The role of home biliteracy environment in Chinese-Canadian children’s early bilingual receptive vocabulary development

This study examined the unique contributions of home biliteracy environment in English and Chinese to Chinese-Canadian children's (<i>n</i> = 148) bilingual receptive vocabulary development. The children (42 kindergarteners and 106 first graders) were tested on oral receptive vocabulary in Chinese and English. Their parents (<i>n</i> = 148) filled out a questionnaire on home literacy environment (HLE) which included four dimensions in each language: parent-child shared reading, parent direct teaching, print resources, and digital devices usage in Chinese and English. Correlational and hierarchical linear modeling analyses indicated that HLE factors were less associated with English receptive vocabulary in grade-1 than in kindergarten but remained a strong contributor to Chinese vocabulary across both grades. English HLE was significantly associated with children's English vocabulary in kindergarten but not in grade 1. However, Chinese HLE had a significant effect on Chinese vocabulary in both kindergarten and grade 1. The four dimensions of HLE in each language also had differential relationships with bilingual vocabulary development in kindergarten and grade 1 with parents' direct teaching and the number of books in English and Chinese being consistent positive factors in facilitating bilingual vocabulary development in both grades. These findings highlight the importance of home biliteracy environment, particularly direct parental involvement, in early bilingual vocabulary development.