period from a positive, proactive relationship (reading comprehension activities positively predicted children's reading) to a negative, reactive relationship (children's performance levels negatively predicted later direct teaching and reading comprehension activities). Similar findings have been reported in studies in some other languages (Inoue et al., [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref58">22</reflink>]; Manolitsis et al., [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref59">38</reflink>]; Silinskas et al., [<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref60">60</reflink>]), including Mandarin Chinese (Deng et al., [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref61">7</reflink>]; Liu et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref62">36</reflink>]). For example, whereas Liu et al. ([<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref63">36</reflink>]) showed that parent teaching was positively associated with children's word reading in kindergarten, Deng et al. ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref64">7</reflink>]) found that children's word reading in Grade 1 negatively predicted their shared book reading with parents in Grade 2.</p> <p>The negative effect of children's reading on HLE activities in these studies is aligned with the concept of "evocative effect" (Scarr & McCartney, [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref65">51</reflink>]), according to which parents adjust their involvement to their child's performance level and growing autonomy. More specifically, when parents perceive their child's performance as satisfactory, they may decrease direct teaching and grant more autonomy. Conversely, parents who perceive their child's underperformance are more likely to increase their involvement (Manolitsis et al., [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref66">38</reflink>]; Silinskas et al., [<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref67">60</reflink>]; Tanji & Inoue, [<reflink idref="bib64" id="ref68">64</reflink>]). However, no studies, to our knowledge, have directly tested the moderating role of children's grade level in the associations between HLE and reading skills in a bilingual context. Importantly, in this study, we examined the moderating role of grade level among children in Grade 1 and Grade 2 (i.e., right after the beginning of primary education and one year later), which allowed us to directly test whether parents adjusted HLE according to their child's literacy performance as well as social expectations for school achievement (Son & Morrison, [<reflink idref="bib62" id="ref69">62</reflink>]).</p> <p>In turn, some studies have examined the relationships among children's reading interest (e.g., the extent to which the child perceives reading as enjoyable), HLE, and reading development (Carroll et al., [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref70">4</reflink>]; Georgiou et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref71">13</reflink>]; Silinskas et al., [<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref72">60</reflink>]). However, these studies focused mainly on the predictive role of HLE in children's reading interest. Further, no previous studies, to our knowledge, have tested the moderating role of children's reading interest in the relationship between HLE and reading skills. In fact, it would be reasonable to expect that children with higher reading interest are more actively engaged in parental teaching and read more frequently when literacy resources are available at home (Pezoa et al., [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref73">48</reflink>]; Wang & Liu, [<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref74">69</reflink>]). If this were the case, we would expect the effect of HLE aspects on children's reading to be stronger for children with higher reading interest than for their peers with lower reading interest.</p> <p>Finally, regarding the possible moderating role of family SES, one would argue that parents with higher educational levels are likely to be more knowledgeable about how to effectively engage their children in literacy activities (e.g., using richer language in communicating with their children; Ellwood-Lowe et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref75">11</reflink>]). In turn, this would result in a stronger influence of parental teaching on children's reading compared to parents with lower educational levels. Similarly, families with higher household incomes tend to devote a greater proportion of financial resources to children's education, such as providing more books in the home (e.g., Chiu & McBride-Chang, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref76">5</reflink>]; Sohr-Preston et al., [<reflink idref="bib61" id="ref77">61</reflink>]). Given this fact, the impact of access to literacy resources on children's reading may be relatively stronger among families with higher incomes than those with lower incomes.</p> <p>To date, two studies have compared the role of HLE between families from socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged contexts in China, with mixed results (Leng et al., [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref78">30</reflink>]; Zhang et al., [<reflink idref="bib73" id="ref79">73</reflink>]). Leng et al. ([<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref80">30</reflink>]) examined the relationships among HLE activities (a latent factor derived from code- and meaning-related activities), access to literacy resources, and children's vocabulary in advantaged and disadvantaged contexts. They found that contrary to their expectation, the association of access to literacy resources with children's vocabulary was stronger in the disadvantaged group than in the advantaged group. Zhang et al. ([<reflink idref="bib73" id="ref81">73</reflink>]) examined the relationship between HLE and children's reading in families from urban (advantaged) and rural (disadvantaged) contexts. Their results showed that the relationships among parent teaching, access to literacy resources, and children's early reading were generally similar in the two groups. The discrepancy in the results of these studies may be due to the fact that they compared the relationship between HLE and children's outcomes in different regions, which may have introduced confounding effects of other contextual factors (Inoue et al., [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref82">24</reflink>]; Sénéchal, [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref83">52</reflink>]). Therefore, the current study focused on the moderating role of family SES in the relationship between HLE and children's reading in a sample from the same region (i.e., Hong Kong).</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-5">The Present Study</hd> <p>The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between HLE (parent teaching and access to literacy resources) and word reading skills (accuracy and fluency) in L1 Cantonese and L2 English and whether child- and family-related factors (children's grade level, reading interest, family income, and parents' education) moderate the relationship in a sample of Cantonese<bold>–</bold>English bilingual Hong Kong children in Grades 1 and 2. We focused on this developmental period because previous studies in different languages, including Cantonese, have shown that children's reading grows rapidly during this period and is, therefore, more likely to be susceptible to environmental influences (e.g., Hulme et al., [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref84">20</reflink>]; McCoach et al., [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref85">42</reflink>]; Zhang et al., [<reflink idref="bib73" id="ref86">73</reflink>]).</p> <p>Guided by the home literacy model (Sénéchal, [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref87">54</reflink>]; Sénéchal & LeFevre, [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref88">55</reflink>]) and the findings of the studies reviewed above, we examined the following four research questions (RQs); the first question was about the overall association between HLE and children's reading outcomes, while the other three questions were about the role of each potential moderating factor in the association between the two:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> RQ1: Are the two aspects of HLE (parent teaching and access to literacy resources) associated with children's word reading in L1 Cantonese and L2 English? We expected that both parent teaching and access to literacy resources would be independently associated with word reading skills in both languages (Dong & Chow, [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref89">8</reflink>]; Zhang et al., [<reflink idref="bib75" id="ref90">75</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib74" id="ref91">74</reflink>]).</item> <p></p> <item> RQ2: Does children's grade level influence the association among parent teaching, access to literacy resources, and children's word reading? Based on the findings of previous studies (Deng et al., [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref92">7</reflink>]; Silinskas et al., [<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref93">60</reflink>]), we expected that grade level would moderate the relationship between parent teaching and children's word reading in both languages, but not between access to literacy resources and children's word reading. More specifically, the relationship between parent teaching and children's word reading would shift from positive in Grade 1 to negative in Grade 2 (Georgiou et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref94">13</reflink>]; Tanji & Inoue, [<reflink idref="bib64" id="ref95">64</reflink>]).</item> <p></p> <item> RQ3: Does children's interest in reading influence the association among parent teaching, access to literacy resources, and children's word reading? We did not set any specific hypothesis for this research question because no studies have directly tested the moderating role of reading interest in the relationship between HLE and children's word reading skills.</item> <p></p> <item> RQ4: Does family SES (family income and parents' education) influence the association among parent teaching, access to literacy resources, and children's word reading? We hypothesized that both parent teaching and access to literacy resources would have a stronger influence on word reading in both languages for children from higher SES families than for those from lower SES families because HLE activities and resources would generally be richer in the former than in the latter (e.g., Chiu & McBride-Chang, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref96">5</reflink>]; Vasilyeva et al., [<reflink idref="bib67" id="ref97">67</reflink>]).</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0187863977-6">Method</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0187863977-7">Participants</hd> <p>Our sample consisted of 190 L1 Cantonese children (104 girls, 86 boys; <emph>M</emph><subs>age</subs> = 86.05 months, <emph>SD</emph> = 7.64) attending Grade 1 (<emph>N</emph> = 103) and Grade 2 (<emph>N</emph> = 87) in public primary schools in Hong Kong. The schools from which we recruited our participants were located in 17 administrative districts in Hong Kong to increase the representation of different demographics in our study as much as possible. Our participants were recruited on a voluntary basis through letters of information sent to parents in participating schools and public recruitment. All children were native speakers of Cantonese and learning English as a Second Language, with none experiencing any documented learning, emotional, or sensory difficulties based on parents' responses. Few parents reported their children receiving any private tutoring.</p> <p>The parents of the children (<emph>N</emph> = 190; one parent for each child; 94.2% mothers) also participated in the study by filling out a questionnaire on demographic information (parental educational attainment, family income), home literacy environment (parent teaching, access to literacy resources), and their children's reading interest. The medians of mothers' and fathers' education were "post-secondary education" and "matriculation course," respectively; in the Hong Kong education system, "matriculation course" indicates that parents have received a total of 12–13 years of formal education, while "post-secondary" indicates an additional one to two years of education without attaining a bachelor's degree. According to the latest census data, 33.5% of the Hong Kong population aged 15 and over (excluding foreign domestic helpers) received a post-secondary education (Hong Kong Census & Statistics Department, [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref98">17</reflink>]). In addition, the median household monthly income in our sample was "$30,001–$40,000," which is also comparable to the median of $27,500 as indicated by a Hong Kong governmental report (Hong Kong Census & Statistics Department, [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref99">18</reflink>]). Thus, these SES indicators suggest that our sample was fairly representative of the general population of Hong Kong Chinese families.</p> <p>The data collection was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the American Psychological Association (American Psychological Association, [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref100">1</reflink>]). Ethics approval was obtained from the Survey and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Reference No. SBRE-20-635). Parental written consent was obtained prior to testing. In addition, children's assent was obtained by explaining the purpose and procedure of the study in a language easily understood by children of the age of our sample. All parents and children were informed that they could withdraw from the study at any time without any negative consequences.</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-8">The Linguistic Context in Hong Kong</hd> <p>In Hong Kong, where the data for the study were collected, Cantonese Chinese is used as the official language because of its predominant use. The vast majority of the Hong Kong population speaks Cantonese as their first language, which is the most common dialect of Chinese among the 241 dialects other than Mandarin (Matthews & Yip, [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref101">41</reflink>]). It should be noted that different Chinese dialects vary in their similarity to Modern Standard Written Chinese (the primary written form), with Cantonese being particularly different in terms of vocabulary, syntax, and pragmatics.</p> <p>In addition to Cantonese, English is another official language in Hong Kong, creating a unique bilingual context in the region. Importantly, this sociolinguistic context allows us to examine whether and how different aspects of HLE (i.e., parent teaching and access to literacy resources) are associated with children's reading in L1 Cantonese and L2 English simultaneously within the same sample. Hong Kong children typically begin learning to read in both languages simultaneously as early as kindergarten (age 3). Early learning activities in L2 English often focus on basic vocabulary, with an emphasis on listening and speaking skills. In the early primary grades, L2 English learning continues to focus on vocabulary and phonics, with more emphasis on building a strong foundation in language and literacy (Hong Kong Education Bureau, [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref102">16</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-9">Measures</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0187863977-10">Parents' Questionnaire</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0187863977-11">Parent Teaching</hd> <p>The frequencies of parent teaching in L1 Cantonese and L2 English were assessed separately by asking two questions each on a 5-point Likert scale how often they taught their child (a) reading characters/letters and words and (b) writing characters/letters and words during the previous year. The Likert scale ranged from <emph>never</emph> (0) to <emph>daily</emph> (<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref103">4</reflink>). The scores for parent teaching in L1 Cantonese and L2 English were based on the scores of the two respective items (max = 8 for each language). Cronbach's alpha reliability in our sample was.74 and.88 for L1 Cantonese and L2 English, respectively.</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-12">Access to Literacy Resources</hd> <p>Parents were asked to report how many children's books they had at home without specifying the language of the books. These questions for parent teaching and access to literacy resources have been sampled from previous HLE studies (e.g., Inoue et al., [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref104">24</reflink>]; Kirby & Hogan, [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref105">25</reflink>]; Sénéchal, [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref106">54</reflink>]) and are similar to questions used in several studies in Chinese, including Cantonese (e.g., Deng et al., [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref107">7</reflink>]; Liu et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref108">36</reflink>]; Wang & Liu, [<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref109">69</reflink>]; Yeung & King, [<reflink idref="bib72" id="ref110">72</reflink>]; Zhang et al., [<reflink idref="bib75" id="ref111">75</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib73" id="ref112">73</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-13">Family Income</hd> <p>Parents were asked to indicate the monthly household income measured in HKD among 11 options: <emph>$10,000 or below</emph> (0); <emph>$10,001–$20,000</emph> (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref113">1</reflink>); <emph>$20,001–$30,000</emph> (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref114">2</reflink>); <emph>$30,001–$40,000</emph> (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref115">3</reflink>); <emph>$40,001–$50,000</emph> (<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref116">4</reflink>); <emph>$50,001–$60,000</emph> (<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref117">5</reflink>); <emph>$60,001–$70,000</emph> (<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref118">6</reflink>); <emph>$70,001–$80,000</emph> (<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref119">7</reflink>); <emph>$80,001–$90,000</emph> (<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref120">8</reflink>); <emph>$90,001–$100,000</emph> (<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref121">9</reflink>); <emph>$100,001 or above</emph> (<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref122">10</reflink>). The options were determined based on the latest census (Hong Kong Census & Statistics Department, [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref123">17</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-14">Parents' Education</hd> <p>Parents were asked to indicate their highest level of education attained. There were eight options provided based on the education system in Hong Kong: <emph>primary school</emph> (0); <emph>junior secondary</emph> (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref124">1</reflink>); <emph>senior secondary</emph> (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref125">2</reflink>); <emph>matriculation course</emph> (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref126">3</reflink>); <emph>post-secondary</emph>; (<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref127">4</reflink>) <emph>bachelor's degree</emph> (<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref128">5</reflink>); <emph>master's degree</emph> (<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref129">6</reflink>); <emph>doctoral degree</emph> (<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref130">7</reflink>). A composite score for parents' education was calculated by averaging the <emph>z</emph>-scores of mothers' and fathers' education. The correlation between the education levels of both parents in our sample was.65.</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-15">Reading Interest</hd> <p>Parents were asked to indicate the level of their children's reading interest by indicating on a 5-point Likert scale how often their child (a) reads alone for enjoyment and (b) enjoys being read to. The Likert scale ranged from <emph>never</emph> (0) to <emph>daily</emph> (<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref131">4</reflink>). We adopted parent-rated reading interest in this study because several studies reported that parents' rating of children's reading interest was more stable and strongly associated with children's reading than children's self-rating (e.g., Georgiou et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref132">13</reflink>]; Hume et al., [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref133">21</reflink>]). A participant's score was the sum of the scores of both items. Cronbach's alpha reliability in our sample was.72.</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-16">Children's Word Reading Skills</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0187863977-17">L1 Cantonese Reading</hd> <p>Cantonese word reading accuracy and fluency were assessed using the measures adopted from Pan et al.'s ([<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref134">46</reflink>]) study with Hong Kong Chinese children. <emph>L1 Cantonese word reading accuracy</emph> was assessed using the Character Recognition Test (Pan et al., [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref135">46</reflink>]). Children were asked to read aloud 80 single-character words which were arranged in increasing difficulty. The task was discontinued after 15 consecutive errors. A participant's score was the total number of correct responses (max = 80). Cronbach's alpha reliability in our sample was.97. <emph>L1 Cantonese word reading fluency</emph> was assessed using the One-Minute Reading Test (Pan et al., [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref136">46</reflink>]). Children were asked to read 120 two-character words as quickly as possible within 60 s. The timed test was preceded by a practice test to allow children to become familiar with the task. A participant's score was the total number of words read correctly within the time limit (max = 120). Test–retest reliability (the partial correlation between the two trials controlling for age) in a subsample of the participants (<emph>n</emph> = 37) who were retested with a 2- to 4-week interval was.95. The correlations between Cantonese word reading accuracy and fluency were.79 for Grade 1 and.71 for Grade 2, indicating the construct validity of the measures. Therefore, a composite score for L1 Cantonese word reading was calculated by averaging the <emph>z</emph>-scores of Cantonese word reading accuracy and fluency and used as the dependent variable in the analysis.</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-18">L2 English Reading</hd> <p> <emph>L2 English word reading accuracy</emph> was assessed using the Word Identification task from the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised (Woodcock, [<reflink idref="bib70" id="ref137">70</reflink>]). Children were asked to read aloud 106 words which were arranged in increasing difficulty. Per instructions, the task was discontinued after six consecutive errors. A participant's score was the total number of correct responses (max = 106). Cronbach's alpha reliability in our sample was.98. <emph>L2 English word reading fluency</emph> was assessed using the Sight Word Efficiency subtest from the Test of Word Reading Efficiency Second Edition (TOWRE-2; Torgesen et al., [<reflink idref="bib65" id="ref138">65</reflink>]). Children were asked to read aloud 108 words as quickly as possible within 45 s. The timed test was preceded by a practice test to allow children to become familiar with the task. A participant's score was the total number of words read correctly within the time limit (max = 108). The test–retest reliability in the subsample (<emph>n</emph> = 37) was.99. The correlations between English word reading accuracy and fluency were.95 for Grade 1 and.87 for Grade 2. Therefore, a composite score for L2 English word reading was calculated by averaging the <emph>z</emph>-scores of English word reading accuracy and fluency and used as the dependent variable in the analysis.</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-19">Procedure</hd> <p>Due to the COVID situation in Hong Kong during the period of our data collection, we gave participants the option of taking the test online or in person. Of the 190 children who participated in our study, 17 chose in-person testing, and 173 chose online testing. The test was completed in a single session lasting approximately 20 min. Test administration and scoring were standardized across all children. The parents filled out the questionnaire on HLE, family SES, and children's reading interest at about the same time as their children's testing.</p> <p>All children were individually tested in a quiet environment, either in person or through online videoconferencing software (Zoom) by trained research assistants. A total of four trained test administrators were involved in the study; all were native speakers of Cantonese majoring in psychology at the university and had experience administering psychoeducational tests to young children. Prior to the online testing, test administrators received 10 h of training on ethical considerations, test administration, and practice test sessions.</p> <p>To maintain confidentiality, we used the Zoom private meeting session with the waiting room function, which allowed only authorized users to attend the testing session. All testing procedures were conducted in the same manner as in-person testing, and the test items were displayed using screen sharing. In case of technical problems (<emph>n</emph> = 2), the test was discontinued and rescheduled.</p> <p>To ensure that the difference in the testing mode did not cause any unexpected bias in the results, we ran all analyses with and without the data from the children tested in person and confirmed that the main results remained unchanged. Therefore, we did not remove their data from the analyses reported below.</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-20">Statistical Analysis</hd> <p>All analyses were conducted using R (R Core Team, [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref139">50</reflink>]). All data and analysis codes have been made available on Open Science Framework (OSF) at https://osf.io/p7gbw/. First, we calculated the descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlations for all variables (see Tables 1, 2). In addition, to examine differences in parent teaching and access to literacy resources between grade levels, we compared them between Grade 1 and Grade 2 using Welch's <emph>t</emph>-tests. Next, to examine the role of HLE (parent teaching, access to literacy resources) in predicting children's word reading skills and whether different child- and family-related factors (children's grade level, reading interest, family income, parents' education) moderate the relationship between them, we performed a series of multiple regression analyses with interaction terms. In doing so, we tested whether the association between each HLE aspect and children's word reading varied depending on the individual differences in the moderator variables (see Fig. 1 for our hypothesized conceptual model of the moderated association).</p> <p>Table 1 Descriptive statistics for the variables in the study</p> <p> <ephtml> <table frame="hsides" rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left" rowspan="2" /><th align="left" colspan="4"><p>Grade 1</p></th><th align="left" colspan="4"><p>Grade 2</p></th></tr><tr><th align="left"><p><italic>M</italic></p></th><th align="left"><p>SD</p></th><th align="left"><p>Skew</p></th><th align="left"><p>Kurt</p></th><th align="left"><p><italic>M</italic></p></th><th align="left"><p>SD</p></th><th align="left"><p>Skew</p></th><th align="left"><p>Kurt</p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left" colspan="9"><p><italic>Children's measures</italic></p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Age in months</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>80.51</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>4.68</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.17</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.40</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>92.60</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>4.71</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.14</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.10</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>L1 Cantonese reading accuracy (80)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>29.09</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>17.95</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.45</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.80</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>44.08</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>17.52</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.32</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.92</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>L1 Cantonese reading fluency (120)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>38.46</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>16.21</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.42</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.17</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>48.66</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>15.12</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.32</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.05</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>L2 English reading accuracy (102)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>30.02</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>21.06</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.54</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.25</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>43.10</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>18.45</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.63</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.23</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>L2 English reading fluency (108)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>25.70</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>18.47</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.42</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 1.08</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>36.41</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>15.53</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.20</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 1.08</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left" colspan="9"><p><italic>Parents' questionnaire</italic></p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Teach to read in L1 Cantonese<sup>a</sup> (4)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>2.84</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>1.00</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.63</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.16</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>2.83</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.88</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.68</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.34</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Teach to write in L1 Cantonese<sup>a</sup> (4)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>2.92</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.86</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.31</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.74</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>2.94</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.92</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.78</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.66</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Teach to read in L2 English<sup>a</sup> (4)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>2.74</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.92</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.52</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.14</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>2.66</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.96</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.59</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.05</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Teach to spell in L2 English<sup>a</sup> (4)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>2.53</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.95</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.61</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.30</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>2.68</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>1.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.62</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.03</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Number of books</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>94.97</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>107.50</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>2.19</p></td><td align="left"><p>4.68</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>146.08</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>159.03</p></td><td align="left"><p>1.29</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.24</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Reading interest (8)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>4.90</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>1.90</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.27</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.58</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>4.89</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>1.94</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.44</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.29</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Family income<sup>b</sup> (10)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>4.02</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>2.92</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.78</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.54</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>4.07</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>2.95</p></td><td align="left"><p>0.68</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.65</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Mother's education<sup>c</sup> (7)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>3.84</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>1.63</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 0.51</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.96</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>3.80</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>1.59</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.28</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 1.17</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Father's education<sup>c</sup> (7)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>3.39</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>1.76</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>0.18</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 1.35</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>3.34</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>1.87</p></td><td align="left"><p>− 0.10</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>− 1.36</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>Numerals in parentheses represent the possible maximum score for each variable. <emph>Skew</emph> skewness, <emph>Kurt</emph> kurtosis <sups>a</sups>The options for parent teaching had five options: <emph>never</emph> (0); <emph>less than once a month</emph> (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref140">1</reflink>); <emph>a few times a month</emph> (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref141">2</reflink>); <emph>a few times a week</emph> (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref142">3</reflink>); <emph>daily</emph> (<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref143">4</reflink>) <sups>b</sups>The options for family income had eleven options, ranging from <emph>10,000 HKD or below</emph> (0) to <emph>more than 100,001 HKD</emph> (<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref144">10</reflink>) <sups>c</sups>The options for parental education level had eight options: <emph>primary school</emph> (0); <emph>junior secondary</emph> (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref145">1</reflink>); <emph>senior secondary</emph> (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref146">2</reflink>); <emph>matriculation course</emph> (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref147">3</reflink>); <emph>post-secondary</emph>; (<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref148">4</reflink>) <emph>bachelor's degree</emph> (<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref149">5</reflink>); <emph>master's degree</emph> (<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref150">6</reflink>); <emph>doctoral degree</emph> (<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref151">7</reflink>)</p> <p>Table 2 Correlations among the variables for Grade 1 (below diagonal) and Grade 2 (above diagonal)</p> <p> <ephtml> <table frame="hsides" rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left" /><th align="left" /><th align="left"><p>1</p></th><th align="left"><p>2</p></th><th align="left"><p>3</p></th><th align="left"><p>4</p></th><th align="left"><p>5</p></th><th align="left"><p>6</p></th><th align="left"><p>7</p></th><th align="left"><p>8</p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left"><p>1</p></td><td align="left"><p>L1 Cantonese reading</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char"><p>.35**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.09</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.06</p></td><td align="left"><p>.32**</p></td><td align="left"><p>.45**</p></td><td align="left"><p>.12</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.30**</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>2</p></td><td align="left"><p>L2 English reading</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.48**</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char"><p>−.10</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>−.25*</p></td><td align="left"><p>.47**</p></td><td align="left"><p>.25*</p></td><td align="left"><p>.51**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.53**</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>3</p></td><td align="left"><p>Parent teaching (L1 Cantonese)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.09</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.23*</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td char="." align="char"><p>.78**</p></td><td align="left"><p>.18</p></td><td align="left"><p>.38**</p></td><td align="left"><p>.08</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.22</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>4</p></td><td align="left"><p>Parent teaching (L2 English)</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>−.01</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.29**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.69**</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left"><p>.12</p></td><td align="left"><p>.35**</p></td><td align="left"><p>.01</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.07</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>5</p></td><td align="left"><p>Access to literacy resources</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.08</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.38**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.16</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.23*</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>.54**</p></td><td align="left"><p>.43**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.59**</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>6</p></td><td align="left"><p>Reading interest</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.21*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.30**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.40**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.36**</p></td><td align="left"><p>.42**</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>.17</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.39**</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>7</p></td><td align="left"><p>Family income</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.19</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.43**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.10</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.10</p></td><td align="left"><p>.29**</p></td><td align="left"><p>.10</p></td><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char"><p>.68**</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>8</p></td><td align="left"><p>Parents' education</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.16</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.41**</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.20*</p></td><td char="." align="char"><p>.23*</p></td><td align="left"><p>.36**</p></td><td align="left"><p>.13</p></td><td align="left"><p>.66**</p></td><td char="." align="char" /></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p> <emph>N</emph>s = 103 for Grade 1 and 87 for Grade 2 *<emph>p</emph> <.05 **<emph>p</emph> <.01</p> <p>Three separate regression models (Models 1–3) were constructed to predict word reading skills in L1 Cantonese and L2 English, respectively (see Tables 3, 4). In Model 1, the two aspects of HLE (parent teaching, access to literacy resources), children's grade level, parent-rated reading interest, family income, and parents' education were entered into the models simultaneously as the independent variables. In Model 2, the interaction terms between parent teaching and the moderator variables (i.e., children's grade level, parent-rated reading interest, family income, and parents' education) were entered along with the independent variables included in Model 1. Finally, in Model 3, the interaction terms between access to literacy resources and the same moderator variables were entered along with the independent variables included in Model 1.</p> <p>Table 3 Multiple regression analysis for predicting <emph>L1 Cantonese Word</emph> reading</p> <p> <ephtml> <table frame="hsides" rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left" rowspan="2" /><th align="left" colspan="3"><p>Model 1</p></th><th align="left" colspan="3"><p>Model 2</p></th><th align="left" colspan="3"><p>Model 3</p></th></tr><tr><th align="left"><p><italic>β</italic></p></th><th align="left"><p>95% CI</p></th><th align="left"><p><italic>p</italic></p></th><th align="left"><p><italic>β</italic></p></th><th align="left"><p>95% CI</p></th><th align="left"><p><italic>p</italic></p></th><th align="left"><p><italic>β</italic></p></th><th align="left"><p>95% CI</p></th><th align="left"><p><italic>p</italic></p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left"><p>Parent teaching (PT)</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.05</p></td><td char="–" align="char"><p>−.19 –.09</p></td><td align="left"><p>.502</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.04</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.19 –.10</p></td><td align="left"><p>.545</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.05</p></td><td char="–" align="char"><p>−.19 –.09</p></td><td align="left"><p>.494</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Access to resources (ALR)</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.02</p></td><td char="–" align="char"><p>−.19 –.14</p></td><td align="left"><p>.761</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.18 –.15</p></td><td align="left"><p>.857</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.03</p></td><td char="–" align="char"><p>−.20 –.14</p></td><td align="left"><p>.731</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Grade levels</p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.38</bold></p></td><td char="–" align="char"><p><bold>.25 </bold>–.<bold>51</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold><.001</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.38</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.25 </bold>–.<bold>51</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold><.001</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.38</bold></p></td><td char="–" align="char"><p><bold>.24 </bold>–.<bold>51</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold><.001</bold></p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Family income</p></td><td align="left"><p>.03</p></td><td char="–" align="char"><p>−.14 –.21</p></td><td align="left"><p>.691</p></td><td align="left"><p>.04</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.14 –.21</p></td><td align="left"><p>.661</p></td><td align="left"><p>.03</p></td><td char="–" align="char"><p>−.15 –.20</p></td><td align="left"><p>.773</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Parents' education</p></td><td align="left"><p>.13</p></td><td char="–" align="char"><p>−.05 –.32</p></td><td align="left"><p>.156</p></td><td align="left"><p>.14</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.05 –.32</p></td><td align="left"><p>.151</p></td><td align="left"><p>.13</p></td><td char="–" align="char"><p>−.06 –.32</p></td><td align="left"><p>.163</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Reading interest</p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.28</bold></p></td><td char="–" align="char"><p><bold>.13 </bold>–.<bold>44</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold><.001</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.26</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.10 </bold>–.<bold>42</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.001</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.28</bold></p></td><td char="–" align="char"><p><bold>.12 </bold>–.<bold>44</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.001</bold></p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>PT × Grade level</p></td><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>−.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.14 –.12</p></td><td align="left"><p>.901</p></td><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>PT × Family income</p></td><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>−.15</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.33 –.03</p></td><td align="left"><p>.097</p></td><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>PT × Parents' education</p></td><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>.08</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.10 –.25</p></td><td align="left"><p>.397</p></td><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>PT × Reading interest</p></td><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>−.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.13 –.11</p></td><td align="left"><p>.878</p></td><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>ALR × Grade level</p></td><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>.07</p></td><td char="–" align="char"><p>−.06 –.21</p></td><td align="left"><p>.266</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>ALR × Family income</p></td><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>.02</p></td><td char="–" align="char"><p>−.18 –.21</p></td><td align="left"><p>.870</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>ALR × Parents' education</p></td><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>.02</p></td><td char="–" align="char"><p>−.18 –.23</p></td><td align="left"><p>.820</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>ALR × Reading interest</p></td><td align="left" /><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>−.03</p></td><td char="–" align="char"><p>−.17 –.11</p></td><td align="left"><p>.663</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p><italic>F</italic></p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p><italic>F</italic>(6, 182) = 9.83***</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" colspan="2"><p><italic>F</italic>(10, 178) = 6.16***</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" colspan="2"><p><italic>F</italic>(10, 178) = 5.97***</p></td><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p><italic>R</italic><sup>2</sup><italic>/R</italic><sup>2</sup> adjusted</p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>.245 /.220</p></td><td char="." align="char" /><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>.257 /.215</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" colspan="2"><p>.251 /.209</p></td><td align="left" /></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>Bold font indicates significant coefficients. <emph>CI</emph> confidence interval ***<emph>p</emph> <.001</p> <p>Table 4 Multiple regression analysis for predicting <emph>L2 English Word</emph> reading</p> <p> <ephtml> <table frame="hsides" rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left" rowspan="2" /><th align="left" colspan="3"><p>Model 1</p></th><th align="left" colspan="3"><p>Model 2</p></th><th align="left" colspan="3"><p>Model 3</p></th></tr><tr><th align="left"><p><italic>β</italic></p></th><th align="left"><p>95% CI</p></th><th align="left"><p><italic>p</italic></p></th><th align="left"><p><italic>β</italic></p></th><th align="left"><p>95% CI</p></th><th align="left"><p><italic>p</italic></p></th><th align="left"><p><italic>β</italic></p></th><th align="left"><p>95% CI</p></th><th align="left"><p><italic>p</italic></p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left"><p>Parent teaching (PT)</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.06</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.18 –.06</p></td><td align="left"><p>.336</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.04</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.16 –.08</p></td><td align="left"><p>.560</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.05</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.18 –.07</p></td><td align="left"><p>.416</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Access to resources (ALR)</p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.17</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.03 </bold>–.<bold>32</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.021</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.15</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.01 </bold>–.<bold>29</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.036</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.20</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.05 </bold>–.<bold>35</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.009</bold></p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Grade levels</p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.30</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.19 </bold>–.<bold>42</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold><.001</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.30</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.19 </bold>–.<bold>41</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold><.001</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.29</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.17 </bold>–.<bold>41</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold><.001</bold></p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Family income</p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.26</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.11 –.41</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.001</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.28</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.13 –.43</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold><.001</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.24</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.09 –.40</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.003</bold></p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Parents' education</p></td><td align="left"><p>.16</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.01 –.32</p></td><td align="left"><p>.073</p></td><td align="left"><p>.13</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.03 –.29</p></td><td align="left"><p>.105</p></td><td align="left"><p>.15</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.01 –.32</p></td><td align="left"><p>.073</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Reading interest</p></td><td align="left"><p>.13</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.01 –.27</p></td><td align="left"><p>.070</p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.14</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.01 –.28</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold>.036</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p>.12</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.02 –.26</p></td><td align="left"><p>.091</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>PT × Grade level</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>− <bold>.22</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p>− <bold>.33 –</bold>− <bold>.10</bold></p></td><td align="left"><p><bold><.001</bold></p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>PT × Family income</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>−.08</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.25 –.08</p></td><td align="left"><p>.319</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>PT × Parents' education</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>−.02</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.19 –.14</p></td><td align="left"><p>.782</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>PT × Reading interest</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>.07</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.03 –.17</p></td><td align="left"><p>.169</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>ALR × Grade level</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>−.05</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.16 –.07</p></td><td align="left"><p>.439</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>ALR × Family income</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>.08</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.10 –.25</p></td><td align="left"><p>.381</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>ALR × Parents' education</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>−.04</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.22 –.15</p></td><td align="left"><p>.690</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>ALR × Reading interest</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>.09</p></td><td align="left"><p>−.03 –.22</p></td><td align="left"><p>.127</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p><italic>F</italic></p></td><td align="left" colspan="2"><p><italic>F</italic>(6, 182) = 19.16***</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" colspan="2"><p><italic>F</italic>(10, 178) = 14.54***</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" colspan="2"><p><italic>F</italic>(10, 178) = 11.94***</p></td><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p><italic>R</italic><sup>2</sup><italic>/R</italic><sup>2</sup> adjusted</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>.387 /.367</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>.450 /.419</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left"><p>.401 /.368</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>Bold font indicates significant effects. <emph>CI</emph> confidence interval ***<emph>p</emph> <.001</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-21">Results</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0187863977-22">Descriptive Statistics and Correlations</hd> <p>Table 1 presents the descriptive statistics for the measures used in the study. Before conducting further analyses, we examined the distributional properties of all measures. Access to literacy resources was positively skewed, and log transformation was applied to achieve normality (Tabachnick & Fidell, [<reflink idref="bib63" id="ref152">63</reflink>]). The transformed score was used in further analyses. The skewness and kurtosis values of the other variables were all in the acceptable range (Kline, [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref153">26</reflink>]). The results of Welch's <emph>t</emph>-tests showed that whereas access to literacy resources was relatively greater in Grade 2 than in Grade 1 (<emph>t</emph> = − 2.55, <emph>df</emph> = 146.76, <emph>p</emph> =.012, Hedges' <emph>g</emph> = 0.38), parent teaching in L1 Cantonese and L2 English was not significantly different between grade levels (<emph>p</emph>s >.10).</p> <p>Table 2 presents Pearson's correlations among the variables for each grade level. Parent teaching in L1 Cantonese was not significantly correlated with L1 Cantonese reading in either grade level (both <emph>r</emph>s =.09, <emph>p</emph>s >.10). In contrast, parent teaching in L2 English was positively correlated with L2 English reading in Grade 1 (<emph>r</emph> =.29, <emph>p</emph> <.01), while they were negatively correlated in Grade 2 (<emph>r</emph> = −.25, <emph>p</emph> <.05). Access to literacy resources was positively correlated with L2 English reading in Grade 1 (<emph>r</emph> =.38, <emph>p</emph> <.01) and both L1 Cantonese and L2 English reading in Grade 2 (<emph>r</emph>s =.32 and.47, respectively, <emph>p</emph>s <.01). Similarly, parent-rated reading interest was significantly correlated with L1 Cantonese and L2 English reading in both Grade 1 (<emph>r</emph> =.21, <emph>p</emph> <.05 for L1 Cantonese and.30, <emph>p</emph> <.01 for L2 English) and Grade 2 (<emph>r</emph>s =.45, <emph>p</emph> <.01 for L1 Cantonese and.25, <emph>p</emph> <.05 for L2 English). Finally, family income and parents' education were correlated with L2 English reading across grade levels (<emph>r</emph>s =.41 to.53, <emph>p</emph>s <.01), while they were not significantly correlated with L1 Cantonese reading, except that parents' education was correlated with L1 Cantonese reading in Grade 2 (<emph>r</emph> =.30, <emph>p</emph> <.01).</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-23">Multiple Regression Analyses</hd> <p>Next, to address our research questions, we examined the relationships between aspects of HLE and children's word reading skills and explored how children's grade level, reading interest, and family SES might influence these relationships using multiple regression analyses. The results for L1 Cantonese reading are presented in Table 3. All predictor variables were screened for multicollinearity using variance inflation factors (VIF), and all values were within the acceptable range (below 2.09; VIF values greater than four generally indicate multicollinearity; O'Brien, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref154">45</reflink>]). The total explained variances (<emph>R</emph><sups>2</sups>) in each model ranged from.25 to.26, indicating that the models accounted for a moderate proportion of the variance in L1 Cantonese reading. Notably, in all models, neither parent teaching (<emph>β</emph>s = −.04 to −.05, <emph>p</emph>s >.10) nor access to literacy resources (<emph>β</emph>s = −.01 to −.03, <emph>p</emph>s >.10) was significantly associated with L1 Cantonese reading after controlling for children's grade level, parent-rated reading interest, and the SES variables. Among the independent variables, grade level had the strongest association with L1 Cantonese reading in all models (<emph>β</emph>s =.38, <emph>p</emph>s <.001). Parent-rated reading interest was also independently associated with L1 Cantonese reading in all models (<emph>β</emph>s =.26 to.28, <emph>p</emph>s ≤.001). On the other hand, none of the interaction terms had a significant effect on L1 Cantonese reading in Models 2 and 3. These results indicated that only parent-rated reading interest was associated with L1 Cantonese word reading skills in our sample, and neither parent teaching nor access to literacy resources was associated with L1 Cantonese word reading across grade levels and family SES.</p> <p>Finally, the results of the multiple regression analyses for predicting L2 English reading are presented in Table 4. All VIF values of the predictor variables were within the acceptable range (below 2.07). The total explained variances (<emph>R</emph><sups>2</sups>) in each model ranged from.39 to.45, indicating that the models accounted for a substantial proportion of the variance in L2 English word reading skills. In all models, parent teaching in L2 English was not significantly associated with L2 English reading (<emph>β</emph>s = −.04 to −.06, <emph>p</emph>s >.10) after controlling for the effects of the other variables. In contrast, access to literacy resources (<emph>β</emph>s =.15 to.20, <emph>p</emph>s =.009 to.036) was consistently associated with L2 English reading in all models. It should be noted, however, that the interaction between parent teaching in L2 English and children's grade level was significant and negative (<emph>β</emph> = −.22, <emph>p</emph> <.001) in Model 2. These results, together with the correlations between the variables reported above, indicated that parent teaching in L2 English was positively associated with children's L2 English word reading in Grade 1, while the association was negative in Grade 2 (see Fig. 2 for an interpretation of the interaction). In contrast, access to literacy resources was positively associated with L2 English word reading across grade levels, family SES, and parent-rated reading interest.</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 2 The associations between parent teaching and children's word reading in L2 English. Note Gray areas indicate the 95% confidence intervals</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-24">Discussion</hd> <p>The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between two aspects of HLE (parent teaching and access to literacy resources) and children's word reading skills in L1 Cantonese and L2 English in a sample of Hong Kong Chinese children in Grades 1 and 2. We also examined whether children's grade level, reading interest, family income, and parents' education moderated the relationship. Importantly, this is among the first analyses that directly examined the moderating role of the different child- and family-level factors in the relationship between HLE and reading among bilingual children. The results showed that neither parent teaching in L1 Cantonese nor access to literacy resources was significantly associated with L1 Cantonese word reading. In contrast, access to literacy resources was independently associated with L2 English word reading after controlling for grade level, family SES, and parent-rated reading interest. Moreover, whereas children's grade level was found to moderate the relationship between parent teaching and L2 English word reading, neither parent-rated reading interest nor family SES moderated the relationship among parent teaching, access to literacy resources, and children's word reading skills in either language. We will discuss each finding separately below.</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-25">Relationship Between Home Literacy Environment and Word Reading Skills</hd> <p>First, contrary to our expectations, neither parent teaching in L1 Cantonese nor access to literacy resources was significantly associated with L1 Cantonese word reading. Although this is contrary to the premise of the home literacy model (Sénéchal & LeFevre, [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref155">55</reflink>]), similar results have been reported in some previous studies in Chinese, including Cantonese (e.g., Deng et al., [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref156">7</reflink>]; Liu & Chung, [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref157">34</reflink>]). At least two possible explanations should be considered. First, parent teaching of literacy and the provision of books at home may be relatively less effective in promoting L1 Cantonese word reading among primary school children who have already learned basic literacy in kindergarten and school. In fact, most previous studies in Chinese that reported the significant effects of HLE on reading were conducted with kindergarten children who were in the initial phase of reading development (e.g., Guo et al., [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref158">15</reflink>]; Zhang et al., [<reflink idref="bib75" id="ref159">75</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib73" id="ref160">73</reflink>]). Second, given the findings of previous studies showing that the effects of HLE on reading development are primarily mediated by emergent literacy and oral language skills, such as letter knowledge and vocabulary (e.g., Georgiou et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref161">13</reflink>]; Inoue et al., [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref162">23</reflink>]; Liu et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref163">36</reflink>]; Torppa et al., [<reflink idref="bib66" id="ref164">66</reflink>]), the lack of these emergent literacy and oral language skills in this study may have underestimated the potential indirect associations among parent teaching, access to literacy resources, and L1 Cantonese word reading skills.</p> <p>On the other hand, access to literacy resources was independently associated with L2 English word reading even after controlling for grade level, family SES, and parent-rated reading interest. This finding is consistent with the findings from previous studies across languages and cultures (e.g., Araújo & Costa, [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref165">2</reflink>]; Chiu & McBride-Chang, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref166">5</reflink>]; Georgiou et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref167">13</reflink>]; Zhang et al., [<reflink idref="bib75" id="ref168">75</reflink>]) and extends evidence for the importance of access to literacy resources to an L2 English context (Yeung & King, [<reflink idref="bib72" id="ref169">72</reflink>]). The positive association between access to literacy resources (i.e., children's books in the home) and L2 English word reading may reflect the relatively limited exposure and resulting lower familiarity with L2 English for the children in our sample (Li, [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref170">32</reflink>]). In fact, several studies have reported that rich exposure to a language, especially a second language, allows children to experience and become familiar with words and print in the language, thereby contributing to more efficient language and literacy learning (e.g., Crossley et al., [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref171">6</reflink>]; Sera et al., [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref172">57</reflink>]; Shadiev et al., [<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref173">58</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-26">Moderating Factors in the Relationship Between Home Literacy Environment and Word Reading Ski...</hd> <p>Regarding the moderating factors in the relationship among parent teaching, access to literacy resources, and children's word reading skills, children's grade level was found to moderate the relationship between parent teaching and L2 English word reading. Interestingly, whereas parent teaching in L2 English was positively associated with L2 English word reading in Grade 1, the association was negative in Grade 2 (see Fig. 2). A similar developmental shift in the relationship between parent teaching and children's reading before and after the onset of formal literacy instruction has been suggested in several studies with monolingual children in different languages (e.g., Georgiou et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref174">13</reflink>]; Silinskas et al., [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref175">59</reflink>]; Tanji & Inoue, [<reflink idref="bib64" id="ref176">64</reflink>]). Our findings add to this line of research by extending the developmental shift in the role of parent teaching into the context of L2 English reading development.</p> <p>Arguably, parent teaching of L2 English at home would be generally beneficial for Hong Kong children's L2 English reading in the early primary grades, which is not always a large part of the kindergarten curriculum (Hong Kong Education Bureau, [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref177">16</reflink>]). The negative association observed in Grade 2 may instead reflect the fact that after children enter primary school, parents receive regular feedback from teachers on their children's learning progress, which may subsequently motivate them to teach their children more frequently in response to poorer L2 English reading (Georgiou et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref178">13</reflink>]; Silinskas et al., [<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref179">60</reflink>]; Tanji & Inoue, [<reflink idref="bib64" id="ref180">64</reflink>]). Hong Kong parents are often more concerned about their children's L2 English learning, especially after the beginning of primary education (Besser & Chik, [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref181">3</reflink>]; Wang & Kirkpatrick, [<reflink idref="bib68" id="ref182">68</reflink>]). This may explain why parents appeared to be sensitive to their children's L2 English reading performance and adjusted their involvement accordingly. On the other hand, the lack of an association between parent teaching and L1 Cantonese reading may be due to the fact that parents often teach L1 Cantonese reading at home regardless of their child's performance (see Table 1), which may reflect their attitudes toward Chinese literacy teaching at home (Zhang et al., [<reflink idref="bib73" id="ref183">73</reflink>]).</p> <p>Our results further showed that neither parent-rated reading interest nor family SES moderated the relationship between parent teaching, access to literacy resources, and children's word reading skills in either language. Furthermore, in a multi-site study in China, Zhang et al. ([<reflink idref="bib73" id="ref184">73</reflink>]) also found that the relationship between HLE and children's reading outcomes was similar in urban (advantaged) and rural (disadvantaged) contexts. A possible explanation for the lack of a significant moderating effect of family SES may be related to the long working hours for parents with higher income and education. In fact, it has been reported that the average working hours in Hong Kong have reached 42 h per week (Legislative Council, [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref185">29</reflink>]), which is relatively longer than in other developed societies (Zou & Leung, [<reflink idref="bib76" id="ref186">76</reflink>]). Thus, although parents from higher SES backgrounds may provide more educational resources to nourish their child's development, they may not have enough time to engage in quality literacy activities with their children as much as they can (see Pandith et al., [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref187">47</reflink>], for a relevant discussion). This may have resulted in the lack of moderation effect of family income and parents' education on the relationship between HLE (parent teaching and access to literacy resources) and word reading skills. This interpretation is compatible with the relatively weak correlations between parent teaching and the SES variables in our sample (<emph>r</emph>s =.01 to.23; see Table 2). The correlations should have been much stronger if parents with higher SES were able to provide more extensive HLE activities and resources.</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-27">Limitations</hd> <p>Several limitations of our study should be noted. First, this is a correlational study using cross-sectional data, and any associations do not imply causation. Second, we used a parental questionnaire to collect information on HLE, and therefore, we cannot rule out the possible influence of social desirability bias on the results. Future studies should consider using direct observations in addition to retrospective self-report measures to triangulate data on HLE. Third, we did not differentiate between access to literacy resources in L1 Cantonese and L2 English but rather combined them into a single variable. Therefore, further investigation is warranted to examine whether the relationship between access to literacy resources and children's reading skills is similar across L1 Cantonese and L2 English. Finally, our study only covered Grades 1 and 2. Given the prolonged processes of children's reading development in Chinese and L2 English, the effect of HLE aspects needs to be examined longitudinally over a longer period of development.</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-28">Theoretical and Practical Implications</hd> <p>An important theoretical implication of our findings is that access to literacy resources may have an association with children's reading development in L2 English, and this association may be similar across children's grade levels, family SES, and reading interest. The current results extend the findings of previous studies on HLE across languages (e.g., Chiu & McBride-Chang, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref188">5</reflink>]; Farver et al., [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref189">12</reflink>]; Zhang et al., [<reflink idref="bib75" id="ref190">75</reflink>]) by indicating that access to literacy resources is an important component of HLE for reading development in L2 English. Additionally, our findings showed a moderating role of grade level in the relationship between parent teaching and children's reading in L2 English. This result, together with the findings of previous monolingual studies (Deng et al., [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref191">7</reflink>]; Georgiou et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref192">13</reflink>]; Silinskas et al., [<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref193">60</reflink>]), suggests that the "evocative" impact of children's performance on parental educational involvement may depend on the sociolinguistic contexts of language learning (e.g., educational systems, social expectations for academic achievement; Son & Morrison, [<reflink idref="bib62" id="ref194">62</reflink>]). Parents in Hong Kong may pay more attention to their child's L2 English learning progress and adjust their involvement more reactively to their child's performance level, especially after the child enters primary school (Besser & Chik, [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref195">3</reflink>]; Wang & Kirkpatrick, [<reflink idref="bib68" id="ref196">68</reflink>]).</p> <p>Our findings also have some important implications for policy and practice in early literacy education. First, we should encourage educators and parents to pay more attention to access to literacy resources at home, which would be beneficial to children's reading in English as a second language regardless of grade level, family SES, and reading interest. However, it should be noted that families may not necessarily be able to afford to enrich access to literacy resources at home due to disadvantaged socioeconomic situations. This means that purchasing books for children may not always be feasible or a priority for some families due to the lack of financial resources. In such cases, the use of public libraries and book giveaway programs may play a protective role (e.g., Mann et al., [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref197">37</reflink>]; Mendive et al., [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref198">43</reflink>]). Second, given that parental educational involvement, such as direct teaching of reading, writing, and the meaning of characters appeared to be associated with children's early word reading in L2 English, it is encouraged for educators to communicate frequently with parents to identify optimal ways to tailor literacy activities at home (Niklas et al., [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref199">44</reflink>]). For example, educators can use weekly newsletters, email updates, or scheduled parent-teacher conferences as effective ways to establish consistent communication and foster an ongoing dialogue about the child's learning progress, any challenges in developing bilingual literacy skills, and effective literacy strategies for parents in home contexts.</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-29">Conclusion</hd> <p>To conclude, the current findings add to the growing body of research examining the relationship between HLE and children's word reading skills across sociolinguistic contexts by demonstrating that access to literacy resources is associated with word reading in L2 English even after controlling for children's grade level, family SES, and parent-rated reading interest. We also found a significant moderating effect of grade level on the relationship between parent teaching and L2 English word reading: Whereas parent teaching was positively associated with L2 English reading in Grade 1, it was negatively associated with L2 English reading in Grade 2. On the other hand, we found no evidence that family SES and parent-rated reading interest moderated the relationship between the HLE and children's word reading skills in both L1 Cantonese and L2 English. Overall, these findings suggest that whereas access to literacy resources may be positively associated with L2 English word reading across various family contexts, the role of parent teaching in L2 English word reading may change during this developmental period.</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-30">Funding</hd> <p>This research was supported by the General Research Fund (Project Number 14617721) from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong SAR and the Direct Grant from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Project Number 4052257).</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-31">Data Availability</hd> <p>The data and the analysis code that support the findings of this study are available at https://osf.io/p7gbw/</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-32">Declarations</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0187863977-33">Conflict of Interest</hd> <p>On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.</p> <hd id="AN0187863977-34">Publisher's Note</hd> <p>Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.</p> <ref id="AN0187863977-35"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref100" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> American Psychological Association. 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  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Moderating Factors in the Relationship between Home Literacy Environment and Early Word Reading Skills: Results from Cantonese-English Bilinguals
– Name: Language
  Label: Language
  Group: Lang
  Data: English
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Anna+Jia-Jun+Zhang%22">Anna Jia-Jun Zhang</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0898-2825">0000-0002-0898-2825</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Kelly+Chik+Wa+Wong%22">Kelly Chik Wa Wong</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0307-9992">0000-0003-0307-9992</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Cherry+Sze+Wing+Lee%22">Cherry Sze Wing Lee</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7877-698X">0000-0002-7877-698X</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Tomohiro+Inoue%22">Tomohiro Inoue</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8163-087X">0000-0001-8163-087X</externalLink>)
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  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Early+Childhood+Education+Journal%22"><i>Early Childhood Education Journal</i></searchLink>. 2025 53(7):2559-2573.
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  Label: Availability
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  Data: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
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  Label: Peer Reviewed
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  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 15
– Name: DatePubCY
  Label: Publication Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2025
– Name: TypeDocument
  Label: Document Type
  Group: TypDoc
  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
– Name: Audience
  Label: Education Level
  Group: Audnce
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Early+Childhood+Education%22">Early Childhood Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Elementary+Education%22">Elementary Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Grade+1%22">Grade 1</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Primary+Education%22">Primary Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Grade+2%22">Grade 2</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Foreign+Countries%22">Foreign Countries</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Grade+1%22">Grade 1</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Grade+2%22">Grade 2</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Bilingual+Students%22">Bilingual Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Sino+Tibetan+Languages%22">Sino Tibetan Languages</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22English+%28Second+Language%29%22">English (Second Language)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Family+Environment%22">Family Environment</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Family+Influence%22">Family Influence</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Socioeconomic+Status%22">Socioeconomic Status</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Environmental+Influences%22">Environmental Influences</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Early+Reading%22">Early Reading</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Emergent+Literacy%22">Emergent Literacy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Second+Language+Learning%22">Second Language Learning</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Parent+Role%22">Parent Role</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Family+Literacy%22">Family Literacy</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Geographic Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Hong+Kong%22">Hong Kong</searchLink>
– Name: DOI
  Label: DOI
  Group: ID
  Data: 10.1007/s10643-024-01764-z
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 1082-3301<br />1573-1707
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: We examined the associations between home literacy environment (HLE) and children's word reading in L1 Cantonese and L2 English and whether the associations were moderated by other child- and family-related factors (children's grade level, reading interest, and family socioeconomic status [SES]) in Hong Kong Chinese families. Participants were 190 children (M[subscript age] = 86.05 months; 54.7% female) in Grades 1 and 2, and they were tested on their word reading skills (accuracy and fluency) in L1 Cantonese and L2 English. One corresponding parent of each child responded to a questionnaire assessing two aspects of HLE (parent teaching and access to literacy resources), family SES, and their child's reading interest. Results showed that access to literacy resources was associated with L2 English reading but not L1 Cantonese reading, regardless of grade level, parent-rated reading interest, or SES. In addition, whereas parent teaching was positively associated with L2 English reading in Grade 1, it was negatively associated with L2 English reading in Grade 2. These results suggest that whereas access to literacy resources may be positively associated with L2 English reading across different family contexts, the role of parent teaching in L2 English reading may change during this developmental period.
– Name: AbstractInfo
  Label: Abstractor
  Group: Ab
  Data: As Provided
– Name: Note
  Label: Notes
  Group: Note
  Data: https://osf.io/p7gbw
– Name: DateEntry
  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2025
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ1483157
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      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1007/s10643-024-01764-z
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      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 15
        StartPage: 2559
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Foreign Countries
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Grade 1
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Grade 2
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Bilingual Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Sino Tibetan Languages
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: English (Second Language)
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      – SubjectFull: Family Environment
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      – SubjectFull: Environmental Influences
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      – SubjectFull: Early Reading
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        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Second Language Learning
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Parent Role
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Family Literacy
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Hong Kong
        Type: general
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      – TitleFull: Moderating Factors in the Relationship between Home Literacy Environment and Early Word Reading Skills: Results from Cantonese-English Bilinguals
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            NameFull: Tomohiro Inoue
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              Y: 2025
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