Martine van der Pluijm

27 Activities and strategies – a review of empirical interventions INTRODUCTION There is strong empirical evidence that the home literacy environment of young children impacts their literacy skills that are related to school performance (Alexander & Entwisle, 1996; Bus, Van IJzendoorn & Pellegrini, 1995; Leseman & De Jong, 1998). In particular, oral language development of young children deserves attention as it is a key factor in literacy development (Sénéchal & Lefevre, 2002; Storch & Whitehurst, 2002; Verhoeven & Van Leeuwe, 2008). Young children’s knowledge of vocabulary and syntactic structure originates from the oral language used at home, which influences their later literacy skills, such as reading and writing (Shanahan, 2006). In addition, the acquisition of decontextualized language which demands the child to use oral language that refers to situations and ideas that are not present in the immediate environment is important for children’s literacy skills (Snow, 1991). Therefore, the quality of oral language used at home is a key factor for literacy development and school success (Weizman & Snow, 2001). The quality of oral language development of young children is not only important for their literacy development but also important for communication in its own right. Parents and children use words to share experiences and emotions, to coordinate actions, and to construe their shared knowledge about the world. Through this social interaction, children learn how to communicate, what concepts mean, and what goes on in the world (Vygotsky, 1978). This type of joint attention of parent and child is very effective for learning new words (Tomasello, 2003). In this sense, language contributes to social learning and growing as a human being (Wells, 2009). A secure attachment of the child to the caregiver is a prerequisite for learning at home (Bus, Van IJzendoorn, & Pellegrini, 1995). Through social interaction with the parent - which requires oral language as a natural habit - the child participates in meaningful activities, which are important impulses for (language) development (Dewey, 1916). Positive and warm relationships in which parents encourage the child are related to children’s language and emergent literacy skills (Berlin, Brooks-Gun, Spiker, & Zaslow, 1995; Tamis le Monda, Bornstein & Baumwell, 2001). The domain of the family has gained the attention of scholars focusing on ways to stimulate children’s literacy development (Wasik & Hendrickson, 2004). Empirical research has shown that lower-educated parents, often defined as having at best a high-school diploma (Wasik & Van Horn, 2012), engage children in fewer language experiences compared to higher-educated parents (Britto & Brooks-Gun, 2001; Gilkerson et al., 2018; Hart & Risley; Heath, 1990; Hoff, Laursen, &Tardiff, 2002;Van Kleek, Lange, & Schwarz, 2011). Hart &Risley (1995) illustrate in detail how the lower quantity of language use in lower-educated families impacts later school performance. In addition to differences in the quantity of language use, there are also qualitative differences such as the use of decontextualized language (Curenton, Craig, & Flanigan, 2008; De Temple & Beals, 1991; Rowe, 2012; Snow, 1991). The social emotional