Dr. Georgiou and his colleagues of the University of Alberta published a study in Learning and Instruction.  This study examined the cognitive and non-cognitive factors that determine future reading ability in English and Greek.  Dr. Georgiou has done similar studies in China and Finland with the same results.  “We have found that in English, you need a rich home literacy environment.  It’s absolutely necessary."  Georgiou points to English being an inconsistent language.  Letters can have more than one sound each (i.e, /ou/, /ow/). 

What happens if children are not read to at home? According to Dr. Georgiou, the Greek or Finnish children will pick reading skills as early as three months after entering school because the orthography of these languages are much simpler than English.  However, English-speaking children run the risk of falling behind at least two years in terms of their reading skills.

Source: Science Daily, February 16, 2010