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Examining moderators of vocabulary acquisition from kindergarten through elementary school using local structural equation modeling
Olaru,Gabriel Robitzsch,Alexander Hildebrandt,Andrea Schroeders,Ulrich
Olaru,Gabriel
Robitzsch,Alexander
Hildebrandt,Andrea
Schroeders,Ulrich
Abstract
Parental socio-economic status (SES) is often found to be associated with children's language competence in the first decade of life. To examine the effect of SES on children's vocabulary development, as well as potential compensatory effects of schooling and learning-related activities, we examined the joint and unique effects of parental education, occupational status, and learning environment at home on children's receptive vocabulary competence and growth in early childhood. We used latent growth curve models to assess pre-school receptive vocabulary and growth across primary school. Analyses were based on data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), a large-scale longitudinal study assessing vocabulary competence and family background from Kindergarten to the 3rd grade of elementary school. To examine the moderating effects of parental education, occupational status, and learning environment at home, we used local structural equation modeling. Results revealed a moderate to strong positive association between parental education and children's receptive vocabulary competence, which fully explained the effect of occupational status on this language skill. With the exception of the activity of reading aloud, we found no effect of learning environment at home. Initially lower performing children showed steeper growth trajectories across school, but rank-orders were relatively stable across time. In summary, the results suggest large initial differences in receptive vocabulary between children from different educational backgrounds, which are reduced, but not fully overcome across elementary school.
Description
This research was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) to Ulrich Schroeders and Andrea Hildebrandt (SCHR 1591/1-1 and HI 1780/4-1) as part of the Priority Program 1646 “Education as a Lifelong Process”.
Date
2022
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Keywords
ACADEMIC-ACHIEVEMENT, CHILD, ENVIRONMENT, FAMILY, INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES, Learning environment at home, Local structural equation modeling, MATERNAL EDUCATION, PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT, PERSONALITY, Parental education, READING-COMPREHENSION, Receptive vocabulary, SOCIOECONOMIC-STATUS, Socio-economic status
Citation
Olaru, G, Robitzsch, A, Hildebrandt, A & Schroeders, U 2022, 'Examining moderators of vocabulary acquisition from kindergarten through elementary school using local structural equation modeling', Learning and Individual Differences, vol. 95, 102136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2022.102136