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Examining the Role of Home Literacy Environment in the Growth of Morphological Awareness from Kindergarten to Grade 2

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Title: Examining the Role of Home Literacy Environment in the Growth of Morphological Awareness from Kindergarten to Grade 2
Language: English
Authors: Ioannis Grigorakis (ORCID 0000-0001-5906-914X), George Manolitsis (ORCID 0000-0002-2117-2384), Tomohiro Inoue (ORCID 0000-0001-8163-087X), George K. Georgiou (ORCID 0000-0002-9081-992X)
Source: Journal of Research in Reading. 2025 48(3):201-219.
Availability: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 19
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education
Elementary Education
Kindergarten
Primary Education
Grade 1
Grade 2
Descriptors: Morphology (Languages), Metalinguistics, Predictor Variables, Phonological Awareness, Alphabets, Kindergarten, Emergent Literacy, Foreign Countries, Vocabulary Development, Grade 1, Grade 2, Elementary School Students, Family Literacy, Family Environment, Greek, Parent Attitudes, Figurative Language, Language Acquisition
Geographic Terms: Greece
DOI: 10.1111/1467-9817.70006
ISSN: 0141-0423
1467-9817
Abstract: Background: Early morphological awareness skills are well-known predictors of later literacy skills, but little is known on how young children develop this early morphological knowledge without formal instruction. Home literacy environment is considered as a supporting context for several early literacy skills' growth, but no studies have examined effects on early morphological awareness growth. The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect effects of different aspects of the home literacy environment (HLE; code-related HLE, meaning-related HLE and access to literacy resources) in the growth of morphological awareness (MA) skills. Methods: One hundred and sixty Greek children (79 girls and 81 boys; M[subscript age] = 67.22 months) were assessed in kindergarten on letter knowledge, phonological awareness and vocabulary. Their MA skills (Word Analogy and Compounding) were also assessed in kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2. Their parents filled out an HLE questionnaire when their children were in kindergarten. Results: Results of structural equation modelling showed that code-related HLE had both a direct effect on the intercept of Word Analogy and an indirect effect on the growth of Word Analogy and the intercept of Compounding through letter knowledge. In turn, access to literacy resources predicted the intercept of Word Analogy and Compounding indirectly through the effects of vocabulary. Conclusions: Taken together, the present findings suggest that HLE is important in the early stages of MA development, but its effects are mostly mediated by the emergent literacy skills.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: EJ1479218
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0187112839;d8c01aug.25;2025Aug06.02:52;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0187112839-1">Examining the role of home literacy environment in the growth of morphological awareness from kindergarten to Grade 2 </title> <p>Background: Early morphological awareness skills are well‐known predictors of later literacy skills, but little is known on how young children develop this early morphological knowledge without formal instruction. Home literacy environment is considered as a supporting context for several early literacy skills' growth, but no studies have examined effects on early morphological awareness growth. The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect effects of different aspects of the home literacy environment (HLE; code‐related HLE, meaning‐related HLE and access to literacy resources) in the growth of morphological awareness (MA) skills. Methods: One hundred and sixty Greek children (79 girls and 81 boys; Mage = 67.22 months) were assessed in kindergarten on letter knowledge, phonological awareness and vocabulary. Their MA skills (Word Analogy and Compounding) were also assessed in kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2. Their parents filled out an HLE questionnaire when their children were in kindergarten. Results: Results of structural equation modelling showed that code‐related HLE had both a direct effect on the intercept of Word Analogy and an indirect effect on the growth of Word Analogy and the intercept of Compounding through letter knowledge. In turn, access to literacy resources predicted the intercept of Word Analogy and Compounding indirectly through the effects of vocabulary. Conclusions: Taken together, the present findings suggest that HLE is important in the early stages of MA development, but its effects are mostly mediated by the emergent literacy skills.</p> <p>Highlights: What is already known about this topic Studies have shown that morphological awareness (MA) is a significant predictor of literacy skills.Research has shown that the growth of MA is predicted by emergent literacy skills such as letter knowledge and vocabulary.Home literacy environment (HLE) influences letter knowledge and vocabulary; however, little is known about the effect (direct or/and indirect) of HLE on the growth of MA. What this paper adds This is the first study to explicitly examine the role of HLE aspects on the growth of MA skills.The effects of different HLE aspects on the MA growth terms are mostly indirect through the effects of emergent literacy skills. Implications for theory, policy or practice The findings encourage researchers and educators to suggest the means by which home literacy activities could be beneficial for children's early MA development.Parents should be informed that young children's increasing access to literacy resources may enhance the building of foundational skills that can boost future growth in reading.Parents should be encouraged to actively focus on direct teaching activities (i.e., teaching letter sounds and word reading).</p> <p>Keywords: emergent literacy skills; Greek; home literacy environment; morphological awareness</p> <p>Morphological awareness (MA), defined as 'the conscious awareness of morphemic structures of words and the ability to reflect on and manipulate that structure' (Carlisle, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref1">5</reflink>], p. 194), is a significant predictor of word reading, spelling and comprehension (see Ruan et al., [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref2">41</reflink>], for a meta‐analysis). MA appears to develop early in childhood. A few studies have shown that children as young as 4–5 years of age demonstrate an implicit awareness of inflectional morphology or compounding (Berko, [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref3">3</reflink>]; Casalis & Louis‐Alexandre, [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref4">7</reflink>]; Diamanti et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref5">11</reflink>]), which provides a basis for the rapid growth of MA during the first years of schooling (Apel et al., [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref6">2</reflink>]; Berninger et al., [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref7">4</reflink>]; Inoue et al., [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref8">20</reflink>]). Given that 4‐ to 5‐year‐olds do not have formal instruction in morphology, one may wonder how they develop this knowledge. Although verbal interactions with their parents may be the reason, to our knowledge, no studies have explicitly examined the role of home literacy environment (HLE), an umbrella term used to capture the parent–child interactions, in children's MA. In addition, because the growth of MA is predicted by emergent literacy skills such as letter knowledge and vocabulary (Hulme et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref9">18</reflink>]; Inoue et al., [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref10">20</reflink>]), and HLE exerts a direct effect on these skills (Manolitsis et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref11">28</reflink>]; Sénéchal & LeFevre, [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref12">43</reflink>]), it is possible that the effects of HLE on MA are indirect through the effects of emergent literacy skills. Thus, in this study we sought to examine both the direct and indirect effects of HLE on MA growth in a sample of Greek children followed from kindergarten (before Greek children receive any formal reading instruction or instruction on morphology) to Grade 2.</p> <p>According to the Home Literacy Model (HLM; Sénéchal & LeFevre, [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref13">42</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref14">43</reflink>]), the child–parent literacy activities taking place at home can be divided into two distinct types that contribute to literacy skills independently: (a) code‐related (or formal) literacy activities that engage children directly with print (e.g., teaching children to recognize letters) and (b) meaning‐related (or informal) literacy activities, in which children are incidentally exposed to written language (e.g., engaging in a discussion about a story during shared reading). Several studies have shown that the effects of these HLE aspects on reading are indirect: code‐related HLE predicts reading through the effects of letter knowledge and meaning‐related HLE predicts reading through the effects of vocabulary and phonological awareness (Inoue et al., [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref15">21</reflink>]; Lehrl et al., [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref16">24</reflink>]; Manolitsis et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref17">28</reflink>]; Sénéchal & LeFevre, [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref18">43</reflink>]). Recent studies have also shown that <emph>access to literacy resources</emph> (ALR) is a separate dimension of HLE that predicts children's reading outcomes over and above the effects of code‐ and meaning‐related activities (Esmaeeli, [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref19">13</reflink>]; Georgiou et al., [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref20">14</reflink>]; Zhang et al., [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref21">46</reflink>]).</p> <p>Despite the connection between meaning‐related HLE, ALR and oral language skills (Inoue et al., [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref22">21</reflink>]; Sénéchal & LeFevre, [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref23">43</reflink>]), to date, no studies have explicitly tested the role of HLE in MA (an oral language skill) and its growth. The only evidence we have comes from a few studies that examined different predictors of reading and included measures of both HLE and MA. These studies, conducted with upper elementary bilinguals or Chinese students, reported significant, albeit weak, correlations between HLE and MA (<emph>r</emph>s = .22–.33; e.g., Li et al., [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref24">25</reflink>]; Relyea et al., [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref25">39</reflink>]; Su et al., [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref26">45</reflink>]). None of these studies examined the role of HLE in the growth of MA, so we still do not know whether HLE predicts the change in MA over time. A home environment that provides multiple opportunities for children to interact with print may contribute to a faster growth in MA in early years.</p> <p>Because MA correlates highly with phonological awareness (Casalis & Louis‐Alexandre, [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref27">7</reflink>]; Rothou & Padeliadu, [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref28">40</reflink>]) and vocabulary (Kieffer & Lesaux, [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref29">22</reflink>]; Rothou & Padeliadu, [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref30">40</reflink>]), both of which are predicted by HLE, it is reasonable to assume that HLE may be indirectly related to MA through the effects of phonological awareness and/or vocabulary. Whereas phonological awareness supports the initial morpheme recognition (Carlisle, [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref31">6</reflink>]), vocabulary seems to increase the awareness of the semantic role and the function of morphemes (McBride‐Chang et al., [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref32">30</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0187112839-2">The Present Study</hd> <p>The overall goal of this study was to examine the relation between different HLE aspects and early MA skills in a 3‐year longitudinal study with Greek‐speaking children. Examining these relations in Greek is interesting for two reasons: First, because of the characteristics of Greek orthography. Greek is a fusional type of language (Ralli, [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref33">37</reflink>]) with a morphologically rich linguistic system. This means that each word typically includes more than one morpheme, and inflected morphemes convey multiple linguistic information in terms of semantics, syntax, grammar and orthography. Therefore, enriched interactions between parents and children during a variety of HLE activities as well as children's exposure to print resources (Nation et al., [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref34">33</reflink>]), may provide opportunities for children to discover the multiple morphemic structure of words. Second, because morphological awareness has been found to be a significant predictor of reading and spelling in Greek (e.g., Desrochers et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref35">10</reflink>]; Diamanti et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref36">11</reflink>]; Manolitsis et al., [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref37">29</reflink>]). Given that MA plays such an important role in literacy acquisition in Greek, it would be important to examine what factors (e.g., HLE) contribute to MA development. We aimed to answer the following two questions:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> Do different aspects of HLE (code‐related HLE, meaning‐related HLE and access to literacy resources) predict the growth of MA from kindergarten to Grade 2? In the absence of any previous studies examining the role of different HLE aspects on the growth of MA, we did not have a specific hypothesis on this.</item> <p></p> <item> Are the effects of different aspects of HLE on MA growth mediated by the effects of letter knowledge, phonological awareness and vocabulary? Given that letter knowledge and vocabulary have been found to predict the intercept of MA growth (Hulme et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref38">18</reflink>] ; Inoue et al., [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref39">20</reflink>]) and that code‐related HLE predicts letter knowledge (Inoue et al., [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref40">21</reflink>] ; Manolitsis et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref41">28</reflink>]) and meaning‐related HLE predicts vocabulary (Inoue et al., [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref42">21</reflink>] ; Manolitsis et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref43">28</reflink>]), we hypothesized that the effects of different HLE aspects on the MA growth would be fully mediated by the emergent literacy skills.</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0187112839-3">Method</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0187112839-4">Participants</hd> <p>Our sample consisted of 160 children (79 girls and 81 boys; <emph>M</emph><subs>age</subs> = 67.22 months, <emph>SD</emph> = 3.35; range: 61–68 months at the first measurement point) followed from kindergarten to Grade 2. All children were native speakers of Greek without a history of intellectual, neuro‐developmental, or sensory problems. They were recruited on a voluntary basis from 10 public kindergarten schools in Heraklion, a typical urban city in Greece. They were tested three times: at the end of the second trimester of the second year of kindergarten (Time 1; February), at the beginning of the second trimester of Grade 1 (Time 2; December) and at the beginning of the first trimester of Grade 2 (Time 3; September). Written parental consent was obtained prior to testing. The study was approved by the Ministry of Education (Φ15/1421/1525/Γ1) as well as the Research Ethics Committee of the University. All activities were conducted in compliance with the ethical guidelines of the American Psychological Association and the Declaration of Helsinki for research involving Human Subjects.</p> <p>The parents of children also participated in the study by filling out the HLE questionnaire when their children were in the second year of kindergarten (Time 1). The questionnaire was filled out by 160 parents (151 mothers, 7 fathers and 2 grandparents). The parents' educational level in our study, as presented in Table 1, was similar to that reported in a previous relevant study conducted with Greek children (Manolitsis et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref44">28</reflink>]).</p> <p>1 Table Descriptive statistics for the family variables used in the study.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><th>Variable</th><th>n</th><th>Max</th><th>M</th><th>SD</th><th>Skewness</th><th>Kurtosis</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td>Mother's education<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn1" /></td><td>160</td><td>6</td><td>3.44</td><td>1.16</td><td>−0.05</td><td>−0.27</td></tr><tr><td>Father's education<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn1" /></td><td>157</td><td>6</td><td>3.18</td><td>1.28</td><td>0.12</td><td>−0.53</td></tr><tr><td>Freq of teaching letters</td><td>159</td><td>5</td><td>2.52</td><td>1.27</td><td>−0.16</td><td>−0.29</td></tr><tr><td>Freq of teaching to letter sounds</td><td>159</td><td>5</td><td>2.39</td><td>1.37</td><td>−0.18</td><td>−0.63</td></tr><tr><td>Freq of teaching word reading</td><td>159</td><td>5</td><td>1.74</td><td>1.42</td><td>0.33</td><td>−0.88</td></tr><tr><td>Freq of shared book reading</td><td>159</td><td>5</td><td>3.08</td><td>0.73</td><td>0.07</td><td>0.33</td></tr><tr><td>Number of children's books<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn2" /></td><td>159</td><td>5</td><td>2.77</td><td>0.84</td><td>0.07</td><td>0.30</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>1 a Parents' education was measured on a 6‐point scale: 1 = <emph>primary school completion</emph>, 2 = <emph>junior high school completion</emph>, 3 = <emph>senior high school completion</emph>, 4 = <emph>technical secondary school or college completion</emph>, 5 = <emph>university completion</emph>, and 6 = <emph>graduate studies (master's or PhD) completion</emph>.</p> <p>2 b Number of children's book at home was measured on a 5‐point scale: 1 = <emph>less than 10</emph>, 2 = <emph>10–24</emph>, 3 = <emph>25–99</emph>, 4 = <emph>100–199</emph>, 5 = <emph>200 or more</emph>.</p> <hd id="AN0187112839-5">Measures</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0187112839-6">Letter Knowledge</hd> <p>A letter‐sound knowledge task was administered only in kindergarten. Participants were asked to provide the sound of each of the 24 uppercase and lowercase Greek letters presented in random order on an A4 paper. A participant's score was the total number correct (max = 48). Cronbach's alpha reliability in our sample was.94.</p> <hd id="AN0187112839-7">Phonological Awareness (PA)</hd> <p>Two PA tasks, syllable deletion and phoneme deletion, were administered only in kindergarten. In the syllable deletion task (Manolitsis et al., [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref45">29</reflink>]), participants were presented with a two‐ or three‐syllable word and then asked to delete the first syllable from it and say what was left. No discontinuation rule was applied and a participant's score was the total number correct (max = 10). In the phoneme deletion task (Porpodas, [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref46">36</reflink>]), participants were presented with a one‐syllable pseudoword (2–4 phonemes) and then asked to delete the initial or final phoneme from it and say what was left. A discontinuation rule of three consecutive errors was applied and a participant's score was the total number correct (max = 24). Cronbach's alpha reliability in our sample for both tasks were.94 and.95, respectively. The two PA tasks were highly correlated in our sample (<emph>r</emph> = .64), so the total score for both tasks was used in our analyses (max = 34).</p> <hd id="AN0187112839-8">Vocabulary</hd> <p>The PPVT‐R (Dunn & Dunn, [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref47">12</reflink>]), adapted into Greek by Simos et al. ([<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref48">44</reflink>]), was administered only in kindergarten. It included 173 items that were presented in order of increasing difficulty. Participants were shown four pictures and the examiner said a word to describe one of the four pictures. The participants were then asked to look at the quadrant of pictures and point to the picture representing the word given by the examiner. A discontinuation rule of eight errors within a block of 10 sequential items was applied. A participant's score was the total number correct (max = 173). Cronbach's alpha reliability in our sample was.96.</p> <hd id="AN0187112839-9">Morphological Awareness (MA)</hd> <p>Three MA tasks, orally presented in a playful context (Word Analogy, Compounding Segmentation and Compounding Production), were administered in kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2. No discontinuation rule was applied in these measures. The <emph>Word Analogy</emph> task, adapted into Greek from Nunes et al. ([<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref49">34</reflink>]), was used to assess children's inflectional and derivational MA. The task has been used in several previous studies in Greek (e.g., Grigorakis & Manolitsis, [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref50">16</reflink>]; Manolitsis et al., [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref51">29</reflink>]). Participants were asked to identify a morphological relationship between one pair of words and apply the same relationship to complete a second pair of words. The inflectional condition consisted of 10 items (plus two practice items) with several transformations of noun/inflection and verb/inflection (e.g., /΄χano/: / ΄eχasa/:: /΄δeno/: [/ ΄eδesa/], 'I lose': 'I lost':: 'I tie': ['I tied']). The derivational condition consisted of 10 items (plus two practice items) with several transformations: transforming a base word into a derived word or vice versa (e.g., /'skavo/−/'skapsimo/:: /'trexo/: [/'treksimo/], 'I dig': '[the] digging':: 'I run': ['[the] running']). A participant's score was the total number correct (max = 20). Cronbach's alpha reliability in our sample was.86 in kindergarten,.85 in Grade 1 and.83 in Grade 2.</p> <p>The <emph>Compounding Segmentation</emph> task, adapted into Greek from Lyster ([<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref52">26</reflink>]), was used to assess children's awareness of lexical compounding. It consisted of 16 items (plus three practice items). Participants were asked to pronounce separately as whole words the two lexical elements of a compound word by making proper morphological transformations (e.g., /kuklo'θeatro/ 'puppet show' ➔ /'kukla/−/'θeatro/: 'puppet‐ show'). A participant's score was the total number correct (max = 16). Cronbach's alpha reliability in our sample was.88 in kindergarten,.87 in Grade 1 and.84 in Grade 2. Finally, the <emph>Compounding Production</emph> task, modelled after the task developed by Nagy et al. ([<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref53">32</reflink>]), was administered to assess children's awareness of lexical compounding. It consisted of 15 items (plus three practice items). Participants were asked to pronounce the compound word that could be derived from a given pair of words (e.g., How could we say?/ti 'fluða tis pa'tatas/ 'the peel of the potato' ➔ /pata'tofluða/ 'potato peel'). The two target words of the pair were given either in the same order as in the resulting compound or in the opposite order from that of the resulting compound. Participants had to transform appropriately the target words into stems in order to successfully pronounce the new compound that could be formed. A participant's score was the total number correct (max = 15). Cronbach's alpha reliability in our sample was.81 in kindergarten,.85 in Grade 1 and.83 in Grade 2. Both compounding tasks have been used in several previous studies in Greek and showed good psychometric properties (e.g., Grigorakis & Manolitsis, [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref54">16</reflink>]; Manolitsis et al., [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref55">29</reflink>]). The two compounding tasks were highly correlated across time points in our study (<emph>r</emph>s = .67 to.77), and for this reason, the total score for the two tasks was used in our analyses (max = 31).</p> <hd id="AN0187112839-10">Home Literacy Environment (HLE)</hd> <p>HLE was assessed only in kindergarten with five Likert‐scale questions adopted from Manolitsis et al. ([<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref56">28</reflink>]). To operationalize code‐related HLE, we asked parents (a) how often their child was taught to identify letters, (b) how often their child was taught letter sounds and (c) how often their child was taught to read words when the child was 2–4 years of age. Children in Greece do not have any formal preschool education before the age of four. Thus, in this time period, children's early literacy experiences are mainly coming from the family context. In turn, to operationalize meaning‐related HLE, we asked parents (d) how often they read stories to their children. Finally, to operationalize access to literacy resources (ALR), we asked parents (e) how many children's books are in the home. For the first four questions, the six‐point Likert‐type scale ranged from 0 (never) to 5 (more than once a day); for the fifth question, the five‐point scale ranged from 1 (less than 10) to 5 (more than 200). Cronbach's alpha reliability for HLE in our sample was.71.</p> <hd id="AN0187112839-11">Parental Education</hd> <p>In the HLE questionnaire, the parents of the children were asked to select their highest achieved educational level among six options ranging from primary school completion to graduate studies completion. A composite score for parental education was calculated by averaging the <emph>z</emph>‐scores for mothers' and fathers' education and was used in the analyses.</p> <hd id="AN0187112839-12">Procedure</hd> <p>The measures were individually administered by trained research assistants in a quiet room at children's schools at three time points (kindergarten [Time 1], Grade 1 [Time 2] and Grade 2 [Time 3]). Testing lasted approximately an hour in kindergarten (dispersed across three sessions of 20 minutes each) and 20 minutes in Grades 1 and 2, respectively.</p> <hd id="AN0187112839-13">Statistical Analysis</hd> <p>To examine the relations between HLE, emergent literacy skills (letter knowledge, phonological awareness and vocabulary) and the growth of MA, we estimated conditional latent basis growth models using Mplus (Muthén & Muthén, [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref57">31</reflink>]). The hypothesized models are shown in Figures 1–4 and they were based on the previous findings reviewed above. First, we constructed models that included the three aspects of HLE and the growth factors (i.e., intercept and growth) of each MA measure (Figures 1 and 2). Factor loadings for the intercept factor were set to 1 across all time points; factor loadings for the growth factor were set to 0 and 1 for Times 1 and 3, while that for Time 2 was allowed to change freely to capture the potential nonlinearity of the growth during the transition from kindergarten to Grade 1 (Ram & Grimm, [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref58">38</reflink>]; see figures). The intercept factor represents children's scores in each MA measure at Time 1 (i.e., end of kindergarten) when the growth terms are zero. The growth term represents each child's estimated rate of change between time points. Parental education was included in the models as a control variable.</p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/D8C/01aug25/jrir70006-fig-0001.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMMvl7ESepq84yOvsOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="jrir70006-fig-0001.jpg" title="1 Model for the relation between home literacy environment and the growth of word analogy. Standardized coefficients are shown. The factor loadings of the growth factors represent the prespecified (unstandardized) values for each factor; λ represents the coefficient freely estimated (see Statistical Analysis section). Solid lines indicate significant paths, and dashed lines indicate non‐significant paths. ALR = access to literacy resources. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001." /> </p> <p></p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/D8C/01aug25/jrir70006-fig-0002.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMMvl7ESepq84yOvsOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="jrir70006-fig-0002.jpg" title="2 Model for the relation between home literacy environment and the growth of compounding. Standardized coefficients are shown. The factor loadings of the growth factors represent the prespecified (unstandardized) values for each factor; λ represents the coefficient freely estimated (see Statistical Analysis section). Solid lines indicate significant paths, and dashed lines indicate non‐significant paths. ALR = access to literacy resources. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001." /> </p> <p></p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/D8C/01aug25/jrir70006-fig-0003.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMMvl7ESepq84yOvsOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="jrir70006-fig-0003.jpg" title="3 Model for the relation between home literacy environment, emergent literacy, and the growth of word analogy. Standardized coefficients are shown. The factor loadings of the growth factors represent the prespecified (unstandardized) values for each factor; λ represents the coefficient freely estimated (see Statistical Analysis section). Solid lines indicate significant paths, and dashed lines indicate non‐significant paths. ALR = access to literacy resources. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < 0.001." /> </p> <p></p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/D8C/01aug25/jrir70006-fig-0004.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMMvl7ESepq84yOvsOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="jrir70006-fig-0004.jpg" title="4 Model for the relation between home literacy environment, emergent literacy, and the growth of compounding. Standardized coefficients are shown. The factor loadings of the growth factors represent the prespecified (unstandardized) values for each factor; λ represents the coefficient freely estimated (see Statistical Analysis section). Solid lines indicate significant paths, and dashed lines indicate non‐significant paths. ALR = access to literacy resources. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001." /> </p> <p></p> <p>Second, we constructed mediation models that included parental education as a control variable, the HLE aspects as predictors, the emergent literacy skills as mediators, and the growth factors of MA as the outcome variables (Figures 3 and 4). Finally, we conducted mediation analyses (Hayes, [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref59">17</reflink>]) to test the indirect effect of HLE on the growth of MA via emergent literacy skills. The statistical significance of the indirect effects was tested using bias‐corrected bootstrapped confidence intervals (CIs) with 5000 resamples.</p> <p>Model fit was assessed using the comparative fit index (CFI), the root‐mean‐square error of approximation (RMSEA) and the standardized root‐mean‐square residual (SRMR) (Kline, [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref60">23</reflink>]). All analysis codes, including full model specifications and results, are available at https://osf.io/fge3b/?view_only=04da79bd1ed14635bd48a303871f8b25.</p> <hd id="AN0187112839-18">Results</hd> <p>Tables 1 and 2 show the descriptive statistics for the HLE and child variables, respectively, and Table 3 the correlations among all variables. The correlations between the three HLE aspects and the MA measures ranged from 0.17 to 0.21 for code‐related HLE, from 0.05 to 0.17 for meaning‐related HLE, and from 0.12 to 0.25 for ALR. These correlations are slightly lower than those reported in previous studies (Relyea et al., [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref61">39</reflink>]; Su et al., [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref62">45</reflink>]). Parental education also correlated significantly with the MA measures, with the <emph>r</emph> values ranging from.25 to.42.</p> <p>2 Table Descriptive statistics for the child variables used in the study.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><th>Variable</th><th>n</th><th>Max</th><th>M</th><th>SD</th><th>Skewness</th><th>Kurtosis</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td>Kindergarten (Time 1)</td></tr><tr><td>Letter knowledge</td><td>160</td><td>48</td><td>22.62</td><td>16.95</td><td>0.19</td><td>−1.51</td></tr><tr><td>Phonological awareness</td><td>160</td><td>34</td><td>4.92</td><td>5.90</td><td>0.98</td><td>−0.27</td></tr><tr><td>Vocabulary</td><td>160</td><td>173</td><td>67.32</td><td>19.37</td><td>−0.19</td><td>0.43</td></tr><tr><td>Word Analogy</td><td>160</td><td>20</td><td>7.34</td><td>4.62</td><td>0.50</td><td>−0.61</td></tr><tr><td>Compounding</td><td>160</td><td>31</td><td>10.89</td><td>7.20</td><td>0.17</td><td>−1.09</td></tr><tr><td>Grade 1 (Time 2)</td></tr><tr><td>Word Analogy</td><td>160</td><td>20</td><td>11.42</td><td>4.68</td><td>0.00</td><td>−0.94</td></tr><tr><td>Compounding</td><td>160</td><td>31</td><td>14.50</td><td>7.39</td><td>−0.04</td><td>−0.97</td></tr><tr><td>Grade 2 (Time 3)</td></tr><tr><td>Word Analogy</td><td>160</td><td>20</td><td>13.42</td><td>4.33</td><td>−0.25</td><td>−0.92</td></tr><tr><td>Compounding</td><td>160</td><td>31</td><td>17.50</td><td>6.65</td><td>−0.27</td><td>−0.31</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>3 Table Correlations between the variables.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><th>Variables</th><th>1.</th><th>2.</th><th>3.</th><th>4.</th><th>5.</th><th>6.</th><th>7.</th><th>8.</th><th>9.</th><th>10.</th><th>11.</th><th>12.</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td>1. Parental education_T1</td><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /></tr><tr><td>2. Code‐related HLE_T1</td><td>0.05</td><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /></tr><tr><td>3. Meaning‐related HLE_T1</td><td>0.26<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.22<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /></tr><tr><td>4. ALR_T1</td><td>0.48<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.03</td><td>0.29<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /></tr><tr><td>5. Letter knowledge_T1</td><td>0.44<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.22<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.09</td><td>0.23<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /></tr><tr><td>6. Phonological awareness_T1</td><td>0.32<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.10</td><td>−0.01</td><td>0.22<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.74<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /></tr><tr><td>7. Vocabulary_T1</td><td>0.37<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.12</td><td>0.15</td><td>0.33<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.53<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.50<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /></tr><tr><td>8. Word Analogy_T1</td><td>0.25<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.20<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn4" /></td><td>0.05</td><td>0.18<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn4" /></td><td>0.47<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.59<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.47<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td /><td /><td /><td /><td /></tr><tr><td>9. Word Analogy_T2</td><td>0.33<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.18<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn4" /></td><td>0.08</td><td>0.21<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn4" /></td><td>0.60<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.65<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.61<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.72<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td /><td /><td /><td /></tr><tr><td>10. Word Analogy_T3</td><td>0.27<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.21<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn4" /></td><td>0.12</td><td>0.12</td><td>0.64<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.66<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.54<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.61<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.82<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td /><td /><td /></tr><tr><td>11. Compounding_T1</td><td>0.36<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.17<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn4" /></td><td>0.16</td><td>0.25<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.66<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.60<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.63<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.60<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.69<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.67<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td /><td /></tr><tr><td>12. Compounding_T2</td><td>0.42<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.20<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn4" /></td><td>0.17<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn4" /></td><td>0.25<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.69<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.64<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.64<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.60<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.77<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.73<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.89<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td /></tr><tr><td>13. Compounding_T3</td><td>0.38<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.17<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn4" /></td><td>0.11</td><td>0.20<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn4" /></td><td>0.63<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.63<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.61<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.54<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.70<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.71<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.78<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td><td>0.85<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn5" /></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <ulist> <item>3 ALR = Access to literacy re<emph>source</emph>s; HLE = Home literacy environment; T1 = Time 1; T2 = Time 2; T3 = Time 3.</item> <item>4 * <emph>p</emph> < .05.</item> <item>5 ** <emph>p</emph> < .01.</item> </ulist> <p>The results of the models that included parental education, HLE and the growth of MA are shown in Figures 1 and 2. In the model for Compounding, the residual variance of Compounding at Time 1 was negative, and it was fixed to zero. Both models showed a good fit, <emph>χ</emph><sups>2</sups> = 6.87, <emph>df</emph> = 4, <emph>p</emph> = .143, CFI = 0.992, RMSEA = 0.067, 90% CI [0.000, 0.150], SRMR = 0.021 for the model for Word Analogy; <emph>χ</emph><sups>2</sups> = 7.46, <emph>df</emph> = 5, <emph>p</emph> = .189, CFI = 0.995, RMSEA = 0.055, 90% CI [0.000, 0.132], SRMR = 0.026 for the model for Compounding. Code‐related HLE was associated with the intercepts of Word Analogy (β = .21, <emph>p</emph> < .01) and Compounding (β = .15, <emph>p</emph> < .05) after controlling for the effect of parental education. The intercept and growth factors were negatively correlated in both models (<emph>r</emph>s = −.51 and −.49, respectively, <emph>p</emph>s < .001), indicating that the lower the initial performance level, the faster the growth over time. In addition, the standardized factor loadings of the Time 2 MA measures on the growth factor were 0.67 for Word Analogy and 0.54 for Compounding. This indicates that whereas the change from Time 1 to Time 2 was relatively larger than the change from Time 2 to Time 3 for Word Analogy, the changes between time points were comparable for Compounding.</p> <p>Next, the results of the mediation model for Word Analogy are shown in Figure 3. The model showed a good fit, <emph>χ</emph><sups>2</sups> = 16.30, <emph>df</emph> = 10, <emph>p</emph> = .092, CFI = 0.991, RMSEA = 0.063, 90% CI [0.000, 0.116], SRMR = 0.032. Code‐related HLE was associated with letter knowledge at Time 1 (β = .17, <emph>p</emph> < .01) and the intercept of Word Analogy (β = .15, <emph>p</emph> < .05), whereas ALR was associated with vocabulary at Time 1 (β = .16, <emph>p</emph> < .05), after controlling for parental education. Meaning‐related HLE was not significantly associated with any of the child outcomes. In addition, phonological awareness and vocabulary were associated with the intercept of Word Analogy (β = .53, <emph>p</emph> < .001 and 0.27, <emph>p</emph> < .01, respectively), and letter knowledge predicted the growth of Word Analogy (β = .37, <emph>p</emph> < .05).</p> <p>The results of the mediation model for Compounding are shown in Figure 4. The model showed a good fit, <emph>χ</emph><sups>2</sups> = 13.33, <emph>df</emph> = 10, <emph>p</emph> = .206, CFI = 0.996, RMSEA = 0.046, 90% CI [0.000, 0.103], SRMR = 0.031. Letter knowledge, phonological awareness and vocabulary at Time 1 were all uniquely associated with the intercept of Compounding (β = .33, <emph>p</emph> < .001, 0.19, <emph>p</emph> < .05 and.35, <emph>p</emph> < .001, respectively). In contrast, none of the HLE or child variables predicted the growth of Compounding during this time period.</p> <p>Finally, the results of the mediation analyses are shown in Table 4. Code‐related HLE predicted the growth of Word Analogy (β<subs>ind</subs> = .063, 95% CI [0.013, 0.162]) and the intercept of Compounding (β<subs>ind</subs> = .055, 95% CI [0.017, 0.121]) indirectly via letter knowledge at Time 1. In addition, ALR had a significant indirect association with the intercept of both MA measures via vocabulary at Time 1 (Word Analogy: β<subs>ind</subs> = .044, 95% CI [0.004, 0.120]; Compounding: β<subs>ind</subs> = .057, 95% CI [0.006, 0.132]).</p> <p>4 Table Indirect effects of home literacy environment on the growth of morphological awareness.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><th>Indirect effect</th><th>Estimate</th><th>BC bootstrapped 95% CI</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td>Word analogy</td></tr><tr><td>Code‐related HLE → LK → Intercept</td><td>−0.013</td><td>[−0.061, 0.019]</td></tr><tr><td>Code‐related HLE → PA → Intercept</td><td>0.034</td><td>[−0.032, 0.110]</td></tr><tr><td>Code‐related HLE → LK → Growth</td><td>0.063</td><td>[0.013, 0.162]</td></tr><tr><td>Code‐related HLE → PA → Growth</td><td>−0.012</td><td>[−0.069, 0.008]</td></tr><tr><td>Meaning‐related HLE → PA → Intercept</td><td>−0.043</td><td>[−0.114, 0.012]</td></tr><tr><td>Meaning‐related HLE → Vocab → Intercept</td><td>0.015</td><td>[−0.021, 0.062]</td></tr><tr><td>Meaning‐related HLE → PA → Growth</td><td>0.015</td><td>[−0.005, 0.067]</td></tr><tr><td>Meaning‐related HLE → Vocab → Growth</td><td>0.000</td><td>[−0.021, 0.028]</td></tr><tr><td>ALR → PA → Intercept</td><td>0.048</td><td>[−0.007, 0.123]</td></tr><tr><td>ALR → Vocab → Intercept</td><td>0.044</td><td>[0.004, 0.120]</td></tr><tr><td>ALR → PA → Growth</td><td>−0.017</td><td>[−0.081, 0.004]</td></tr><tr><td>ALR → Vocab → Growth</td><td>0.001</td><td>[−0.042, 0.046]</td></tr><tr><td>Compounding</td></tr><tr><td>Code‐related HLE → LK → Intercept</td><td>0.055</td><td>[0.017, 0.121]</td></tr><tr><td>Code‐related HLE → PA → Intercept</td><td>0.012</td><td>[−0.007, 0.057]</td></tr><tr><td>Code‐related HLE → LK → Growth</td><td>−0.041</td><td>[−0.150, 0.006]</td></tr><tr><td>Code‐related HLE → PA → Growth</td><td>0.012</td><td>[−0.009, 0.075]</td></tr><tr><td>Meaning‐related HLE → PA → Intercept</td><td>−0.015</td><td>[−0.059, 0.002]</td></tr><tr><td>Meaning‐related HLE → Vocab → Intercept</td><td>0.020</td><td>[−0.028, 0.075]</td></tr><tr><td>Meaning‐related HLE → PA → Growth</td><td>−0.015</td><td>[−0.071, 0.007]</td></tr><tr><td>Meaning‐related HLE → Vocab → Growth</td><td>−0.004</td><td>[−0.048, 0.008]</td></tr><tr><td>ALR → PA → Intercept</td><td>0.017</td><td>[−0.001, 0.060]</td></tr><tr><td>ALR → Vocab → Intercept</td><td>0.057</td><td>[0.006, 0.132]</td></tr><tr><td>ALR → PA → Growth</td><td>0.016</td><td>[−0.007, 0.084]</td></tr><tr><td>ALR → Vocab → Growth</td><td>−0.011</td><td>[−0.083, 0.021]</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <ulist> <item>6 Bold font indicates statistically significant effects.</item> <item>7 ALR = access to literacy resources; BC = bias‐corrected; LK = letter knowledge; PA = phonological awareness.</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0187112839-19">Discussion</hd> <p>The purpose of this study was to examine the role of HLE in the growth of MA skills in a sample of Greek children followed from kindergarten to Grade 2. Before we discuss the results, it is worth noting that the growth of MA was steep in these early grades, a finding that is similar to those of previous studies (Georgiou et al., [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref63">15</reflink>]; Hulme et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref64">18</reflink>]; Inoue et al., [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref65">20</reflink>]). Interestingly, whereas the change from kindergarten to Grade 1 was relatively larger than the change from Grades 1 to 2 for Word Analogy, the changes between time points were similar for Compounding. This suggests that formal literacy instruction at school may boost especially the initial growth of derivational and inflectional morphology, possibly by improving children's early decoding (Georgiou et al., [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref66">15</reflink>]).</p> <p>In regard to our first research question, we found that only code‐related HLE directly predicted the intercept in Word Analogy. It is possible that as parents teach their children letters/words, they also point to frequently‐occurring morphemes in these words. Keeping in mind that morphemes in words in kindergarten or early Grade 1 may correspond to single letters or letter clusters (e.g., for Greek <α‐ > to indicate negative intention, such as in '<emph>ά</emph>πιστος' /'apistos/ which means '<emph>un</emph>faithful' or <ε‐ > to indicate past such as '<emph>έ</emph>πεσε' /'epese/ which means 'fell' or <−οι > (/i/) to indicate the plural tense at the of a noun, such as 'φίλοι' /'fili/which means friends), if parents teach these letters or letter clusters, they 'kill two birds with one stone'; they help their children not only in word recognition but also in MA.</p> <p>In regard to our second research question, we found that the effects of HLE on MA were mediated by the emergent literacy skills (with the exception of the direct effect of code‐related HLE on the intercept of Word Analogy). More specifically, code‐related HLE predicted the growth of Word Analogy and the intercept of Compounding through the effects of letter knowledge. A significant effect of letter knowledge on the growth of Word Analogy was also reported for English‐speaking children by Inoue et al. ([<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref67">20</reflink>]). When viewed together with the findings of longitudinal studies examining the reciprocal relations between MA and reading (Deacon et al., [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref68">8</reflink>]; Manolitsis et al., [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref69">27</reflink>]), we can argue that early development in MA (inflectional and derivational morphology) is more closely associated with code‐related skills (e.g., letter knowledge) than oral language skills (e.g., vocabulary). With the help of formal, explicit literacy instruction, children may begin to recognize how certain words contain common visual elements (forms) in addition to common elements of sound and meaning (Apel et al., [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref70">1</reflink>]; Nunes et al., [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref71">35</reflink>]).</p> <p>In turn, ALR predicted the intercept of both Word Analogy and Compounding through the effects of vocabulary. A significant effect of vocabulary on the intercept of MA has also been reported by Hulme et al. ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref72">18</reflink>]) for Chinese and Inoue et al. ([<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref73">20</reflink>]) for English. This means that early vocabulary knowledge may provide a basis for later MA growth (e.g., Kieffer & Lesaux, [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref74">22</reflink>]). Arguably, the more words children know, the more likely they are to make connections between words that share morphemic units and thus become aware of morphemes. By providing access to literacy resources, parents facilitate their children's exposure to words and increase the chances for their children to identify what is common between words.</p> <p>Some limitations of our study are worth noting. First, this is a correlational study and any significant effects do not imply causation. As previous studies have shown (Deng et al., [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref75">9</reflink>]; Inoue et al., [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref76">19</reflink>]), it is also possible that earlier literacy skills may predict future HLE. Second, we collected information on HLE with a parental questionnaire, which may be subject to social desirability bias. A future study may replicate these findings through direct observation of HLE. Third, we asked parents to indicate the frequency in which they taught their children to recognize letters when they were 2‐ to 4 years old. We acknowledge that giving parents such an age range may have caused some confusion as the frequency of teaching letters to a 2‐year‐old may be different from that of a 4‐year‐old. Finally, meaning‐related HLE and ALR were measured with a single item. This may have weakened the effect of these HLE aspects. However, because in general our findings were in line with those of previous studies, this gives us some confidence that our findings are not due to measurement‐related issues.</p> <p>To conclude, we have found both direct and indirect effects of HLE aspects on MA skills. Given that early MA predicts future word reading and comprehension (e.g., Manolitsis et al., [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref77">29</reflink>]; Rothou & Padeliadu, [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref78">40</reflink>]), our findings pave the way for further research on the possible ways in which HLE may influence word recognition and comprehension. They also suggest that parents' explicit teaching of letters and letter clusters (i.e., morphemes) may be beneficial not only for their child's letter knowledge but also for the development of MA.</p> <hd id="AN0187112839-20">Acknowledgements</hd> <p>We thank the children and parents for their participation in this study. We also thank all kindergarten and schoolteachers for their collaboration.</p> <hd id="AN0187112839-21">Conflict of interest statement</hd> <p>The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.</p> <hd id="AN0187112839-22">Data availability statement</hd> <p>Due to ethical and privacy requirements, the data will not be made publicly available. However, the datasets generated and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request from those who wish to collaborate with us and under the existing ethical vetting. We confirm that no materials or illustrations from other sources have been used in this manuscript. All figures included are original and created specifically for this work.</p> <ref id="AN0187112839-23"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref70" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Apel, K., Diehm, E., & Apel, L. (2013). Using multiple measures of morphological awareness to assess its relation to reading. 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Scientific Studies of Reading, 27 (4), 355 – 374. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2023.2169147</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <aug> <p>By Ioannis Grigorakis; George Manolitsis; Tomohiro Inoue and George K. Georgiou</p> <p>Reported by Author; Author; Author; Author</p> <p></p> <p>Ioannis Grigorakis is an assistant professor in the Department of Preschool Education at the University of Crete, Greece. His research work is particularly concerned with emergent literacy, early literacy learning and early predictors of literacy difficulties in primary school children.</p> <p>George Manolitsis is a professor in the Department of Preschool Education at the University of Crete, Greece. His research work is particularly concerned with early literacy learning, early predictors of literacy difficulties in primary school children, home literacy environment and cross‐linguistic dimensions of literacy development.</p> <p>Tomohiro Inoue is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on cognitive and sociocultural correlates of literacy development across languages and cultures.</p> <p>George Georgiou is a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Alberta and the director of the J. P. Das Centre on Developmental and Learning Disabilities. His research focuses on the prevention and remediation of reading difficulties.</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib41" firstref="ref2"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref5"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib20" firstref="ref8"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref9"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib28" firstref="ref11"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib43" firstref="ref12"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib42" firstref="ref13"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib21" firstref="ref15"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl9" bibid="bib24" firstref="ref16"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl10" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref19"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl11" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref20"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl12" bibid="bib46" firstref="ref21"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl13" bibid="bib25" firstref="ref24"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl14" bibid="bib39" firstref="ref25"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl15" bibid="bib45" firstref="ref26"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl16" bibid="bib40" firstref="ref28"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl17" bibid="bib22" firstref="ref29"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl18" bibid="bib30" firstref="ref32"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl19" bibid="bib37" firstref="ref33"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl20" bibid="bib33" firstref="ref34"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl21" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref35"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl22" bibid="bib29" firstref="ref37"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl23" bibid="bib36" firstref="ref46"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl24" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref47"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl25" bibid="bib44" firstref="ref48"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl26" bibid="bib34" firstref="ref49"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl27" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref50"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl28" bibid="bib26" firstref="ref52"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl29" bibid="bib32" firstref="ref53"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl30" bibid="bib31" firstref="ref57"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl31" bibid="bib38" firstref="ref58"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl32" bibid="bib17" firstref="ref59"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl33" bibid="bib23" firstref="ref60"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl34" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref63"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl35" bibid="bib27" firstref="ref69"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl36" bibid="bib35" firstref="ref71"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl37" bibid="bib19" firstref="ref76"></nolink>
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Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Examining the Role of Home Literacy Environment in the Growth of Morphological Awareness from Kindergarten to Grade 2
– Name: Language
  Label: Language
  Group: Lang
  Data: English
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Ioannis+Grigorakis%22">Ioannis Grigorakis</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5906-914X">0000-0001-5906-914X</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22George+Manolitsis%22">George Manolitsis</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2117-2384">0000-0002-2117-2384</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Tomohiro+Inoue%22">Tomohiro Inoue</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8163-087X">0000-0001-8163-087X</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22George+K%2E+Georgiou%22">George K. Georgiou</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9081-992X">0000-0002-9081-992X</externalLink>)
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Journal+of+Research+in+Reading%22"><i>Journal of Research in Reading</i></searchLink>. 2025 48(3):201-219.
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  Label: Availability
  Group: Avail
  Data: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
– Name: PeerReviewed
  Label: Peer Reviewed
  Group: SrcInfo
  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 19
– 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="%22Kindergarten%22">Kindergarten</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Primary+Education%22">Primary Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Grade+1%22">Grade 1</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Grade+2%22">Grade 2</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Morphology+%28Languages%29%22">Morphology (Languages)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Metalinguistics%22">Metalinguistics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Predictor+Variables%22">Predictor Variables</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Phonological+Awareness%22">Phonological Awareness</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Alphabets%22">Alphabets</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Kindergarten%22">Kindergarten</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Emergent+Literacy%22">Emergent Literacy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Foreign+Countries%22">Foreign Countries</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Vocabulary+Development%22">Vocabulary Development</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="%22Elementary+School+Students%22">Elementary School Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Family+Literacy%22">Family Literacy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Family+Environment%22">Family Environment</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Greek%22">Greek</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Parent+Attitudes%22">Parent Attitudes</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Figurative+Language%22">Figurative Language</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Language+Acquisition%22">Language Acquisition</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Geographic Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Greece%22">Greece</searchLink>
– Name: DOI
  Label: DOI
  Group: ID
  Data: 10.1111/1467-9817.70006
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 0141-0423<br />1467-9817
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Background: Early morphological awareness skills are well-known predictors of later literacy skills, but little is known on how young children develop this early morphological knowledge without formal instruction. Home literacy environment is considered as a supporting context for several early literacy skills' growth, but no studies have examined effects on early morphological awareness growth. The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect effects of different aspects of the home literacy environment (HLE; code-related HLE, meaning-related HLE and access to literacy resources) in the growth of morphological awareness (MA) skills. Methods: One hundred and sixty Greek children (79 girls and 81 boys; M[subscript age] = 67.22 months) were assessed in kindergarten on letter knowledge, phonological awareness and vocabulary. Their MA skills (Word Analogy and Compounding) were also assessed in kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2. Their parents filled out an HLE questionnaire when their children were in kindergarten. Results: Results of structural equation modelling showed that code-related HLE had both a direct effect on the intercept of Word Analogy and an indirect effect on the growth of Word Analogy and the intercept of Compounding through letter knowledge. In turn, access to literacy resources predicted the intercept of Word Analogy and Compounding indirectly through the effects of vocabulary. Conclusions: Taken together, the present findings suggest that HLE is important in the early stages of MA development, but its effects are mostly mediated by the emergent literacy skills.
– Name: AbstractInfo
  Label: Abstractor
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  Data: As Provided
– Name: DateEntry
  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2025
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ1479218
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  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1111/1467-9817.70006
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 19
        StartPage: 201
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Morphology (Languages)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Metalinguistics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Predictor Variables
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Phonological Awareness
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Alphabets
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Kindergarten
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Emergent Literacy
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Foreign Countries
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Vocabulary Development
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Grade 1
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Grade 2
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Elementary School Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Family Literacy
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Family Environment
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Greek
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Parent Attitudes
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Figurative Language
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Language Acquisition
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Greece
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Examining the Role of Home Literacy Environment in the Growth of Morphological Awareness from Kindergarten to Grade 2
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Ioannis Grigorakis
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: George Manolitsis
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Tomohiro Inoue
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: George K. Georgiou
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 08
              Type: published
              Y: 2025
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 0141-0423
            – Type: issn-electronic
              Value: 1467-9817
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 48
            – Type: issue
              Value: 3
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Journal of Research in Reading
              Type: main
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