2025

Silinskas, Gintautas; Davolyte, Justina

This chapter reviews the findings of research on the associations between home literacy environment (HLE) and literacy development in Finland. Findings from longitudinal data including children transitioning from kindergarten to Grade 1 in the general population were examined. The findings of existing studies (1) support the premises of the home literacy model developed by Sénéchal and LeFevre [Child Development 73:445–460, 2002; Child Development 85:1552–1568, 2014], (2) shed light on the transactional processes between an HLE and children’s literacy development before and during grade school, (3) expand on the role of parental beliefs and child’s motivation within the home literacy model, and (4) provide evidence on the differential role of parent and child gender in HLE research. Practical implications of the findings are discussed.