About this Research Topic

Background

The role of environmental factors in cognitive and academic skill development has received increasing attention from both researchers and practitioners. Current theoretical models, such as the bioecological framework and neuroconstructivism, emphasize the reciprocal relationship between genetic, neurobiological and environmental factors in child development. A growing number of studies have examined the relationship between home literacy and numeracy activities and the development of those academic skills. Additionally, several studies have also examined the role of the school environment as well as more distal environmental factors such as linguistic background (e.g. bilingualism) and socioeconomic status (SES). However, given the complex developmental dynamics among these factors at different levels of analysis, further research is needed to unpack the reciprocal interactions between home and school environments and children's early literacy and numeracy development.

In the proposed Research Topic, we will address how home and school environment can influence children’s early literacy and math skills, namely the roots of their academic skill development and school functioning. In fact, existing empirical studies have produced inconsistent findings, which does not allow us to draw any definitive conclusions. For example, although most previous studies found a positive association between the home mathematics environment and children’s performance in math tasks, the results were mixed in terms of the strength of these associations. This heterogeneity in previous findings may at least be partly due to the involvement of other factors that can impact home mathematics, early math skills, or both, including families’ socioeconomic status, language background (e.g. bilingualism), parental expectations and beliefs, parents’ attitudes towards math/literacy, as well as parents’ own math/literacy skills. Additionally, factors within the school context such as teachers’ attitudes and teaching methods, their expectations, and school resources may also impact children’s early literacy and math development. Consequently, the present Research Topic will collect both empirical and theoretical studies aimed at further exploring the roles of home and school factors in early math and literacy skills, considering children in preschool and in the first years of primary school.

Articles reporting original research or review of literature, as well as theoretical papers, are welcomed.
The topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
• Interactions between socio-economic status and children's early cognitive, linguistic and home literacy/mathematics skills
• The role of bilingualism (or being exposed to a second language in the school context) in home literacy/ mathematics environment
• Studies assessing mediation and/or moderation models on the interaction of environmental variables and early literacy/mathematics skills
• Analysis of the role of parental expectations in influencing home math/literacy activities with their children, as well as their early learning outcomes
• Exploration of intergenerational relations in literacy and math skills, for both typical and atypical (e.g. dyslexia, dyscalculia) development
• The analysis of the role of contextual variables in influencing the efficacy of early interventions on learning literacy and math skills.

Keywords: Home literacy, Home Mathematics, Environmental factors, Socio-economic status, Bilingualism, Teaching strategies

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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