A Sequential Analysis of Children's Responsiveness to Parental Print References During Shared Book-Reading Interactions

lmj2t{at}virginia.edu

Adults reading to preschool children have been encouraged to use print references (e.g., questions and comments about print) to stimulate children's interactions with written language. This study used sequential analysis (Bakeman & Gottman, 1997) to determine the extent to which typically developing preschoolers were responsive to parental print references during a shared book-reading interaction using a rhyming book. Participants included 15 parents and their preschool children (mean age = 4 years 6 months). A single shared reading ession was collected for each dyad following parental instruction in print-referencing behaviors. Results indicated that children responded at an overall rate of 60% to parental print references but that differential levels of child responsiveness occurred as a function of parental utterance type. That is, parental prompts were significantly more likely to elicit child responses than parental comments were. Results also indicated that children's responsiveness did not vary as a function of the early literacy topic of parental print references. For instance, children were no more likely to respond to prompts addressing alphabet knowledge than those addressing book-reading concepts or word awareness. Results may help guide intervention planning for children exhibiting low levels of early literacy skill.

Note:

These authors were affiliated with Ohio University during data collection activities.

Key Words: early literacy, parent-child instructions, storybook reading, print awareness

Submitted on January 15, 2001
Accepted on June 13, 2001

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. A. Zucker, L. M. Justice, and S. B. Piasta Prekindergarten Teachers' Verbal References to Print During Classroom-Based, Large-Group Shared Reading Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch, October 1, 2009; 40(4): 376 - 392. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Lovelace and S. R. Stewart Increasing Print Awareness in Preschoolers With Language Impairment Using Non-Evocative Print Referencing Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch, January 1, 2007; 38(1): 16 - 30. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. Girolametto, E. Weitzman, P. Lefebvre, and J. Greenberg The Effects of In-Service Education to Promote Emergent Literacy in Child Care Centers: A Feasibility Study Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch, January 1, 2007; 38(1): 72 - 83. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]