Effects of home environment on learning

 Though most of the factors that Schunk mentioned to be key influences on a child's learning and development are inherently interconnected, the home environment, in my opinion, is the first major factor a child encounters. It is the child's initial environment where he first learns. In other words, the home environment is the first school for emotional learning, as Doley, D. (2018) denoted. In the home environment, children unintentionally learn to feel good or bad about themselves, how to express these feelings, and how others react to their expressions of said feelings. 

Similarly, the home environment has a significant effect on a child's cognitive development, especially around infancy and early childhood, as Meece, (2002) explained. In other words, home environment has a significant effect on the development of intelligence in a child. For example, Hoff (2003)  mentioned that children with high socioeconomic status had better and more varied vocabulary, due to their parents speech properties, than their middle socioeconomic status counterparts. A positive home environment stimulates children's curiosity and encourages exploration, play, and learning. 

On the other hand, we find that negative home environments have an equally negative effect on a child's whole-development. The socioeconomic status of the family and poor role-modelling demonstrated by parents in the home environment is bound to reflect in the child's behavior, learning, and academic achievement. For example, a home environment marked by lawlessness, negligence, or even rejection will definitely be visible in the child's behavior, disposition, and overall efficacy in the school environment. Furthermore, most practicing teachers would agree that students of dysfunctional families or those who witness frequent disagreements between parents are more prone, or likely, to struggle academically, or become involved in all sorts of misbehavior or otherwise negative situations.   

In conclusion, I believe that the home environment is one of the most important factor that teachers should look at and take into consideration when analyzing students' behavior and academic achievement. 

References

Doley, D. (2018). The Impact of Home Environment Factors on Academic Achievement of Adolescents. Researchers World, 9(1), 137. Retrieved from https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P4-2015382863/the-impact-of-home-environment-factors-on-academic#:~:text=Parental%20involvement%20can%20have%20a,affect%20the%20pupil's%20academic%20achievement

 Hoff, E. (2003), The Specificity of Environmental Influence: Socioeconomic Status Affects Early Vocabulary Development Via Maternal Speech. Child Development, 74: 1368-1378. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00612

Meece,  J. L. (2002).  Child and adolescent development for ed- ucators (2nd ed.).  New York: McGraw-Hill.