Developmental Relationship Between Home Literacy Environment and Emergent Literacy in a Transparent Orthography: A Two-Year Longitudinal Study in Japanese Preschoolers

Developmental Relationship Between Home Literacy Environment and Emergent Literacy in a Transparent Orthography: A Two-Year Longitudinal Study in Japanese Preschoolers | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Developmental Relationship Between Home Literacy Environment and Emergent Literacy in a Transparent Orthography: A Two-Year Longitudinal Study in Japanese Preschoolers Takayuki Tanji, Kosuke Takahashi, Hiroyuki Matsushita, Kohji Takahama, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7583467/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 12 Feb, 2026 Read the published version in Reading and Writing → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract We examined the relationship between home literacy environment and early literacy acquisition in Japanese syllabic Hiragana and whether this relationship changes during the preschool years. One hundred five Japanese-speaking young children (62.9% male, Mage = 58.9 months) were followed from the second year to the third year of preschool. The children were assessed on phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), vocabulary, and Hiragana letter knowledge at the end of the second year of preschool and at the middle and the end of the third year. Their parents completed a questionnaire regarding the frequency of parent teaching (PT) and shared book reading (SBR) at home, as well as access to literacy resources (ALR). Path analysis showed that PT and ALR, but not SBR, in the second year of preschool predicted Hiragana letter knowledge at the middle of the third year, after controlling for phonological awareness, RAN, and vocabulary. In contrast, PT and ALR at the middle of the third year did not predict Hiragana letter knowledge at the end of the year. These findings suggest that the effects of HLE on children’s early literacy acquisition in transparent orthographies like Japanese Hiragana may be transient and diminish even before formal literacy instruction begins at school. emergent literacy Japanese Hiragana home literacy environment time-sensitive effects preschool Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Introduction Children’s early literacy acquisition starts from home. Before formal literacy instruction begins in school, literacy activities and resources at home influence children’s emergent literacy skills (e.g., Hood et al., 2008; Sénéchal et al., 1998; Torppa et al., 2006, 2007). According to the home literacy model (HLM; Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2002), parent-child literacy activities at home can be divided into two categories: meaning-related literacy activities, such as reading storybooks to children, and code-related literacy activities, such as teaching children the sounds of letters and words. Meaning-related activities indirectly influence children’s reading acquisition through oral language skills (e.g., vocabulary), while code-related activities influence emergent literacy skills (e.g., letter-sound knowledge). Additionally, several studies have shown that access to literacy resources (ALR), often operationalized as the number of books at home, is an independent factor of the home literacy environment. ALR provides children with opportunities for independent reading, thereby improving their vocabulary, phonological awareness, and reading skills (Wang & Liu, 2021; Zhang et al., 2024). The HLM has been mainly validated across alphabetic languages (e.g., English: Inoue et al., 2018; French: Sénéchal, 2006; German: Niklas et al., 2017; Greek: Manolitsis et al., 2011; for a review, see Sénéchal et al., 2017), while there is still a paucity of studies in non-alphabetic languages except for Chinese (e.g., Inoue et al., 2025; Liu et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2020; for a review, see Nag et al., 2024). It has been suggested that the roles of home literacy activities may vary depending on the writing system and developmental phase. For example, the effect of parent teaching (a code-related activity) on children’s early reading skills has been shown to diminish after formal literacy instruction begins at school, especially in languages with a transparent orthography (e.g., Finnish; Silinskas et al., 2020b). In contrast, for more complex orthographies such as English, the effect often remains after schooling, at least during early grades (e.g., Georgiou et al., 2021; Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2014). In light of this, the present longitudinal study examined the relationship between HLE aspects and emergent literacy skills in Japanese young children and whether this relationship changes during the preschool years in the highly transparent orthography of Japanese Hiragana. Home L iteracy M odel A cross L anguages The home literacy model (HLM) has been expanded by examining the effects of various home literacy environmental factors in addition to the parental meaning-related and code-related literacy activities (e.g., Hood et al., 2008; Inoue et al., 2018; 2020; Zhang et al., 2020). One important factor is access to literacy resources (ALR), which is often assessed with the number of books in the home and the frequency of visits to libraries and bookstores. Several studies have demonstrated that ALR plays an important role in children's early reading skills, independent of parent teaching or shared book reading (Inoue et al., 2020; Liu et al., 2018; van Bergen et al., 2017). Previous studies on home literacy environment have focused primarily on parent-led activities and direct parent-child interactions, paying little attention to children's spontaneous literacy activities or the home environment that enriches such activities (for exceptions, see Georgiou et al., 2021; Silinskas et al., 2020b). ALR is an important indicator of the home literacy environment, measuring the extent to which parents provide their children with access to print materials. Previous studies have shown that HLM has been supported across various cultures and languages (e.g., Hood et al., 2008; Inoue et al., 2020; Manolitsis et al., 2011; Niklas et al., 2017; Sénéchal, 2006). Hood et al (2008) conducted a three-year longitudinal study of home literacy activities and children's literacy and language development in Australian kindergartens (aged 5). Their results showed that parent teaching (PT) independently predicted children’s literacy skills in kindergarten, first, and second grades after controlling for age, memory, and nonverbal intelligence. Shared book reading (SBR) predicted children’s vocabulary in Grade 1. Sénéchal (2006) examined the longitudinal relationship between literacy skills and literacy activities at home among French-speaking children (mean age = 6.0 years) followed from kindergarten to Grade 4. They found that PT predicted letter-sound knowledge in kindergarten even after controlling for phonological awareness, vocabulary, and parental educational background. It also predicted word reading fluency in Grade 4. These studies have consistently shown that literacy activities and resources at home, such as PT, SBR, and ALR, are associated with various children’s outcomes, including phonological awareness, vocabulary, letter-sound knowledge, and subsequent reading skills. It is important to note, however, that most of these studies have been conducted in Europe and North America. Some researchers have suggested that the relationship between home literacy environment and children's literacy skills may partly differ across languages and writing systems (e.g., Inoue et al., 2020; Silinskas et al., 2020a). Specifically, they argue that different aspects of the home literacy environment may play a role at different phases of reading development depending on the nature of writing systems. For example, Silinskas et al. (2020a) followed Finnish preschoolers (aged 6) through second grade to investigate the extent to which home literacy activities predict children's language and literacy skills. The results showed that parent teaching at preschool weakly predicted children's letter-sound knowledge and word reading fluency after schooling, while shared book reading predicted vocabulary and listening comprehension. Interestingly, the effects of parent teaching on the accuracy and fluency of word reading diminished by the end of first grade (Silinskas et al., 2010). The authors interpret these results as suggesting that the timing when HLE aspects become important may vary depending on the language, writing system, and educational context. Japanese children begin to acquire Hiragana letter-sound knowledge at the age of three or four (Amano, 1970; Shimamura & Mikami, 1994; Tanji et al., 2020, 2024). Most Japanese young children learn to read the basic Hiragana letters even before they start to receive formal literacy instruction at primary school (Ota et al., 2018; Shimamura & Mikami, 1994). Therefore, the relationship between preschool children’s early literacy skills and HLE may be particularly critical in such contexts. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies in Japanese have examined the developmental relationship between early literacy skills and the home literacy environment during preschool years in the transparent Hiragana orthography. Japanese Syllabic Hiragana and Children's Literacy Acquisition The Japanese writing system incorporates four distinct script types within a single language: two syllabic scripts (the cursive-style Hiragana and the angular Katakana ), the morphographic Kanji , and the alphabetic Romaji (Koda, 2017). Hiragana uses a highly transparent script in which each character represents a syl­lable or mora (a syllable-like phonological unit), and the correspondences between characters and sounds are consistent. For example, the symbol え corresponds to the / e / sound in words such as えんぴつ / en-pi-tsu / ‘pencil,’ えき / e-ki / ‘station,’ and えがお / e-ga-o / ‘smile.’ According to Taylor and Taylor (2014, p. 288), the Hiragana system consists of 108 symbols. It includes 46 core letters: five vowels ( /a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/ ), 40 consonant-vowel syllables, and one nasal / n /. By adding diacritical marks to these base forms, 25 additional characters are created to indicate voiced and semi-voiced sounds (e.g., ぐ /gu/ , ぽ /po/ ). More complex sounds are expressed through 21 digraphs that combine letters to form palatalised syllables (e.g., ちゃ /cha/ ), along with 15 voiced or semi-voiced variants (e.g., じゃ /ja/ ). A small っ letter, called sokuon , marks doubled consonants, as in きって /ki -tte/ ‘stamp’. In the Japanese education system, children enter elementary school at age 6. Many Japanese children acquire the ability to read the 46 fundamental Hiragana letters even before formal reading instruction begins in elementary school. This early literacy development is common, with studies showing that more than 90% of children in their final year of kindergarten can already recognize and read these basic symbols (Ota et al., 2018; Shimamura & Mikami, 1994). The earliest acquisition of letter-sound knowledge begins at the age of three or four (Amano,1970; Shimamura & Mikami, 1994), indicating that the development of literacy skills in Japanese Hiragana is even earlier than that reported for Finnish (see Silinskas et al., 2020a), which is known to be the most transparent alphabetic orthography. Home Literacy Environment and Early Literacy Skills in Japanese Although research on home literacy models in Japanese is still limited, there are some findings on the effects of PT, SBR, and ALR on children’s literacy development (see Tanji & Inoue, 2025, for a review). Importantly, studies have suggested that the relationship between PT and Hiragana literacy skills may shift developmentally. In fact, whereas a significant association between PT and early reading skills has been reported for 4-year-old children, some studies have reported weak or no correlation between PT and Hiragana literacy for children in the third year of kindergarten and first and second grades (e.g., Imai, 1989; Inomata et al., 2016; Tanji & Inoue, 2023; Tanji et al., 2024). Similarly, whereas several studies of young Japanese children have shown an association between the frequency of shared book reading and children's vocabulary, reading preferences, and independent reading, some other studies have only found a correlation with expressive vocabulary but not with literacy skills (e.g., Amagoshi & Morishita, 2020; Inomata et al., 2016; Murano, 2014). Access to literacy resources has been shown to be associated with Japanese literacy skills in early childhood through elementary school. Several studies have demonstrated that ALR have positive associations with 4-year-olds' Hiragana letter-sound knowledge (Murano, 2014; Tanji et al., 2024), Hiragana word reading fluency and Kanji reading from 5-year-olds through third grade (Tanji & Inoue, 2023), Kanji character reading and reading comprehension (Takahashi, 1996, 2001), and children's book reading and reading motivation (Akita, 1992; Ando, 1996). Even after controlling for phonological awareness and RAN (e.g., Inomata et al., 2016; Kaneko et al., 2012; Ogino et al., 2017), which are closely related to young children's Hiragana letter-sound knowledge, recent studies have confirmed the impact of ALR (Tanji et al., 2024). Thus, research on Japanese generally supports the association between home literacy activities and children's literacy skills in the home literacy model. It should be noted, however, that the effects of parent teaching appear to be especially time-sensitive, suggesting that further investigation of developmental relationships is needed. The Present Study This study examined the relationship between home literacy environment (parent teaching, shared book reading, and access to literacy resources) and children's emergent literacy (Hiragana letter-sound knowledge, phonological awareness, vocabulary, and rapid automatized naming) in Japanese preschoolers. In doing so, we aimed to examine the developmental links between emergent literacy skills in syllabic Hiragana among young Japanese-speaking children and their parents' literacy activities at home. The sample consists of Japanese children aged 4 to 6 and their parents. Based on previous studies in Japanese and other languages reviewed above, we have formulated the following research questions and hypotheses. Does parent teaching (PT) predict early literacy skills in Japanese young children aged 4–5 years (the second year of preschool)? We hypothesized that the effects of PT on Japanese children’s letter-sound knowledge would appear during this period (Tanji et al., 2024, 2025; Silinskas et al., 2020a, 2020b). Does the association between PT and early literacy skills differ between 4–5-year-olds and 5–6-year-olds (the third year of preschool)? We hypothesized that the effect of PT would be time-sensitive and diminish or disappear between 5–6 years of age (Imai, 1989; Inomata et al., 2016; Tanji & Inoue, 2023). Do shared book reading (SBR) and access to literacy resources (ALR) predict emergent literacy skills? We hypothesized that SBR would be associated with vocabulary, while ALR would be associated with letter-sound knowledge and phonological awareness (Amagoshi & Morishita, 2000; Inoue et al., 2020; Murano, 2016). Method Participants We recruited our sample in four sites in Japan to avoid bias in any geographic sample. The sites were medium to large urban areas with populations ranging from 400,000 to 700,000. We asked pre-schools in the region of the authors' university to recruit children to participate in the study. As a result, we obtained cooperation from six preschools for the present study. In selecting preschools to recruit, we targeted preschools that did not offer specific systematic literacy instruction. A total of 105 Japanese young children participated in this study (59 boys, 46 girls). The mean age in months was 58.9 ( SD = 3.7, range = 52–65). The median educational attainment of mothers in this sample was “graduation from a junior college or vocational school.” According to recent census data (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 2020), this was slightly higher than the general population. Before the examination, consent was obtained from parents and preschools. Ethics approval for our study was granted by XX University (blinded for review). Measures Child’s Emergent Literacy L e tter-sound knowledge (LK) was measured in all three time points. The children were assessed on their ability to read printed Hiragana letters aloud. They were shown pages with three letters printed horizontally. The letters used were 46 basic Hiragana letters, 25 voiced and semi-voiced letters, and 21 special sound letters, for a total of 92 letters. The order in which the letters were presented gradually increased in difficulty. The test stopped when the child made six errors. The maximum score was 92. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were .99 in T1 and T2.. Phonological awareness (PA) was measured at T1 and T2. The children were assessed on two tasks: phonological identification (T1) and phonological deletion (T2). In phonological identification, the children were asked to identify the initial and final mora of words. Pictures of words were presented, and the tester read the names of the words aloud. Following this, the tester pointed to the blank squares arranged below the picture according to the number of morae in the word and asked, “What sound is this?” (e.g., for /ri-n-go/ ‘apple’, answer with either /ri/ or /go/) Words were selected from the basic vocabulary of 2 to 4 morae which were sufficiently recognizable by Japanese preschoolers (The National Institute for Japanese Language, 2009 ). A total of 11 words were used, and participants were asked to extract the initial and final sounds for each word. The maximum score was 22. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was .96 In phonological deletion, children were asked to say words without the initial mora or the middle mora of three-morae words (e.g., /a-i-su/ 'ice cream' without /a/ as /i-su/ 'chair', /ta-i-ko/ 'drum' without /i/ as /ta-ko/ 'octopus'). There was a total of 14 items (four initial mora and 10 middle mora). The maximum score was 14. Before testing, two practice items were administered first to ensure that children understood these tasks. These tasks were discontinued after four consecutive errors. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was .97 Rapid automatized naming (RAN) was measured at T1 and T2. A digit naming task was used, in which the numbers arranged vertically and horizontally were read aloud one by one as quickly as possible. Four digits (e.g., 2, 4, 5, 7) were randomly repeated and arranged in four rows of six digits, and the task was to accurately and quickly name them from left to right. To confirm task understanding, practice pages were provided. We measured the response time (in seconds) from the start of reading the digits to the completion of reading the last digit. The correlation between the two time points was .84. Vocabulary (Voc) was measured at T1 using the Vocabulary subtest from WPPSI-III (WPPSI-III Japanese Edition Publication Committee, 2017). There were 25 words in total, consisting of tasks to answer the names of pictures and tasks to answer the meanings of words. This evaluated vocabulary knowledge and language concept formation. Note that vocabulary in T2 was not measured for the following reasons. This is because we did not have sufficient time to measure it in T2. This also helped reduce the burden on the children. Each item was scored from 0 to 2 points, with a maximum score of 43. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was .79. Parents’ Questionnaire Parent teaching (PT) was measured at T1 and T2 using three items with a 5-point Likert scale. These items were adapted from Authors (2023). The questions were: “How often did you teach your child how to read Hiragana letters?”; “How often did you teach your child how to read Hiragana words?”; “How often did you teach your child how to write Hiragana letters or words?” Parents responded on a scale ranging from “never (0)” to “daily (4).” Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for T1 and T2 were .83 and .80, respectively. Shared book reading (SBR) was measured at T1 and T2 using two items on a 5-point Likert scale: “How often do you read books to your children on weekdays?”; “How often do you read books to your children on weekends?”. The questions were adapted from Authors (2023). Parents responded on a scale ranging from “never” (0) to “daily” (4). Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the two time points were .88 and .87, respectively. Access to literacy resources (ALR) was measured at T1 and T2 using two items on a 5-point Likert scale adapted from Hood et al. ( 2008 ) and Authors (2023). In T1, “How many books do you have at home for your children?”, parents were asked to answer on a scale from “none” (0) to “150 or more” (4). With reference to Li and Li (2021), the number of children’s books in the home was measured in the second year of kindergarten. In T2, “How often do you visit libraries or bookstores with your children?”, parents were asked to answer on a scale from “none” (0) to “twice or three times a week” (4). In line with the findings of Author (2023), the frequency of visits to libraries and bookstores was measured among children in their third year of kindergarten. The correlation between time points was .38 ( p < .001). Procedure We conducted a two-year longitudinal study targeting children aged 4 to 6 years and their parents. The first measurement point (Time 1) was set at age 4 because this is considered the optimal age for the acquisition of Japanese Hiragana letter-sound knowledge (e.g., Amano, 1970 ; Shimamura & Mikami, 1994 ). Time 2 was measured at age 5, and Time 3 at age 6. For the children's assessment, we conducted individual 30–40-minute sessions in a quiet room at each preschool. For the parents' assessment, we collected questionnaire responses at the same time as each measurement point. The Japanese education system starts its academic year in April. The three time-point surveys were conducted in the summer and fall of 2022 (T1), the summer of 2023 (T2), and the winter of 2024 (January/February) (T3). The administration and scoring of the tests were standardized across all participants by following the test administration manual and using scoring sheets. This was done to enhance the reliability of the data. Test administrators visited the preschools multiple times and administered the tests to the children simultaneously. Statistical Analysis The concurrent and longitudinal effects of home literacy activities on children's emergent literacy were analyzed by dividing them into two developmental periods. This was to investigate developmental changes in the effects of HLE on early literacy skills in Japanese preschool children. The first was a model for the second year of preschool (T1 and T2; ages 4 to 5), and the second was a model for the third year of preschool (T2 and T3; ages 5 to 6) (see Figs. 1 and 2 ). Based on the home literacy model (e.g., Sénéchal & LeFevre, 2002 ), we constructed models illustrating how literacy activities in the home could be associated with emergent literacy. In addition, given that RAN has been shown to have a strong effect on early Hiragana reading development in Japanese (e.g., Inomata et al., 2016 ; Kaneko et al., 2012 ; Ogino et al., 2017 ), it has been included in the models as an emergent literacy skill. In line with previous research findings, Model 1 (Fig. 1 ) included concurrent association paths between 1) SBR and vocabulary, 2) ALR and letter-sound knowledge, vocabulary, and phonological awareness, and 3) PT and letter-sound knowledge and RAN. Also, we examined the longitudinal paths from PA, RAN, PT, and ALR to letter-sound knowledge. As in Model 1, Model 2 (Fig. 2 ) included 1) ALR and letter-sound knowledge, phonological awareness, 2) PT and letter-sound knowledge and RAN concurrent association paths. Furthermore, we included the longitudinal paths from PA, RAN, PT, and ALR to letter-sound knowledge. The path analyses were conducted using SPSS Amos 30.0 in two steps. Separate models were constructed for the two periods (Model 1: T1 to T2, ages 4 to 5; Model 2: T2 to T3, ages 5 to 6; see Figs. 1 and 2 ). Hiragana reading skills at T1 and T2 were used as autoregressors for Hiragana reading skills in T2 and T3 (for a similar approach, see Inoue et al., 2017 ; Tanji & Inoue, 2023 ). The models included the paths between variables based on theoretical models and the findings of previous studies (e.g., see Tanji & Inoue, 2025 , for a review). To evaluate model fit, the chi-square value and three fit indices were used. Specifically, these were the comparative fit index (CFI), Tucker-Lewis index (TLI), and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA). If the chi-square value is not significant, and both the CFI and TLI values are .95 or higher, and the RMSEA value is .06 or lower, the model fit is considered good (Kline, 2015 ). Results Preliminary Data Analysis Table 1 shows descriptive statistics for all measured variables. The distributional properties of the variables indicated that Hiragana letter-sound knowledge at all time points and phonological deletion at T2 were positively skewed. Therefore, the square root transformation was applied to improve their distribution. Alternatively, RAN at T1 and T2 were negatively skewed. Hence, the reflected and square root transformation was performed. The reflected scores were multiplied by —1 to correct for direction. Additionally, outliers on several measures in each sample (more than 2.5 SD above/below the mean) were winsorized to the next non-outlier score of ± 1 to reduce their potential impact on the results (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2012 ). The transformed scores were used in further analyses. In addition, the home literacy activity variables were used as composite variables in the analysis. These were created by calculating the total scores for each item variable related to PT and SBR. Table 1 Descriptive Statistics Measure (max) M SD Min Max Skew Kurt Child Age in months_T1 59.0 3.8 52 65 -0.2 -1.2 Age in months_T2 69.2 3.5 63 75 -1.1 -1.3 Age in months_T3 75.6 3.7 68 81 0.8 -1.0 HLK_T1 (92) 42.8 32.9 0 92 0.0 -1.5 HLK_T2 (92) 64.1 29.2 0 92 -1.2 0.3 HLK_T3 (92) 73.3 23.4 0 92 -1.8 2.5 PA (identification)_T1 (22) 14.7 7.1 0 22 -0.6 -0.9 PA (deletion)_T2 (14) 4.7 5.4 0 14 0.6 -1.4 Digit-RAN_T1 29.4 20.7 12.0 146.2 3.4 15.4 Digit-RAN_T2 19.4 8.0 9.3 49.6 1.4 1.9 Voc_T1 (25) 16.7 5.8 2 33 0.0 0.0 Parent Teach to read Hiragana letters_T1 (4) 2.6 1.0 0 4 -0.7 0.0 Teach to read Hiragana words_T1 (4) 2.7 1.0 0 4 -0.7 0.0 Teach to write Hiragana letters_T1 (4) 1.9 1.2 0 4 -0.1 -0.9 Teach to read Hiragana letters_T2 (4) 2.6 0.9 0 4 -0.8 0.5 Teach to read Hiragana words_T2 (4) 2.7 1.0 0 4 -0.5 -0.2 Teach to write Hiragana letters_T2 (4) 2.3 1.0 0 4 -0.1 -0.5 Read to child: weekdays_T1 (4) 2.7 1.1 0 4 -0.4 -0.8 Read to child: weekend_T1 (4) 2.9 1.2 0 4 -0.8 -0.4 Read to child: weekdays_T2 (4) 2.5 1.1 0 4 -0.5 -0.5 Read to child: weekend_T2 (4) 2.7 1.2 0 4 -0.7 -0.6 Child’s book number_T1 (4) 2.2 0.9 1 4 0.5 -0.3 Go to bookstore or library_T2 (4) 1.5 0.8 0 4 0.8 0.9 Note. T = time; HLK = Hiragana letter-sound knowledge; PA = Phonological awareness; RAN = Rapid automatized naming; Voc = Vocabulary. Associations between Home Literacy Environment and Emergent Literacy in Children during Early Preschool Years Table 2 shows the correlations between children's emergency literacy and home literacy environment across three time points. Hiragana letter-sound knowledge (HLK) at T1 had significant correlations with all variables except for parent teaching (PT) in Hiragana at T2. All the home literacy environment at T1 was associated with HLK at T1. Among the aspects of home literacy environment, PT at T1 had the strongest correlation with HLK at T1 ( r = .42, p < .001). HLK in T2 is associated with PT ( r = .50, p < .001), ALR ( r = .44, p < .001), PA ( r = .56, p < .001), and RAN ( r = − .65, p < .001) in T1. Table 2 Correlations between emergent literacy and home literacy environment Measure 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 1. HLK_T1 2. PA_T1 .58*** 3. RAN_T1 − .77*** − .54*** 4. Voc_T1 .25* .24* − .25* 5. PTH_T1 .42*** .24* − .27** .16 6. SBR_T1 .39*** .26** − .12 .06 .47*** 7. ALR_T1 .42*** .23* − .23* .18* .20* .36*** 8. HLK_T2 .81*** .56*** − .65*** .32* .50*** .39*** .44*** 9. PA_T2 .64*** .35*** − .59*** .23* .26* .28** .29** .62*** 10. RAN_T2 − .68*** − .51*** .84*** − .34*** − .27** − .13 − .21* − .70*** − .54*** 11. PTH_T2 .09 .05 .00 .23* .52*** .19 .05 .19 .03 − .15 12. SBR_T2 .29** .15 − .03 .15 .35*** .74*** .41*** .35*** .22** − .04 .30** 13. ALR_T2 .39*** .19 − .21* .09 .25* .55*** .38*** .36*** .14 − .21 .11 .50*** 14. HLK_T3 .70*** .55*** − .59*** .22* .43*** .22* .29** .87*** .55*** − .62*** .17 .17 .17 Note. ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05. T = time; HLK = Hiragana letter-sound knowledge; PA = Phonological awareness; RAN = Rapid automatized naming; Voc = Vocabulary; PTH = Parent teaching in Hiragana; SBR = Shared book reading; ALR = Access to literacy resources. ALR_T1 = Child’s book number, ALR_T2 = Go to libraries and bookstores. Figure 1 shows the model in which home literacy environment predicts emergent literacy in Japanese children during early preschool years (aged 4 to 5; Model 1). The model fit was generally good (χ² [7] = 10.2, p = .18, CFI = .99, TLI = .94, RMSEA = .067, 90% CI [.00, .15]). Additionally, the model explained a small proportion of the variance in HLK ( R² = .23), PA ( R² = .05), Voc ( R² = .02), and RAN ( R² = .09) in T1 and a large proportion of the variance in HLK in T2 ( R² = .72). In model 1, HLK at T1 was associated with PT ( β = .39, p < .001) and ALR ( β = .20, p < .01) at the same time point. RAN was also concurrently associated with PT ( β = − .29, p .10, respectively). PA at T1 was not associated with PT ( β = .16, p > .05) or ALR ( β = .11, p > .05). Importantly, HLK at T2 was uniquely predicted by PT ( β = .23, p < .001) and ALR ( β = .16, p .05; β = − .13, p > .05) when the effect of HLK at T1 was controlled. Between ages 4 and 5, PT in T1 predicted HLK in T2 even after controlling for emergent literacy (HLK, PA, Voc, and RAN) in T1. Associations between Home Literacy Environment and Emergent Literacy in Children during Late Preschool Years Table 2 shows that HLK at T2 was significantly correlated with all variables except for PT at T2 (see Table 2 ). HLK at T2 was not significantly correlated with PT at T2 ( r = . 19, p > .05 ). On the other hand, HLK at T2 was significantly correlated with ALR ( r = .36, p < .001) and SBR ( r = .35, p < .001) at T2. HLK in T3 is not associated with PT and ALR in T2 ( r s = .17 and .17, respectively). Reversely, HLK in T3 was associated with PA ( r = .55, p < .001) and RAN ( r = − .62, p < .001) in T2. Figure 2 presents the model of the association between home literacy environment and emergent literacy in children during late preschool years (aged 5 to 6; Model 2). The model fit was generally good (χ² [7] = 11.1, p = .17, CFI = .99, TLI = .94, RMSEA = .075, 90% CI [.00, .15]). Furthermore, this model explained a small proportion of the variance in HLK ( R ² = .10), RAN ( R ² = .02), and PA ( R² = .01) at T2, and a large proportion of the variance in HLK at T3 ( R ² = .80). In Model 2, HLK was concurrently associated with ALR ( β = .28, p .05). PA was not associated with ALR ( β = .08, p > .10). RAN was not associated with PT ( β = −.13, p > .05). Unlike Model 1, the only variable that uniquely predicted HLK at T3 was HLK at the previous time point. PA, RAN, and ALR at T2 did not predict HLK at T3. The difference from Model 1 was that PT and ALR at T2 had no effect on HLK at T3. Discussion We aimed to investigate the associations between home literacy environment and emergent literacy in Japanese preschoolers. We hypothesized that the effects of parent teaching on children’s emergent literacy would appear in Japanese young preschoolers. The second hypothesis was that the effects would be weaker during the third year of preschool (i.e., right before school entry). The results showed that parent teaching uniquely predicted letter-sound knowledge from T1 to T2, even after controlling for phonological awareness, vocabulary, and rapid automatized naming (RAN). However, no effect was observed from T2 to T3. The third hypothesis was that shared book reading (SBR) predicted vocabulary and access to literacy resources (ALR) predicted letter-sound knowledge and phonological awareness. Access to literacy resources showed a unique, significant correlation with letter-sound knowledge from T1 to T2, but not with phonological awareness. Shared book reading did not show any association with vocabulary. We will discuss each result below. Home Literacy Environment and Emergent Literacy Skills in Japanese Preschoolers The results indicated first that parent teaching uniquely predicted Hiragana letter-sound knowledge from T1 to T2, as well as rapid automatized naming in T1 (see Fig. 1 ). In line with the previous findings in alphabetic orthographies (e.g., Hood et al., 2008 ; Inoue et al., 2018 ; Silinskas et al., 2020b ), parent teaching played a role in predicting the early reading skills in Japanese Hiragana. Several studies on Japanese have shown that parent teaching has no effect on Hiragana reading acquisition during the transition period around school entry (e.g., Inomata et al., 2016 ; Inoue et al., 2022 ; Tanji & Inoue, 2023 ). Conversely, some studies have suggested that parent teaching may have a positive association with children’s literacy at an earlier age (e.g., Imai, 1989; Tanji et al., 2024 ). These results suggest that the impact of parent teaching on early literacy skills in Japanese preschoolers may depend on children’s developmental phases and appears in the early stages of Japanese preschoolers. One possible interpretation is that Japanese children begin to acquire emergent literacy at the age of 3 to 4 (see Amano, 1970 ; Tanji & Inoue, 2025 ). At the stage when children begin to acquire Hiragana reading skills, literacy interest strongly predicts Hiragana reading acquisition (Tanji et al., 2024 ). Furthermore, this study showed that parent teaching may have lasting effects on emergent literacy in children aged 4 to 5 years. Between the ages of 4 and 5, parent teaching may be effective in promoting Hiragana reading acquisition while aligning with children's interests. These results suggest that it is important to focus on the relationship between parent teaching and emergent literacy at young preschoolers with highly transparent orthographies (e.g., Silinskas et al., 2020b ). Interestingly, parent teaching was also associated with rapid automatized naming. Based on the home literacy model (Sénéchal, 2006 ), parent teaching predicts reading through the effects of letter knowledge and phonological awareness. Liu and Georgiou ( 2017 ) suggested that formal home learning experiences accounted for unique variance in rapid automatized naming over and above the effects of cognitive processes among Chinese second-year kindergarten children. This study supported the research finding that formal home literacy activities predict rapid automatized naming and early reading acquisition. In turn, access to literacy resources was also uniquely associated with Hiragana letter-sound knowledge. This finding is consistent with those of previous studies in Chinese and Japanese (e.g., Li & Li, 2021; Murano, 2014 ; Tanji et al., 2024 ; Zhang et al., 2020 ). Increased access to printed materials at home may contribute to children's autonomy in reading and their active interest in new words (e.g., Inoue et al., 2020 ; Van Bergen et al., 2017 ). Children's spontaneous literacy activities or the home environment that enriches such activities (Georgiou et al., 2021 ; Silinskas et al., 2020b ) may promote children’ literacy development. In Japanese, access to literacy resources has been shown to have a positive link with emergent literacy, especially during early phases of reading development (acquisition of Hiragana and Kanji reading skills), and the amount of book reading and reading preferences (see Tanji & Inoue, 2025 ). In contrast, shared book reading showed no significant associations with vocabulary. There are several possible explanations for this result. One explanation is the cultural difference between Japan and Western societies in the way parents read picture books to their children. In Japan, it is common for parents to read picture books to their children in a storytelling manner (referred to as “ yo-mi-ki-ka-se ”). Therefore, shared book reading in Japanese homes may tend to involve relatively less interaction and dialogue compared to Western homes. This could potentially limit the impact on children's vocabulary development (Chow et al., 2008 ; Mol et al., 2008 ). Future research is needed to investigate the effects of picture book reading with parent-child interaction and dialogue. Developmental Changes in the Effect of Home Literacy Environment This study found that parent teaching had a positive effect on emergent literacy in Japanese children from the second to third year of preschool. However, in the middle of the third year of preschool, the effect of parent teaching had disappeared. This is consistent with previous findings that the effects of parent teaching fade before and after entering school in transparent orthographies (e.g., Silinskas et al., 2020a , 2020b ; Inomata et al., 2016 ; Inoue et al., 2022 ; Tanji & Inoue, 2023 ). These results suggest that the effects of parent teaching on emergent literacy may vary depending on the developmental phases. In transparent orthographies, parent teaching may have a time-sensitive effect on emergent literacy (for relevant discussions, see Deng et al., 2015 ; Silinskas et al., 2021 ) because many children acquire basic letter-sound knowledge relatively quickly (e.g., Finnish: Silinskas et al., 2020b ; Japanese Hiragana: Ota et al., 2018 ; see also Seymour et al., 2003). Indeed, parent teaching has been shown to have no effect on Hiragana word reading accuracy and fluency before and after school entry (Tanji & Inoue, 2023 ). Before and after school entry, parent teaching may be more important for Hiragana writing but less so for Hiragana reading (e.g., Inomata et al., 2016 ; Inoue et al., 2022 , 2023 ). Taken together, these findings suggest that the effect of parent teaching on early literacy may vary depending on children's literacy development and their reading or writing skills. Future research should clarify the optimal timing of parent teaching for early reading and writing skills. Access to literacy resources showed longitudinal associations with letter-sound knowledge from T1 to T2 and concurrent associations at T2. However, no longitudinal associations were observed from T2 to T3. In previous Japanese studies, access to literacy resources was found to be significantly associated with reading fluency rather than accuracy in Hiragana words before and after school entry (Tanji & Inoue, 2023 ). In other words, access to literacy resources may begin to contribute to reading fluency around the time of school entry. At least from the summer of the third year of preschool onwards, a developmental shift may occur in the relationship between access to literacy resources and early Hiragana literacy skills. It is important to understand the developmental relationship between children's various reading skills and the home literacy environment. Implication These findings have theoretical and educational implications. In Japanese syllabic Hiragana, the effects of parent teaching and access to literacy resources were demonstrated for emergent literacy in young preschoolers. Especially, the effects of parent teaching on early reading acquisition were found to diminish before school entry. This suggests that there may be an optimal timing for home literacy activities to be effective in early reading. The effects may appear earlier in transparent orthographies (e.g., Georgiou et al., 2021 ; Silinskas et al., 2020b ). This finding does not imply that parents should be pressured or burdened. Rather, it highlights the importance of parents engaging in literacy activities that match their children's interests and literacy skills. This study adds further evidence to home literacy environment and early literacy in transparent orthographies. A key point is the discussion of parental teaching effects tailored to children's development phases. Limitation This study has several limitations. First, the sample size was relatively small. The validity of the data should be verified using a larger, representative sample from different populations. Previous studies have suggested that the relationship between home literacy environment and emergent literacy may differ between urban and rural areas (e.g., Myrtil et al., 2019 ; Wang et al., 2017 ). Socioeconomic status (SES) may also act as a moderating variable between home literacy model and children's literacy. Future research should include sampling from populations with different socioeconomic backgrounds. Second, this study did not include variables such as parental education, their reading level, or parents’ expectations for children’s literacy. It has been shown that these parental variables influence children's literacy through home literacy activities (e.g., Inoue et al., 2025 ). Future research is needed to validate an expanded home literacy environment in Japanese. Third, we did not include early writing skills in this study. Given that parent teaching has been shown to have a positive effect on Japanese Hiragana writing in older preschoolers (Inomata et al., 2016 ; Inoue et al., 2022 , 2023 ), future studies should examine the developmental relationship between them. Conclusion This study investigated the developmental relationship between home literacy environment (HLE) and emergent literacy in Japanese and verified a developmental shift in the relationship. The results suggested that parent teaching and access to literacy resources were uniquely associated with letter knowledge and rapid automatized naming, whereas shared book reading was not associated with vocabulary. Moreover, the effects of parent teaching and access to literacy resources on reading acquisition diminished during the third year of preschool (right before school entry). These findings suggest that the associations between home literacy environment and children’s emergent literacy skills appear during early preschool years, but they may be time sensitive. This study adds to the growing body of evidence on the relationship between home literacy environment and early literacy skills in the transparent Hiragana orthography in Japanese. Declarations Author Contribution TT was the Principal Investigator (PI) in this study. TT, KT, HM, and KT conducted the survey and collected the data. KT, HM, and KT provided resources. All authors designed the study. TT analyzed the data and wrote the main manuscript text. TI edited the manuscript and provided critical feedback. All authors reviewed and commented on subsequent versions of the manuscript and approved the final manuscript. Acknowledgement This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Project Number 22H01033) for Takayuki Tanji. The authors report there are no competing interests to declare. Data Availability The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, TT. The data are not publicly available due to ethical and privacy restrictions. References Akita, K. (1992). The influence of the family environment on children’s book reading activities. 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Reading and Writing , 33 (7), 1745–1767. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-019-09991-2 Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 12 Feb, 2026 Read the published version in Reading and Writing → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. 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02:40:44","extension":"html","order_by":8,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":189509,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"earlyproof.html","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7583467/v1/b9502206aea438a71d1f9e46.html"},{"id":91931971,"identity":"b292780d-49ac-4c99-acb2-ea1c2825e889","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-23 02:32:44","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":484660,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eModel 1: Home Literacy Environment and Emergent Literacy from Ages 4 to 5.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote.\u003c/em\u003e Significant correlation and regression paths are drawn as solid lines, whereas nonsignificant paths are depicted as gray lines *\u003cem\u003ep \u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt; .05; **\u003cem\u003ep \u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt; .01; **\u003cem\u003ep \u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt; .001. \u003cem\u003eΧ\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e[7] = 10.2, \u003cem\u003ep \u003c/em\u003e= .18, CFI = .99, TLI = .94, RMSEA = 0.67, 90%CI [0.00, 0.15]. \u003csup\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7583467/v1/9754937ca1b119412260362c.png"},{"id":91931969,"identity":"16c56f52-8477-4079-b2c4-a2add8b1a785","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-23 02:32:44","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":389917,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eModel 2: Home Literacy Activities and Emergent Literacy from Ages 5 to 6.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote.\u003c/em\u003e Significant correlation and regression paths are drawn as solid lines, whereas nonsignificant paths are depicted as gray lines *\u003cem\u003ep \u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt; .05; **\u003cem\u003ep \u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt; .01; **\u003cem\u003ep \u003c/em\u003e\u0026lt; .001. \u003cem\u003eΧ\u003c/em\u003e\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e[7] = 11.1, \u003cem\u003ep \u003c/em\u003e= .17, CFI = .99, TLI = .94, RMSEA = .075, 90%CI [0.00, 0.15]. \u003csup\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/sup\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7583467/v1/ffc1d72d77f796921ab5386e.png"},{"id":102786243,"identity":"92c65c66-57c3-4616-b7dd-0f5bef3a75c7","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-16 16:12:30","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1729388,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7583467/v1/0748f977-b212-44d5-9ace-f7602f526742.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Developmental Relationship Between Home Literacy Environment and Emergent Literacy in a Transparent Orthography: A Two-Year Longitudinal Study in Japanese Preschoolers","fulltext":[{"header":"Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eChildren’s early literacy acquisition starts from home. Before formal literacy instruction begins in school, literacy activities and resources at home influence children’s emergent literacy skills (e.g., Hood et al., 2008; Sénéchal et al., 1998; Torppa et al., 2006, 2007). According to the home literacy model (HLM;\u0026nbsp;Sénéchal \u0026amp; LeFevre, 2002), parent-child literacy activities at home can be divided into two categories: meaning-related literacy activities, such as reading storybooks to children, and code-related literacy activities, such as teaching children the sounds of letters and words. Meaning-related activities indirectly influence children’s reading acquisition through oral language skills (e.g., vocabulary), while code-related activities influence emergent literacy skills (e.g., letter-sound knowledge).\u0026nbsp;Additionally, several studies have shown that access to literacy resources (ALR), often operationalized as the number of books at home, is an independent factor of the home literacy environment. ALR provides children with opportunities for independent reading, thereby improving their vocabulary, phonological awareness, and reading skills (Wang \u0026amp; Liu, 2021; Zhang et al., 2024).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe HLM has been mainly validated across alphabetic languages (e.g., English: Inoue et al., 2018; French: Sénéchal, 2006; German: Niklas et al., 2017; Greek: Manolitsis et al., 2011; for a review, see Sénéchal et al., 2017), while there is still a paucity of studies in non-alphabetic languages except for Chinese (e.g., Inoue et al., 2025; Liu et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2020; for a review, see Nag et al., 2024). It has been suggested that the roles of home literacy activities may vary depending on the writing system and developmental phase. For example, the effect of parent teaching (a code-related activity) on children’s early reading skills has been shown to diminish after formal literacy instruction begins at school, especially in languages with a transparent orthography (e.g., Finnish; Silinskas et al., 2020b). In contrast, for more complex orthographies such as English, the effect often remains after schooling, at least during early grades (e.g., Georgiou et al., 2021;\u0026nbsp;Sénéchal \u0026amp; LeFevre, 2014). In light of this, the present longitudinal study examined the relationship between HLE aspects and emergent literacy skills in Japanese young children and whether this relationship changes during the preschool years in the highly transparent orthography of Japanese Hiragana.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHome\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eL\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eiteracy\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eM\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eodel\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ecross\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eL\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eanguages\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe home literacy model (HLM) has been expanded by examining the effects of various home literacy environmental factors in addition to the parental meaning-related and code-related literacy activities (e.g., Hood et al., 2008; Inoue et al., 2018; 2020; Zhang et al., 2020). One important factor is access to literacy resources (ALR), which is often assessed with the number of books in the home and the frequency of visits to libraries and bookstores. Several studies have demonstrated that ALR plays an important role in children's early reading skills, independent of parent teaching or shared book reading (Inoue et al., 2020; Liu et al., 2018; van Bergen et al., 2017). Previous studies on home literacy environment have focused primarily on parent-led activities and direct parent-child interactions, paying little attention to children's spontaneous literacy activities or the home environment that enriches such activities (for exceptions, see Georgiou et al., 2021; Silinskas et al., 2020b). ALR is an important indicator of the home literacy environment, measuring the extent to which parents provide their children with access to print materials.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePrevious studies have shown that HLM has been supported across various cultures and languages (e.g., Hood et al., 2008; Inoue et al., 2020; Manolitsis et al., 2011; Niklas et al., 2017; Sénéchal, 2006). Hood et al (2008) conducted a three-year longitudinal study of home literacy activities and children's literacy and language development in Australian kindergartens (aged 5). Their results showed that parent teaching (PT) independently predicted children’s literacy skills in kindergarten, first, and second grades after controlling for age, memory, and nonverbal intelligence. Shared book reading (SBR) predicted children’s vocabulary in Grade 1. Sénéchal (2006) examined the longitudinal relationship between literacy skills and literacy activities at home among French-speaking children (mean age = 6.0 years) followed from kindergarten to Grade 4. They found that PT predicted letter-sound knowledge in kindergarten even after controlling for phonological awareness, vocabulary, and parental educational background. It also predicted word reading fluency in Grade 4. These studies have consistently shown that literacy activities and resources at home, such as PT, SBR, and ALR, are associated with various children’s outcomes, including phonological awareness, vocabulary, letter-sound knowledge, and subsequent reading skills. It is important to note, however, that most of these studies have been conducted in Europe and North America.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome researchers have suggested that the relationship between home literacy environment and children's literacy skills may partly differ across languages and writing systems (e.g., Inoue et al., 2020; Silinskas et al., 2020a). Specifically, they argue that different aspects of the home literacy environment may play a role at different phases of reading development depending on the nature of writing systems. For example, Silinskas et al. (2020a) followed Finnish preschoolers (aged 6) through second grade to investigate the extent to which home literacy activities predict children's language and literacy skills. The results showed that parent teaching at preschool weakly predicted children's letter-sound knowledge and word reading fluency after schooling, while shared book reading predicted vocabulary and listening comprehension. Interestingly, the effects of parent teaching on the accuracy and fluency of word reading diminished by the end of first grade (Silinskas et al., 2010). The authors interpret these results as suggesting that the timing when HLE aspects become important may vary depending on the language, writing system, and educational context.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJapanese children begin to acquire Hiragana letter-sound knowledge at the age of three or four (Amano, 1970; Shimamura \u0026amp; Mikami, 1994; Tanji et al., 2020, 2024). Most Japanese young children learn to read the basic Hiragana letters even before they start to receive formal literacy instruction at primary school (Ota et al., 2018; Shimamura \u0026amp; Mikami, 1994). Therefore, the relationship between preschool children’s early literacy skills and HLE may be particularly critical in such contexts. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies in Japanese have examined the developmental relationship between early literacy skills and the home literacy environment during preschool years in the transparent Hiragana orthography.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eJapanese Syllabic Hiragana and Children's Literacy Acquisition\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Japanese writing system incorporates four distinct script types within a single language: two syllabic scripts (the cursive-style \u003cem\u003eHiragana\u003c/em\u003e and the angular \u003cem\u003eKatakana\u003c/em\u003e), the morphographic \u003cem\u003eKanji\u003c/em\u003e, and the alphabetic \u003cem\u003eRomaji\u003c/em\u003e (Koda, 2017). \u0026nbsp;Hiragana uses a highly transparent script in which each character represents a syl­lable or mora (a syllable-like phonological unit), and the correspondences between characters and sounds are consistent. For example, the symbol\u0026nbsp;え\u0026nbsp;corresponds to the /\u003cem\u003ee\u003c/em\u003e/ sound in words such as\u0026nbsp;えんぴつ\u0026nbsp;/\u003cem\u003een-pi-tsu\u003c/em\u003e/ ‘pencil,’\u0026nbsp;えき\u0026nbsp;/\u003cem\u003ee-ki\u003c/em\u003e/ ‘station,’ and\u0026nbsp;えがお\u0026nbsp;/\u003cem\u003ee-ga-o\u003c/em\u003e/ ‘smile.’\u0026nbsp;According to Taylor and Taylor (2014, p. 288), the Hiragana system consists of 108 symbols. It includes 46 core letters: five vowels (\u003cem\u003e/a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/\u003c/em\u003e), 40 consonant-vowel syllables, and one nasal /\u003cem\u003en\u003c/em\u003e/. By adding diacritical marks to these base forms, 25 additional characters are created to indicate voiced and semi-voiced sounds (e.g.,\u0026nbsp;ぐ\u0026nbsp;\u003cem\u003e/gu/\u003c/em\u003e,\u0026nbsp;ぽ\u0026nbsp;\u003cem\u003e/po/\u003c/em\u003e). More complex sounds are expressed through 21 digraphs that combine letters to form palatalised syllables (e.g.,\u0026nbsp;ちゃ\u0026nbsp;\u003cem\u003e/cha/\u003c/em\u003e), along with 15 voiced or semi-voiced variants (e.g.,\u0026nbsp;じゃ\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;/ja/\u003c/em\u003e). A small\u0026nbsp;っ\u0026nbsp;letter, called \u003cem\u003esokuon\u003c/em\u003e, marks doubled consonants, as in\u0026nbsp;きって\u0026nbsp;\u003cem\u003e/ki\u003c/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e-tte/\u003c/em\u003e ‘stamp’.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the Japanese education system, children enter elementary school at age 6. Many Japanese children acquire the ability to read the 46 fundamental Hiragana letters even before formal reading instruction begins in elementary school. This early literacy development is common, with studies showing that more than 90% of children in their final year of kindergarten can already recognize and read these basic symbols (Ota et al., 2018; Shimamura \u0026amp; Mikami, 1994). The earliest acquisition of letter-sound knowledge begins at the age of three or four (Amano,1970; Shimamura \u0026amp; Mikami, 1994), indicating that the development of literacy skills in Japanese Hiragana is even earlier than that reported for Finnish (see Silinskas et al., 2020a), which is known to be the most transparent alphabetic orthography.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eHome Literacy Environment and Early Literacy Skills in Japanese\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough research on home literacy models in Japanese is still limited, there are some findings on the effects of PT, SBR, and ALR on children’s literacy development (see Tanji \u0026amp; Inoue, 2025, for a review). Importantly, studies have suggested that the relationship between PT and Hiragana literacy skills may shift developmentally. In fact, whereas a significant association between PT and early reading skills has been reported for 4-year-old children, some studies have reported weak or no correlation between PT and Hiragana literacy for children in the third year of kindergarten and first and second grades (e.g., Imai, 1989; Inomata et al., 2016; Tanji \u0026amp; Inoue, 2023; Tanji et al., 2024). Similarly, whereas several studies of young Japanese children have shown an association between the frequency of shared book reading and children's vocabulary, reading preferences, and independent reading, some other studies have only found a correlation with expressive vocabulary but not with literacy skills (e.g., Amagoshi \u0026amp; Morishita, 2020; Inomata et al., 2016; Murano, 2014).\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAccess to literacy resources has been shown to be associated with Japanese literacy skills in early childhood through elementary school. Several studies have demonstrated that ALR have positive associations with 4-year-olds' Hiragana letter-sound knowledge (Murano, 2014; Tanji et al., 2024),\u0026nbsp;Hiragana word reading fluency and Kanji reading from 5-year-olds through third grade (Tanji \u0026amp; Inoue, 2023), Kanji character reading and reading comprehension (Takahashi, 1996, 2001), and children's book reading and reading motivation (Akita, 1992; Ando, 1996). Even after controlling for phonological awareness and RAN (e.g., Inomata et al., 2016; Kaneko et al., 2012; Ogino et al., 2017), which are closely related to young children's Hiragana letter-sound knowledge, recent studies have confirmed the impact of ALR (Tanji et al., 2024). Thus, research on Japanese generally supports the association between home literacy activities and children's literacy skills in the home literacy model. It should be noted, however, that the effects of parent teaching appear to be especially time-sensitive, suggesting that further investigation of developmental relationships is needed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eThe Present Study\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis study examined the relationship between home literacy environment (parent teaching, shared book reading, and access to literacy resources) and children's emergent literacy (Hiragana letter-sound knowledge, phonological awareness, vocabulary, and rapid automatized naming) in Japanese preschoolers. In doing so, we aimed to examine the developmental links between emergent literacy skills in syllabic Hiragana among young Japanese-speaking children and their parents' literacy activities at home. The sample consists of Japanese children aged 4 to 6 and their parents. Based on previous studies in Japanese and other languages reviewed above, we have formulated the following research questions and hypotheses.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n \u003cli\u003e\u0026nbsp;Does parent teaching (PT) predict early literacy skills in Japanese young children aged 4–5 years (the second year of preschool)? We hypothesized that the effects of PT on Japanese children’s letter-sound knowledge would appear during this period (Tanji et al., 2024, 2025; Silinskas et al., 2020a, 2020b).\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eDoes the association between PT and early literacy skills differ between 4–5-year-olds and 5–6-year-olds (the third year of preschool)? We hypothesized that the effect of PT would be time-sensitive and diminish or disappear between 5–6 years of age (Imai, 1989; Inomata et al., 2016; Tanji \u0026amp; Inoue, 2023).\u003c/li\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eDo shared book reading (SBR) and access to literacy resources (ALR) predict emergent literacy skills? We hypothesized that SBR would be associated with vocabulary, while ALR would be associated with letter-sound knowledge and phonological awareness (Amagoshi \u0026amp; Morishita, 2000; Inoue et al., 2020; Murano, 2016).\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"},{"header":"Method","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec6\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eParticipants\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe recruited our sample in four sites in Japan to avoid bias in any geographic sample. The sites were medium to large urban areas with populations ranging from 400,000 to 700,000. We asked pre-schools in the region of the authors' university to recruit children to participate in the study. As a result, we obtained cooperation from six preschools for the present study. In selecting preschools to recruit, we targeted preschools that did not offer specific systematic literacy instruction. A total of 105 Japanese young children participated in this study (59 boys, 46 girls). The mean age in months was 58.9 (\u003cem\u003eSD\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;3.7, range\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;52\u0026ndash;65). The median educational attainment of mothers in this sample was \u0026ldquo;graduation from a junior college or vocational school.\u0026rdquo; According to recent census data (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 2020), this was slightly higher than the general population. Before the examination, consent was obtained from parents and preschools. Ethics approval for our study was granted by XX University (blinded for review).\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eMeasures\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eChild\u0026rsquo;s Emergent Literacy\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eL\u003c/em\u003ee\u003cem\u003etter-sound knowledge\u003c/em\u003e (LK) was measured in all three time points. The children were assessed on their ability to read printed Hiragana letters aloud. They were shown pages with three letters printed horizontally. The letters used were 46 basic Hiragana letters, 25 voiced and semi-voiced letters, and 21 special sound letters, for a total of 92 letters. The order in which the letters were presented gradually increased in difficulty. The test stopped when the child made six errors. The maximum score was 92. Cronbach\u0026rsquo;s alpha coefficients were .99 in T1 and T2..\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePhonological awareness\u003c/em\u003e (PA) was measured at T1 and T2. The children were assessed on two tasks: phonological identification (T1) and phonological deletion (T2). In phonological identification, the children were asked to identify the initial and final mora of words. Pictures of words were presented, and the tester read the names of the words aloud. Following this, the tester pointed to the blank squares arranged below the picture according to the number of morae in the word and asked, \u0026ldquo;What sound is this?\u0026rdquo; (e.g., for /ri-n-go/ \u0026lsquo;apple\u0026rsquo;, answer with either /ri/ or /go/) Words were selected from the basic vocabulary of 2 to 4 morae which were sufficiently recognizable by Japanese preschoolers (The National Institute for Japanese Language, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR49\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2009\u003c/span\u003e). A total of 11 words were used, and participants were asked to extract the initial and final sounds for each word. The maximum score was 22. Cronbach\u0026rsquo;s alpha coefficient was .96\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn phonological deletion, children were asked to say words without the initial mora or the middle mora of three-morae words (e.g., /a-i-su/ 'ice cream' without /a/ as /i-su/ 'chair', /ta-i-ko/ 'drum' without /i/ as /ta-ko/ 'octopus'). There was a total of 14 items (four initial mora and 10 middle mora). The maximum score was 14. Before testing, two practice items were administered first to ensure that children understood these tasks. These tasks were discontinued after four consecutive errors. Cronbach\u0026rsquo;s alpha coefficient was .97\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eRapid automatized naming\u003c/em\u003e (RAN) was measured at T1 and T2. A digit naming task was used, in which the numbers arranged vertically and horizontally were read aloud one by one as quickly as possible. Four digits (e.g., 2, 4, 5, 7) were randomly repeated and arranged in four rows of six digits, and the task was to accurately and quickly name them from left to right. To confirm task understanding, practice pages were provided. We measured the response time (in seconds) from the start of reading the digits to the completion of reading the last digit. The correlation between the two time points was .84.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eVocabulary\u003c/em\u003e (Voc) was measured at T1 using the Vocabulary subtest from WPPSI-III (WPPSI-III Japanese Edition Publication Committee, 2017). There were 25 words in total, consisting of tasks to answer the names of pictures and tasks to answer the meanings of words. This evaluated vocabulary knowledge and language concept formation. Note that vocabulary in T2 was not measured for the following reasons. This is because we did not have sufficient time to measure it in T2. This also helped reduce the burden on the children. Each item was scored from 0 to 2 points, with a maximum score of 43. Cronbach\u0026rsquo;s alpha coefficient was .79.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eParents’ Questionnaire\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eParent teaching\u003c/em\u003e (PT) was measured at T1 and T2 using three items with a 5-point Likert scale. These items were adapted from Authors (2023). The questions were: \u0026ldquo;How often did you teach your child how to read Hiragana letters?\u0026rdquo;; \u0026ldquo;How often did you teach your child how to read Hiragana words?\u0026rdquo;; \u0026ldquo;How often did you teach your child how to write Hiragana letters or words?\u0026rdquo; Parents responded on a scale ranging from \u0026ldquo;never (0)\u0026rdquo; to \u0026ldquo;daily (4).\u0026rdquo; Cronbach\u0026rsquo;s alpha coefficients for T1 and T2 were .83 and .80, respectively.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eShared book reading\u003c/em\u003e (SBR) was measured at T1 and T2 using two items on a 5-point Likert scale: \u0026ldquo;How often do you read books to your children on weekdays?\u0026rdquo;; \u0026ldquo;How often do you read books to your children on weekends?\u0026rdquo;. The questions were adapted from Authors (2023). Parents responded on a scale ranging from \u0026ldquo;never\u0026rdquo; (0) to \u0026ldquo;daily\u0026rdquo; (4). Cronbach\u0026rsquo;s alpha coefficients for the two time points were .88 and .87, respectively.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAccess to literacy resources\u003c/em\u003e (ALR) was measured at T1 and T2 using two items on a 5-point Likert scale adapted from Hood et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e) and Authors (2023). In T1, \u0026ldquo;How many books do you have at home for your children?\u0026rdquo;, parents were asked to answer on a scale from \u0026ldquo;none\u0026rdquo; (0) to \u0026ldquo;150 or more\u0026rdquo; (4). With reference to Li and Li (2021), the number of children\u0026rsquo;s books in the home was measured in the second year of kindergarten. In T2, \u0026ldquo;How often do you visit libraries or bookstores with your children?\u0026rdquo;, parents were asked to answer on a scale from \u0026ldquo;none\u0026rdquo; (0) to \u0026ldquo;twice or three times a week\u0026rdquo; (4). In line with the findings of Author (2023), the frequency of visits to libraries and bookstores was measured among children in their third year of kindergarten. The correlation between time points was .38 (\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProcedure\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e We conducted a two-year longitudinal study targeting children aged 4 to 6 years and their parents. The first measurement point (Time 1) was set at age 4 because this is considered the optimal age for the acquisition of Japanese Hiragana letter-sound knowledge (e.g., Amano, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1970\u003c/span\u003e; Shimamura \u0026amp; Mikami, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1994\u003c/span\u003e). Time 2 was measured at age 5, and Time 3 at age 6. For the children's assessment, we conducted individual 30\u0026ndash;40-minute sessions in a quiet room at each preschool. For the parents' assessment, we collected questionnaire responses at the same time as each measurement point.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Japanese education system starts its academic year in April. The three time-point surveys were conducted in the summer and fall of 2022 (T1), the summer of 2023 (T2), and the winter of 2024 (January/February) (T3). The administration and scoring of the tests were standardized across all participants by following the test administration manual and using scoring sheets. This was done to enhance the reliability of the data. Test administrators visited the preschools multiple times and administered the tests to the children simultaneously.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eStatistical Analysis\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe concurrent and longitudinal effects of home literacy activities on children's emergent literacy were analyzed by dividing them into two developmental periods. This was to investigate developmental changes in the effects of HLE on early literacy skills in Japanese preschool children. The first was a model for the second year of preschool (T1 and T2; ages 4 to 5), and the second was a model for the third year of preschool (T2 and T3; ages 5 to 6) (see Figs.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e and \u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e). Based on the home literacy model (e.g., S\u0026eacute;n\u0026eacute;chal \u0026amp; LeFevre, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2002\u003c/span\u003e), we constructed models illustrating how literacy activities in the home could be associated with emergent literacy. In addition, given that RAN has been shown to have a strong effect on early Hiragana reading development in Japanese (e.g., Inomata et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; Kaneko et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e; Ogino et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e), it has been included in the models as an emergent literacy skill. In line with previous research findings, Model 1 (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e) included concurrent association paths between 1) SBR and vocabulary, 2) ALR and letter-sound knowledge, vocabulary, and phonological awareness, and 3) PT and letter-sound knowledge and RAN. Also, we examined the longitudinal paths from PA, RAN, PT, and ALR to letter-sound knowledge. As in Model 1, Model 2 (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e) included 1) ALR and letter-sound knowledge, phonological awareness, 2) PT and letter-sound knowledge and RAN concurrent association paths. Furthermore, we included the longitudinal paths from PA, RAN, PT, and ALR to letter-sound knowledge.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe path analyses were conducted using SPSS Amos 30.0 in two steps. Separate models were constructed for the two periods (Model 1: T1 to T2, ages 4 to 5; Model 2: T2 to T3, ages 5 to 6; see Figs.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e and \u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e). Hiragana reading skills at T1 and T2 were used as autoregressors for Hiragana reading skills in T2 and T3 (for a similar approach, see Inoue et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Tanji \u0026amp; Inoue, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR45\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). The models included the paths between variables based on theoretical models and the findings of previous studies (e.g., see Tanji \u0026amp; Inoue, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2025\u003c/span\u003e, for a review). To evaluate model fit, the chi-square value and three fit indices were used. Specifically, these were the comparative fit index (CFI), Tucker-Lewis index (TLI), and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA). If the chi-square value is not significant, and both the CFI and TLI values are .95 or higher, and the RMSEA value is .06 or lower, the model fit is considered good (Kline, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Results","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003ePreliminary Data Analysis\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTable\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e shows descriptive statistics for all measured variables. The distributional properties of the variables indicated that Hiragana letter-sound knowledge at all time points and phonological deletion at T2 were positively skewed. Therefore, the square root transformation was applied to improve their distribution. Alternatively, RAN at T1 and T2 were negatively skewed. Hence, the reflected and square root transformation was performed. The reflected scores were multiplied by \u0026mdash;1 to correct for direction. Additionally, outliers on several measures in each sample (more than 2.5 \u003cem\u003eSD\u003c/em\u003e above/below the mean) were winsorized to the next non-outlier score of \u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1 to reduce their potential impact on the results (Tabachnick \u0026amp; Fidell, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR41\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e). The transformed scores were used in further analyses. In addition, the home literacy activity variables were used as composite variables in the analysis. These were created by calculating the total scores for each item variable related to PT and SBR.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e\u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDescriptive Statistics\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/caption\u003e\u003ccolgroup cols=\"7\"\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eMeasure (max)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eM\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSD\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eMin\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eMax\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eSkew\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eKurt\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/thead\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eChild\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAge in months_T1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e59.0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3.8\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e52\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e65\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-1.2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAge in months_T2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e69.2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3.5\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e63\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e75\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-1.1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-1.3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAge in months_T3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e75.6\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3.7\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e68\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e81\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.8\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-1.0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eHLK_T1 (92)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e42.8\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e32.9\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e92\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-1.5\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eHLK_T2 (92)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e64.1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e29.2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e92\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-1.2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eHLK_T3 (92)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e73.3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e23.4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e92\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-1.8\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.5\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePA (identification)_T1 (22)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e14.7\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e7.1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e22\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.6\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.9\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePA (deletion)_T2 (14)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4.7\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e5.4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e14\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.6\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-1.4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDigit-RAN_T1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e29.4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e20.7\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e12.0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e146.2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3.4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e15.4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDigit-RAN_T2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e19.4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e8.0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e9.3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e49.6\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.9\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eVoc_T1 (25)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e16.7\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e5.8\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e33\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eParent\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eTeach to read Hiragana letters_T1 (4)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.6\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.7\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eTeach to read Hiragana words_T1 (4)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.7\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.7\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eTeach to write Hiragana letters_T1 (4)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.9\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.9\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eTeach to read Hiragana letters_T2 (4)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.6\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.9\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.8\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.5\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eTeach to read Hiragana words_T2 (4)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.7\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.5\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eTeach to write Hiragana letters_T2 (4)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.5\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eRead to child: weekdays_T1 (4)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.7\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.8\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eRead to child: weekend_T1 (4)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.9\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.8\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eRead to child: weekdays_T2 (4)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.5\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.5\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.5\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eRead to child: weekend_T2 (4)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.7\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.7\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.6\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eChild\u0026rsquo;s book number_T1 (4)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.9\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.5\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eGo to bookstore or library_T2 (4)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.5\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.8\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.8\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.9\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tbody\u003e\u003c/colgroup\u003e\u003ctfoot\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"7\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote.\u003c/em\u003e T\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;time; HLK\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Hiragana letter-sound knowledge; PA\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Phonological awareness; RAN\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Rapid automatized naming; Voc\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Vocabulary.\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tfoot\u003e\u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec14\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAssociations between Home Literacy Environment and Emergent Literacy in Children during Early Preschool Years\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTable\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e shows the correlations between children's emergency literacy and home literacy environment across three time points. Hiragana letter-sound knowledge (HLK) at T1 had significant correlations with all variables except for parent teaching (PT) in Hiragana at T2. All the home literacy environment at T1 was associated with HLK at T1. Among the aspects of home literacy environment, PT at T1 had the strongest correlation with HLK at T1 (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.42, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001). HLK in T2 is associated with PT (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.50, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001), ALR (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.44, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001), PA (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.56, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001), and RAN (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.65, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001) in T1.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e\u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 2\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCorrelations between emergent literacy and home literacy environment\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/caption\u003e\u003ccolgroup cols=\"15\"\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c9\" colnum=\"9\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c10\" colnum=\"10\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c11\" colnum=\"11\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c12\" colnum=\"12\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c13\" colnum=\"13\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c14\" colnum=\"14\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c15\" colnum=\"15\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eMeasure\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e5.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e6.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e7.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e8.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e9.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e10.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c12\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e11.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e12.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c14\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e13.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c15\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e14.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/thead\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1. HLK_T1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c12\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c14\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c15\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2. PA_T1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.58***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c12\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c14\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c15\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3. RAN_T1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.77***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.54***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c12\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c14\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c15\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4. Voc_T1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.25*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.24*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.25*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c12\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c14\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c15\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e5. PTH_T1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.42***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.24*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.27**\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.16\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c12\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c14\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c15\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e6. SBR_T1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.39***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.26**\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.12\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.06\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.47***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c12\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c14\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c15\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e7. ALR_T1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.42***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.23*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.23*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.18*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.20*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.36***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c12\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c14\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c15\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e8. HLK_T2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.81***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.56***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.65***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.32*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.50***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.39***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.44***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c12\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c14\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c15\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e9. PA_T2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.64***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.35***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.59***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.23*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.26*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.28**\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.29**\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.62***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c12\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c14\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c15\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e10. RAN_T2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.68***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.51***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.84***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.34***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.27**\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.13\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.21*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.70***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.54***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c12\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c14\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c15\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e11. PTH_T2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.09\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.05\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.00\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.23*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.52***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.19\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.05\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.19\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.03\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.15\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c12\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c14\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c15\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e12. SBR_T2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.29**\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.15\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.03\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.15\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.35***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.74***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.41***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.35***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.22**\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.04\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c12\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.30**\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c14\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c15\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e13. ALR_T2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.39***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.19\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.21*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.09\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.25*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.55***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.38***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.36***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.14\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.21\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c12\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.11\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.50***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c14\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c15\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e14. HLK_T3\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.70***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.55***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.59***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.22*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.43***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.22*\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c8\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.29**\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.87***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c10\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.55***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c11\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.62***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c12\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.17\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.17\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c14\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e.17\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c15\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tbody\u003e\u003c/colgroup\u003e\u003ctfoot\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"15\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote.\u003c/em\u003e ***p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001, **p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.01, *p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.05. T\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;time; HLK\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Hiragana letter-sound knowledge; PA\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Phonological awareness; RAN\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Rapid automatized naming; Voc\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Vocabulary; PTH\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Parent teaching in Hiragana; SBR\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Shared book reading; ALR\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Access to literacy resources. ALR_T1\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Child\u0026rsquo;s book number, ALR_T2\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Go to libraries and bookstores.\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tfoot\u003e\u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFigure \u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e shows the model in which home literacy environment predicts emergent literacy in Japanese children during early preschool years (aged 4 to 5; Model 1). The model fit was generally good (χ\u0026sup2; [7]\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;10.2, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.18, CFI\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.99, TLI\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.94, RMSEA\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.067, 90% CI [.00, .15]). Additionally, the model explained a small proportion of the variance in HLK (\u003cem\u003eR\u0026sup2;\u003c/em\u003e = .23), PA (\u003cem\u003eR\u0026sup2;\u003c/em\u003e = .05), Voc (\u003cem\u003eR\u0026sup2;\u003c/em\u003e = .02), and RAN (\u003cem\u003eR\u0026sup2;\u003c/em\u003e = .09) in T1 and a large proportion of the variance in HLK in T2 (\u003cem\u003eR\u0026sup2;\u003c/em\u003e = .72).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn model 1, HLK at T1 was associated with PT (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.39, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001) and ALR (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.20, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.01) at the same time point. RAN was also concurrently associated with PT (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e = \u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.29, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.01). Shared book reading (SBR) and ALR did not show significant associations with vocabulary (Voc) (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003es\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.03 and .01, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;.10, respectively). PA at T1 was not associated with PT (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.16, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;.05) or ALR (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.11, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;.05). Importantly, HLK at T2 was uniquely predicted by PT (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.23, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001) and ALR (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.16, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.01) even after controlling for HLK (an autoregressor), PA, and RAN at T1. PA and RAN at T1 did not predict HLK at T2 (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.13, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;.05; \u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e = \u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.13, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;.05) when the effect of HLK at T1 was controlled. Between ages 4 and 5, PT in T1 predicted HLK in T2 even after controlling for emergent literacy (HLK, PA, Voc, and RAN) in T1.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec15\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAssociations between Home Literacy Environment and Emergent Literacy in Children during Late Preschool Years\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTable\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e shows that HLK at T2 was significantly correlated with all variables except for PT at T2 (see Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e). HLK at T2 was not significantly correlated with PT at T2 (\u003cem\u003er\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.\u003c/em\u003e19, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;.05\u003cem\u003e).\u003c/em\u003e On the other hand, HLK at T2 was significantly correlated with ALR (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.36, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001) and SBR (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.35, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001) at T2. HLK in T3 is not associated with PT and ALR in T2 (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003es\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.17 and .17, respectively). Reversely, HLK in T3 was associated with PA (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.55, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001) and RAN (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.62, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001) in T2.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFigure \u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e presents the model of the association between home literacy environment and emergent literacy in children during late preschool years (aged 5 to 6; Model 2). The model fit was generally good (χ\u0026sup2; [7]\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;11.1, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.17, CFI\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.99, TLI\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.94, RMSEA\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.075, 90% CI [.00, .15]). Furthermore, this model explained a small proportion of the variance in HLK (\u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e\u0026sup2; = .10), RAN (\u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e\u0026sup2; = .02), and PA (\u003cem\u003eR\u0026sup2;\u003c/em\u003e = .01) at T2, and a large proportion of the variance in HLK at T3 (\u003cem\u003eR\u003c/em\u003e\u0026sup2; = .80).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Model 2, HLK was concurrently associated with ALR (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.28, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001), but not with PT (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.14, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;.05). PA was not associated with ALR (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.08, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;.10). RAN was not associated with PT (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e = \u0026minus;.13, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;.05). Unlike Model 1, the only variable that uniquely predicted HLK at T3 was HLK at the previous time point. PA, RAN, and ALR at T2 did not predict HLK at T3. The difference from Model 1 was that PT and ALR at T2 had no effect on HLK at T3.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eWe aimed to investigate the associations between home literacy environment and emergent literacy in Japanese preschoolers. We hypothesized that the effects of parent teaching on children\u0026rsquo;s emergent literacy would appear in Japanese young preschoolers. The second hypothesis was that the effects would be weaker during the third year of preschool (i.e., right before school entry). The results showed that parent teaching uniquely predicted letter-sound knowledge from T1 to T2, even after controlling for phonological awareness, vocabulary, and rapid automatized naming (RAN). However, no effect was observed from T2 to T3. The third hypothesis was that shared book reading (SBR) predicted vocabulary and access to literacy resources (ALR) predicted letter-sound knowledge and phonological awareness. Access to literacy resources showed a unique, significant correlation with letter-sound knowledge from T1 to T2, but not with phonological awareness. Shared book reading did not show any association with vocabulary. We will discuss each result below.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec17\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eHome Literacy Environment and Emergent Literacy Skills in Japanese Preschoolers\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe results indicated first that parent teaching uniquely predicted Hiragana letter-sound knowledge from T1 to T2, as well as rapid automatized naming in T1 (see Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e). In line with the previous findings in alphabetic orthographies (e.g., Hood et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e; Inoue et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e; Silinskas et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020b\u003c/span\u003e), parent teaching played a role in predicting the early reading skills in Japanese Hiragana. Several studies on Japanese have shown that parent teaching has no effect on Hiragana reading acquisition during the transition period around school entry (e.g., Inomata et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; Inoue et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Tanji \u0026amp; Inoue, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR45\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Conversely, some studies have suggested that parent teaching may have a positive association with children\u0026rsquo;s literacy at an earlier age (e.g., Imai, 1989; Tanji et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR47\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e). These results suggest that the impact of parent teaching on early literacy skills in Japanese preschoolers may depend on children\u0026rsquo;s developmental phases and appears in the early stages of Japanese preschoolers. One possible interpretation is that Japanese children begin to acquire emergent literacy at the age of 3 to 4 (see Amano, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1970\u003c/span\u003e; Tanji \u0026amp; Inoue, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2025\u003c/span\u003e). At the stage when children begin to acquire Hiragana reading skills, literacy interest strongly predicts Hiragana reading acquisition (Tanji et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR47\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFurthermore, this study showed that parent teaching may have lasting effects on emergent literacy in children aged 4 to 5 years. Between the ages of 4 and 5, parent teaching may be effective in promoting Hiragana reading acquisition while aligning with children's interests. These results suggest that it is important to focus on the relationship between parent teaching and emergent literacy at young preschoolers with highly transparent orthographies (e.g., Silinskas et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020b\u003c/span\u003e). Interestingly, parent teaching was also associated with rapid automatized naming. Based on the home literacy model (S\u0026eacute;n\u0026eacute;chal, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2006\u003c/span\u003e), parent teaching predicts reading through the effects of letter knowledge and phonological awareness. Liu and Georgiou (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e) suggested that formal home learning experiences accounted for unique variance in rapid automatized naming over and above the effects of cognitive processes among Chinese second-year kindergarten children. This study supported the research finding that formal home literacy activities predict rapid automatized naming and early reading acquisition.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn turn, access to literacy resources was also uniquely associated with Hiragana letter-sound knowledge. This finding is consistent with those of previous studies in Chinese and Japanese (e.g., Li \u0026amp; Li, 2021; Murano, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e; Tanji et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR47\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e; Zhang et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR57\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). Increased access to printed materials at home may contribute to children's autonomy in reading and their active interest in new words (e.g., Inoue et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Van Bergen et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR52\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e). Children's spontaneous literacy activities or the home environment that enriches such activities (Georgiou et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; Silinskas et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020b\u003c/span\u003e) may promote children\u0026rsquo; literacy development. In Japanese, access to literacy resources has been shown to have a positive link with emergent literacy, especially during early phases of reading development (acquisition of Hiragana and Kanji reading skills), and the amount of book reading and reading preferences (see Tanji \u0026amp; Inoue, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2025\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn contrast, shared book reading showed no significant associations with vocabulary. There are several possible explanations for this result. One explanation is the cultural difference between Japan and Western societies in the way parents read picture books to their children. In Japan, it is common for parents to read picture books to their children in a storytelling manner (referred to as \u0026ldquo;\u003cem\u003eyo-mi-ki-ka-se\u003c/em\u003e\u0026rdquo;). Therefore, shared book reading in Japanese homes may tend to involve relatively less interaction and dialogue compared to Western homes. This could potentially limit the impact on children's vocabulary development (Chow et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e; Mol et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e). Future research is needed to investigate the effects of picture book reading with parent-child interaction and dialogue.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec18\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eDevelopmental Changes in the Effect of Home Literacy Environment\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis study found that parent teaching had a positive effect on emergent literacy in Japanese children from the second to third year of preschool. However, in the middle of the third year of preschool, the effect of parent teaching had disappeared. This is consistent with previous findings that the effects of parent teaching fade before and after entering school in transparent orthographies (e.g., Silinskas et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020a\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020b\u003c/span\u003e; Inomata et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; Inoue et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Tanji \u0026amp; Inoue, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR45\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). These results suggest that the effects of parent teaching on emergent literacy may vary depending on the developmental phases. In transparent orthographies, parent teaching may have a time-sensitive effect on emergent literacy (for relevant discussions, see Deng et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e; Silinskas et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e) because many children acquire basic letter-sound knowledge relatively quickly (e.g., Finnish: Silinskas et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020b\u003c/span\u003e; Japanese Hiragana: Ota et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR31\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e; see also Seymour et al., 2003). Indeed, parent teaching has been shown to have no effect on Hiragana word reading accuracy and fluency before and after school entry (Tanji \u0026amp; Inoue, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR45\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Before and after school entry, parent teaching may be more important for Hiragana writing but less so for Hiragana reading (e.g., Inomata et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; Inoue et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). Taken together, these findings suggest that the effect of parent teaching on early literacy may vary depending on children's literacy development and their reading or writing skills. Future research should clarify the optimal timing of parent teaching for early reading and writing skills.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAccess to literacy resources showed longitudinal associations with letter-sound knowledge from T1 to T2 and concurrent associations at T2. However, no longitudinal associations were observed from T2 to T3. In previous Japanese studies, access to literacy resources was found to be significantly associated with reading fluency rather than accuracy in Hiragana words before and after school entry (Tanji \u0026amp; Inoue, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR45\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). In other words, access to literacy resources may begin to contribute to reading fluency around the time of school entry. At least from the summer of the third year of preschool onwards, a developmental shift may occur in the relationship between access to literacy resources and early Hiragana literacy skills. It is important to understand the developmental relationship between children's various reading skills and the home literacy environment.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec19\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eImplication\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese findings have theoretical and educational implications. In Japanese syllabic Hiragana, the effects of parent teaching and access to literacy resources were demonstrated for emergent literacy in young preschoolers. Especially, the effects of parent teaching on early reading acquisition were found to diminish before school entry. This suggests that there may be an optimal timing for home literacy activities to be effective in early reading. The effects may appear earlier in transparent orthographies (e.g., Georgiou et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; Silinskas et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020b\u003c/span\u003e). This finding does not imply that parents should be pressured or burdened. Rather, it highlights the importance of parents engaging in literacy activities that match their children's interests and literacy skills. This study adds further evidence to home literacy environment and early literacy in transparent orthographies. A key point is the discussion of parental teaching effects tailored to children's development phases.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec20\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eLimitation\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis study has several limitations. First, the sample size was relatively small. The validity of the data should be verified using a larger, representative sample from different populations. Previous studies have suggested that the relationship between home literacy environment and emergent literacy may differ between urban and rural areas (e.g., Myrtil et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Wang et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR54\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e). Socioeconomic status (SES) may also act as a moderating variable between home literacy model and children's literacy. Future research should include sampling from populations with different socioeconomic backgrounds. Second, this study did not include variables such as parental education, their reading level, or parents\u0026rsquo; expectations for children\u0026rsquo;s literacy. It has been shown that these parental variables influence children's literacy through home literacy activities (e.g., Inoue et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2025\u003c/span\u003e). Future research is needed to validate an expanded home literacy environment in Japanese. Third, we did not include early writing skills in this study. Given that parent teaching has been shown to have a positive effect on Japanese Hiragana writing in older preschoolers (Inomata et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; Inoue et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e), future studies should examine the developmental relationship between them.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Conclusion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis study investigated the developmental relationship between home literacy environment (HLE) and emergent literacy in Japanese and verified a developmental shift in the relationship. The results suggested that parent teaching and access to literacy resources were uniquely associated with letter knowledge and rapid automatized naming, whereas shared book reading was not associated with vocabulary. Moreover, the effects of parent teaching and access to literacy resources on reading acquisition diminished during the third year of preschool (right before school entry). These findings suggest that the associations between home literacy environment and children\u0026rsquo;s emergent literacy skills appear during early preschool years, but they may be time sensitive. This study adds to the growing body of evidence on the relationship between home literacy environment and early literacy skills in the transparent Hiragana orthography in Japanese.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003ch2\u003eAuthor Contribution\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTT was the Principal Investigator (PI) in this study. TT, KT, HM, and KT conducted the survey and collected the data. KT, HM, and KT provided resources. All authors designed the study. TT analyzed the data and wrote the main manuscript text. TI edited the manuscript and provided critical feedback. All authors reviewed and commented on subsequent versions of the manuscript and approved the final manuscript.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAcknowledgement\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Project Number 22H01033) for Takayuki Tanji. The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eData Availability\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, TT. The data are not publicly available due to ethical and privacy restrictions.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAkita, K. (1992). 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Evidence from a 3-year longitudinal study. \u003cem\u003eReading and Writing\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e33\u003c/em\u003e(7), 1745\u0026ndash;1767. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-019-09991-2\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1007/s11145-019-09991-2\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"emergent literacy, Japanese Hiragana, home literacy environment, time-sensitive effects, preschool","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7583467/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7583467/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"We examined the relationship between home literacy environment and early literacy acquisition in Japanese syllabic Hiragana and whether this relationship changes during the preschool years. One hundred five Japanese-speaking young children (62.9% male, Mage = 58.9 months) were followed from the second year to the third year of preschool. The children were assessed on phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), vocabulary, and Hiragana letter knowledge at the end of the second year of preschool and at the middle and the end of the third year. Their parents completed a questionnaire regarding the frequency of parent teaching (PT) and shared book reading (SBR) at home, as well as access to literacy resources (ALR). Path analysis showed that PT and ALR, but not SBR, in the second year of preschool predicted Hiragana letter knowledge at the middle of the third year, after controlling for phonological awareness, RAN, and vocabulary. In contrast, PT and ALR at the middle of the third year did not predict Hiragana letter knowledge at the end of the year. These findings suggest that the effects of HLE on children’s early literacy acquisition in transparent orthographies like Japanese Hiragana may be transient and diminish even before formal literacy instruction begins at school.","manuscriptTitle":"Developmental Relationship Between Home Literacy Environment and Emergent Literacy in a Transparent Orthography: A Two-Year Longitudinal Study in Japanese Preschoolers","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-09-23 02:32:40","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7583467/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"2fe38225-c0f6-40a6-b00f-1177edc9303f","owner":[],"postedDate":"September 23rd, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-02-16T16:09:08+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-7583467","link":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-026-10770-z","journal":{"identity":"reading-and-writing","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Reading and Writing"},"publishedOn":"2026-02-12 15:59:19","publishedOnDateReadable":"February 12th, 2026"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-09-23 02:32:40","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1007/s11145-026-10770-z","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-026-10770-z","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7583467","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7583467","identity":"rs-7583467","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}