Increasing the Print Focus of Adult-Child Shared Book Reading Through Observational Learning

An instructional strategy for increasing adults' verbal and nonverbal references to print while reading to typically developing 4-year-old children was evaluated. Also investigated were the effects of adults' use of references to print on children's verbal interactions with print. Using a pretest-posttest control group design, 24 female graduate students in speech-language pathology or audiology were matched on their amount of previous clinical experience with young children and were assigned to an experimental or control group. Those in the experimental group viewed a brief video that demonstrated the use of three verbal references (comments, questions, and requests) and two nonverbal references to print (tracking and pointing to print). Results indicated that both groups showed few references to print at pretest. However, the experimental group used all five reference types significantly more often than the control group at posttest. In addition, the proportion of children's verbal utterances referring to print significantly increased for those children reading with adults who had received instruction. Clinical implications are discussed.

Key Words: emergent literacy, shared book reading, observational learning, adult-child interactions

Submitted on July 15, 1999
Accepted on December 17, 1999