Henrietta Rema Sawyerr February 18th 2016

ECED 801 Integrated Research and Practice Paper 1 Assignment

Lefebvre, P., Trudeau, N., & Sutton, A. (2016). Enhancing vocabulary, print awareness and phonological awareness through shared

storybook reading with low-income preschoolers. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 11(4), 453-479.

doi:10.1177/1468798411416581

Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study was to compare the effects of two shared storybook reading interventions on

language and emergent literacy skills of low-income preschoolers

Research Questions What are the relative effects of two shared storybook reading interventions conducted in childcare centers

on the performance of low-income preschoolers in language and emergent literacy tasks?

How does the performance of low-income preschoolers in language and emergent literacy tasks compare

with that of higher-income children who do not receive intervention?

Participants Forty children met the inclusion criteria for the study.

Twenty eight were from low-income families and twelve from higher-income families.

The inclusion criteria for all the children were French as their native language.

The children were from seven childcare centers in Canada

There were six male students in the experimental group, eight male students in the control group and

seven male students in the comparison group.

There were four female students in the experimental group, five female students in the control group and

five female students in the comparison group.

In the experimental group, four students had language delays. The control group had seven students with

1

language delays and none of the students in the comparison group had language delays.

Method The study used a quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test design including an experimental, a control, and a

comparison group.

The children were randomly assigned to experimental and control interventions

The experimental group included low-income preschoolers who participated in the experimental shared

storybook reading intervention program, which explicitly targeted language, print awareness, and

phonological awareness.

The control group included low-income preschoolers who received similar shared storybook reading

intervention in which only language and print awareness were explicitly targeted.

The comparison group included higher-income children who did not receive any specific intervention.

Measures Criterion-referenced instruments rather than norm-referenced tests were chosen as measures of

language and emergent literacy skills because they are more appropriate for monitoring progress in

specific areas and norm-referenced tests of the relevant skills were not available in French.

Language Measure: A receptive vocabulary instrument, similar to those developed in other studies on

vocabulary acquisition from storybooks was developed to measure the knowledge of fifteen vocabulary

words. For each word, the child was asked to pint to its corresponding picture among four different black

and white drawings presented on the page. The picture of the target item in the test was different from the

picture in the storybooks. The whole instrument included three practice items, 15 items relating to the

target vocabulary words and ten other easy high-frequency items. Each item was worth a point for a

maximum of 25 points. (Lambert and Chesnet, 2001)

Print Awareness Measure: A French adaptation of the Preschool Word and Print Awareness protocol

was developed and used. This protocol uses adult child interaction with the picture book “Nine Ducks

2

Nine.” Questions related to 14 print-related concepts were asked. Each answer was worth 1 or 2 points

for a maximum of 17 points (Hayes, 1990).

Phonological Awareness Measure was used to measure phonological awareness. This instrument

includes four tasks: rhyme judgement, initial consonant comparison, syllable segmentation and syllable

deletion. Each task includes two training items, four practice items and ten assessment items. The

instrument also uses manipulation of wooden block to make the task more concrete for the child. The

first two tasks (rhyme judgement and initial consonant comparison) requires a yes/no response and the

last two (syllable segmentation and deletion) require an oral response from the child. Each answer is

worth 1 point for a maximum of 40 points (Lefebvre et al., 2008).

Findings The findings provides evidence that shared storybook reading interventions using explicit facilitation

strategies can enhance not only vocabulary and print awareness, but also phonological awareness in low-

income preschoolers within a natural educational setting, such as in a child care center.

Hayes, S. (1990). Nine ducks nine. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

Lambert, E., & Chesnet, D. (2001). NOVLEX: Une base de donnees lexicales pour les eleves de primaire’. L’Annee Psychologue,

101(2), 277-288.

Lefebvre, P., Girard, C., Desrosiers, K., Trudeau, N., & Sutton, A. (2008). Phonological awareness tasks for French speaking

preschoolers. Canadian Journal of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology, 32(4), 158-168.

Huennekens, M. E., & Xu, Y. (2010). Effects of a cross-linguistic storybook intervention on second language development of two

preschool English language learners. Early Childhood Education Journal, 38(1), 19-26. doi:10.1007/s10643-010-0385-1

3

Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a shared reading experience between parent and

child in the child’s home language on the emergent literacy and language acquisition in English or

preschool-age English language learners.

Research Questions Does a shared book reading experience between a parent and a child in the home language increase the

frequency of utterance in the second language (English)?

Does a shared book reading experience between a parent and a child in the home language increase the

mean length of utterance in the second language (English)?

Does a shared book reading experience between a parent and a child in the home language increase the

frequency of child-initiated utterances in the second language and the responses to others in the second

language?

Participants The participants in this study were two four year-old English language learners.

One male and one female whose predominant home language is Spanish.

The children in the study were considered to be sequential bilinguals or sequential English language

learners, they learned their home language first and started learning English.

The family incomes met the qualifying level under the guidelines for Head Start enrollment. Parents

completed a survey of demographic information and home literacy practices.

Child 1 was a 58-month-old female who had been in Head Start program for over six months. Her

mother’s education background was elementary school completion. Both of her parents were unemployed

at the time of the survey

Child 2 is a 65-month-old male who has been in Head Start for less than five months. His mother

completed high school

Method A single subject with multiple baselines across subjects and settings was applied. Baseline

4

information was gathered prior to the intervention.

Each child was observed for twenty five minutes in the classroom during the large group meeting

and storybook time.

Their comments were recorded verbatim using a data recording sheet designed for the study

Following the observation, the rate of utterance per minute was calculated and graphed.

Once a stable baseline of at least three data points was established with child 1 and child 2, the

parents were trained and upon completion of training received a Spanish language storybook.

The intervention continued each week and parents received a new Spanish storybook each week.

The teachers received the English version of the Spanish storybook and the English version of the

storybooks were used in school for these two children. Child 1 received intervention for a total of

seven weeks and child 2 received intervention for a total of five weeks.

The parents participated in a dialogic reading training session provided by the researcher and

assisted by a certified Spanish language interpreter.

The training used a Spanish language storybook appropriate for 3 and 4 year olds

The interpreter modeled the technique and engaged the parents in a practice session

Questions and concerns the parents had about the program were answered following the training

session

Parents received a packet of materials containing a brief reminder of the dialogic reading protocol,

a reading log, and dialogic reading questions specific to each book and contact information for the

interpreter.

The teachers were asked to read the assigned storybook 3-5 times each week. The researcher

observed 6 of the reading sessions prior to the intervention

5

Findings The results indicated that there might be a relation between the shared reading experience in the home

language and the child’s second language acquisition.

Aram, D., & Biron, S. (2004). Joint storybook reading and joint writing interventions among low socioeconomic status preschooler:

Differential contributions to early literacy. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 19, 588-610.

doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2004.10.003

Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to compare two different interventions related to joint reading and joint

writing, one focusing on language and storybook reading and the other on alphabetic skills and writing.

Research Questions What are the differential effects of promoting language and storybook reading versus enhancing

6

alphabetic skills and writing?

Will the younger children in the programs, aged 3-4, gain as much from the literacy interventions as the

older children aged 4-5? And will the greatest gains result from the same program at both age intervals?

Do young children (age 3-5) benefit from a writing program that includes direct phonological awareness

and letter knowledge instruction?

Participants The participants were preschoolers from six preschools in the low socioeconomic status township in

central Israel. Six preschoolers were selected to participate in the study. Four preschools participated in

an intervention program and two preschools served as a control group. A total of 120 children, 60 in each

program, around 30 in each preschool received one of the two interventions. The participants selected

had to be fluent in the Hebrew language and none of the children had special needs.

Method Children worked in small groups of four or six children for 20 to 30 minutes session twice weekly

Measures Phonological Awareness Measure: This measure focused on alliteration and rhymes. Each included 10

two-syllable word pairs. Children were asked if the first syllable of a word resembled or differed from the

first syllable of its paired word. On the rhyming task, the same question was asked in reference to word

pairs’ final syllables (Goswami & Bryant, 1990).

Word Writing Measure: Students were asked to write two pairs of words. The two word in each pair

differed in their phonological length but did not differ clearly in the size of their referents. Each written

word was scored on a writing scale for children younger than 4-5 years. The scale comprised three

sequential general schemes: graphic, writing-like, and symbolic. The graphic scheme reflected the

development of graphic control ranging from scribbles to good forms. The symbolic writing scheme

ranged from using numbers or random letters to one conventional letter, two conventional letters, or

mostly conventional spelling (Levin & Bus, 2003).

7

Letter Name Knowledge: Each child was asked to name eight printed letters that were presented on

separate cards and printed in large print (Turkey’s (1977).

Orthographic awareness: This test included ten pairs of graphic items comprising one printed word and

one non-word that included a mixture of Latin and Hebrew letters, numerals. Children were asked to

select the printed word (Olson, Kliegl, Davidson, & Foltz, 1985).

Listening Comprehension: The children listened twice to a short story about a boy and his dog. Seven

informative questions followed the story. The responses were scored and the sum of the correct answers

served as the listening comprehension score (Shatil et al., 2000).

Receptive Vocabulary: Children’s receptive vocabulary using the Peabody, Picture Vocabulary Test

was examined. Student’s had to select one picture out of four, depicting a spoken word (Solberg &

Nevo, 1979).

General Knowledge: The first fourteen questions from the general knowledge subscale of the Wechsler

Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence was used. Each item was scored 0 or 1, yielding a maximum

score of 14. The sum of the correct responses served as the general knowledge score (Liblich, 1979)

Findings Results indicated that children in the two literacy programs progressed significantly more than the control

group on phonological awareness and orthographic awareness. However, the joint writing group

significantly outperformed both the joint reading group and the control group on phonological awareness,

word writing, orthographic awareness, and letter knowledge. The results also indicated that children as

young as 3-4 years gained from literacy programs as much as did older children, aged 4-5, on all the

measures assessed in our program.

Goswami, U., & Bryant, P. (1990). Phonological skills and learning to read. Hilldale, NJ: Erlbaum.

8

Levin, I., & Bus, A. (2003). How is emergent writing based on drawing? Analyses of children’s products and their sorting by children

and mothers. Developmental Psychology, 39, 891-905.

Liblich, A. (1979). Wechsler preschool and primary scale of intelligence. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and The

Ministry of Education and Culture.

Olson, D. R., Kliefl, R., Davidson, B. J., & Foltz, G. (1985). Individual and developmental differences in reading disability. In T. G.

Waller (Ed.), Reading Research: Advances in Theory and Practice, 4, 1-64. New York: Academic Press

Shatil, E., Share, D. C., & Levin, I. (2000). On the contribution of kindergarten writing to grade one literacy: A longitudinal stdy in

Hebrew. Applied Psycholinguistics, 21, 1-21.

Turkey, J. W. (1977). Exploratory data analysis reading. MA: Addison Wesley.

Kelley, E. S., Goldstein, H., Spencer, T. D., & Sherman, A. (2015). Effects of automated tier 2 storybook intervention on vocabulary

and comprehension learning in preschool children with limited oral language skills. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 31,

47-61. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2014.12.004

Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an automated storybook intervention designed to

promote school readiness among at-risk prekindergarten children.

Research Questions To what extent does automated vocabulary intervention embedded in prerecorded storybooks improve

vocabulary knowledge of prekindergarten children with limited oral language skills?

9

To what extent does automated question-answering intervention embedded in prerecorded storybooks

improve the ability of preschool children with limited oral language skills to answer questions about

stories?

Participants Eighteen (18) children participated in this study. There were eleven (11) girls and seven (7) boys

with a mean age of four years, six months recruited from three prekindergarten classrooms serving

children from families with low income.

Many of the children in these classrooms had limited oral language skills. All participants were

African American. None of the participants had an identified disability or received services

through an Individualized Education Program. All the children spoke English as their only

language

Method A randomized group design with an embedded single case experimental design was used to

examine treatment effects. Eighteen children from public prekindergarten programs serving

families with low income were randomly assigned to the Story Friends treatment or a business-as-

usual comparison.

Participants in groups completed measures of vocabulary and comprehension. Participants in the

treatment group completed measures of instructional content for each book

The duration of the study, including pretesting, and post testing was 14 weeks

Review books were included after three instructional books.

After completing the three lessons for the three instructional books, participants listened to the

review book one more time and completed the unit post test.

Measures Participants in the treatment group completed measures of instructional content for each book as part of

the embedded single- case experimental design. The Assessment of Story Comprehension was used to

10

measure improvements in questioning answering. This assessment is a researcher made curriculum based

measurement tool with nine stories.

Findings Story friends’ participants had significantly higher scores on measures of vocabulary than the comparison

group and the effect sizes were larger, whereas more modest effects were shown for comprehension

measures. Results show a feasible means of teaching pre-kindergarten children challenging vocabulary

that has the potential to facilitate later literacy development.

Chlapana, E., & Tafa, E. (2014). Effective practices to enhance immigrant kindergarteners’ second language vocabulary learning

through storybook reading. Reading and Writing, 27, 1619-1640. doi:10.1007/s11145-014-9510-7

Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to examine:

a) The impact of two different teaching practices, direct instruction and interactive instruction, on

immigrant kindergarten children’s vocabulary learning during storybook reading.

b) The effectiveness of direct instruction and interactive instruction when implemented in whole

group settings where monolingual and immigrant children from different nationalities are educated

together.

11

c) If the effect of these two different teaching practices on vocabulary development is significantly

differentiated by children’s gender, age, cognitive development, and second language vocabulary

level.

d) Whether the differences of compared practices on kindergarteners’ second language vocabulary

learning are maintained in the long term.

Research Questions The authors did not provide any research questions for this study.

Participants The participants who took part in this study were from Greece.

Eighty seven four to six (4-6) year old Greek language learners participate in this study. There were forty

two (42) boys and forty five (45) girls.

These participants were recruited from twelve (12) kindergarten classrooms within seven (7) public

kindergartens.

In each classroom fifty percent (50%) of the total number of children was from immigrant families.

Out of the 87 children, 46 were from Albania, 13 from Bulgaria, 11 from India, 1 from Fyrom, 1 from

Moldova, 2 from Romania, 5 from Syria, 2 from Turkey, 1 from the Netherlands, 3 from England, UK

and 2 from Russia.

Method A between-subjects experimental design was employed to investigate the effect of different teaching

practices on target second language vocabulary learning.

Vocabulary teaching practices were used with all the Greek and immigrant children attending each of the

participating kindergarten classrooms.

Four kindergarten classrooms were assigned to the first experimental group, four to the second

experimental group and four to the control group.

In the first experimental group, the first author explained target words according to direct instruction

12

techniques, while in the second experimental group she explained target words according to the

interactive instruction techniques. In the control group, she read the stories without providing any

explanation of target word meanings.

During the intervention phase, six stories were read twice in whole group settings.

Target and non-target words were assessed by multiple choice vocabulary measure before and after the

storybook readings.

Measures Children’s non-verbal cognitive ability was measured by the Colored Progressive Matrices (Raven,

1956).

The children’s Greek receptive vocabulary was measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test

(Dunn & Dunn, 1981).

Immigrant children’s use of their mother tongue and the Greek language in school was assessed by an

eight item teacher questionnaire

Target Vocabulary Test: The target vocabulary test assessed children’s knowledge of target words. The

target vocabulary test contained three training items and fifty six testing items that included target words

from six storybooks that were used during the intervention program. Out of the 56 words 34 were

selected for instruction while the remaining 22 were used to assess the implicit treatment effect on target

vocabulary learning. Nine to ten words were selected from each book. The target words were randomly

arranged in the 56 testing items. Each item consisted of 4 pictures. One picture depicted the stimulus

word and the other three the distractors. One point was given to children for each correct answer (Dunn

& Dunn, 1981).

Findings Results showed that interactive instruction was more beneficial on target vocabulary learning than direct

instruction and the impact was greater for instructed words than for uninstructed ones. In addition, results

13

showed that boys and girls responded differently to the teaching procedures. Girls outperformed boys on

instructed words. Furthermore, children’s initial level in Greek receptive vocabulary and target word

knowledge had a significant impact on word learning.

Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, L. M. (1981). Peabody picture vocabulary test. MN: American Guidance Service.

Raven, J. C. (1956). Colored progressive matrices: Sets A, AB, B. London: Lewis.

Kotaman, H. (2013). Impacts of dialogical storybook reading on young children’s reading attitudes and vocabulary development.

Reading Improvement, 50(4), 199-204.

Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of parents’ dialogical storybook reading on their

children’s receptive vocabulary and reading attitudes.

Research Questions a) Will children’s dialogical storybook reading with parents increase their receptive vocabulary level?

b) Will children’s dialogical storybook reading with parents have a positive impact on children’s

reading attitudes?

c) Is there a relationship between children’s receptive vocabulary development and reading attitudes?

Participants a) The participants included Turkish parents over the age of 18 years residing in Turkey, who had a

14

child aged 36 to 48 months.

b) The study involved a sample of 40 parents and 40 children for a total of 80 participants. These

participants were selected among parents with children in a private preschool.

c) Out of the 20 children in the experimental group, nine were girls (45%) and 11 were boys (55%).

The control group included 12 (60%) girls and eight (40%) boys. Ages of the children in the

experimental group ranged from 3.3 to 4.9 years, with a mean age of 3.9 years.

d) Concurrently, the ages of the children in the control group ranged from 3.2 to 5 years, with a mean

age of 3.9 years. Majority of the parents in the experimental, 16(80%) and control 17(85%) groups

were female.

e) Most of the participants in the experimental (14, 70%) and control (16; 80%) groups had a university

education. Majority of the participants came from middle-class families.

Method The study utilized a pretest-posttest, control group design with random assignment of parents to

dialogical reading and control groups. The control group parents did not receive dialogical storybook

reading training. Thus no intervention occurred with the control group children during the seven

week control phase.

All groups completed a pretest and a posttest. Children’s vocabulary level and reading attitude were

measured before parents answered the demographic questionnaire.

Participants in the experimental group received instruction for a period of two hours. Parents in the

experimental group received education in dialogic storybook reading techniques during the

instruction session. The session lasted 120 minutes and consisted of two 20 minute sessions, a 15

minute break and a 65 minute session.

Seven weeks after the program ended, all participants’ children’s vocabulary levels were measured

15

with the Turkish version of the PPTV, and their reading attitudes were measured with an adaptation

of the PRAS (Saracho & Dayton, 1989, 1991).

Measures The children’s receptive vocabularies were measured with a Turkish version of Peabody Picture

Vocabulary Test. Children were shown cards. Each card contained four pictures. Children were asked to

point to the picture that the investigator described (Katz, Onen, Demir, Uzlukaya & Uludag, 1974).

Findings The experimental group children showed significant increases in receptive vocabulary and reading attitude

scores. There was no relationship between reading attitude and receptive vocabulary development.

Katz, J., Onen, F., Demir, N., Uzlukaya, A. & Uludag, P. (1974). Turkish peabody picture vocabulary test. Hacettepe Bulletin of

Social Sciences and Humanities, 6, 129-140.

Saracho, O. N. & Dayton, C. M. (1989). A factor-analytic study of reading attitudes in young children. Contemporary Educational

Psychology, 14, 12-21.

Saracho, O. N. & Dayton, C. M. (1991). Age-related changes in reading attitudes of young children: A cross-cultural study. Journal

of Research in Reading, 14, 33-45.

16

Justice, L. M., Kaderavek, J. N., Fan, X., Sofka, A., & Hunt, A. (2009). Accelerating preschooler’s early literacy development through

classroom-based teacher-child storybook reading and explicit print referencing. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in

Schools, 40(1), 67-85. doi:10.1044/0161-1461(2008/07-0098)

Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of teacher use of a print referencing style during

classroom-based storybook reading sessions conducted over an academic year.

Research Questions To what extent does preschool teachers’ use of a print referencing style increase the print knowledge of at-

risk children over and beyond that which occurs with teachers’ typical reading style?

Participants Teachers

The lead teachers of 23 classrooms affiliated with four early childhood programs in two states (Ohio

17

and Virginia) served as participants.

Of the participating teachers, 22 % held an advanced or graduate degree (n=5), 56% held a bachelor

(43%, n=10) or associate degree (13%, n=3), and 22 % held high school diploma (n=5).

Most of the teachers majored in early childhood education (n=8) or elementary education (n=5) and

the remainder (n=10) majored in another area.

The average teacher had 10.5 years of teaching experience and was 44 years of age.

Children

Six children were selected from each classroom for a total sample size of 142

Out of the 142 children selected only children who had both pre and post measures of the outcome

variables (i.e. measures of print concept, alphabet knowledge, and name writing) were included,

reducing the sample size for the present set of analysis to 106 children.

Children who were eligible to enroll in this study exhibited risk factors, which generally included

poverty, documented family stress (e.g. unemployment, homelessness), or suspected/diagnosed

developmental problems.

The sample included 59 boys and 47 girls. The average age of the children in the fall of the year was

4 years 4 months.

67 children were non-Hispanic White, 24 were black, 9 were Hispanic White, 2 were Native

18

American, and 2 were Asian.

The majority of the children spoke English at home. 76 % of the children’s mothers did not have a

college or university degree and approximately one third of the mothers (34%) had no education

beyond high school.

Approximately, one half of the children’s families had an annual household income in the range of

$5,000 to $25,000, and the majority (75%) of families had annual incomes below $40,000.

Six children received special education services.

Method Classrooms were randomly assigned to conditions. 14 classrooms were assigned to a print

referencing condition, and 9 were assigned on an everyday shared reading comparison condition.

Teachers in these classrooms implemented a 30 week shared reading program in their classrooms

using a set of 30 storybooks.

These books were selected specifically because they contained print salient features such as speech

bubbles, font changes, and accentuated word. The majority of the titles were fictional, although

poetry, informational, and alphabet books were also represented.

Teachers in the print referencing condition used a print referencing style during 120 large group

storybook reading sessions while teachers in the comparison classrooms read at the same frequency

and with the same storybooks but used their normal style of reading.

Measures Two types of measures were used in this study. The child print knowledge outcomes and the

classroom quality. To measure children’s print knowledge outcomes, three standardized criterion

reference tools were used. All measures were administered in English.

The first two measures were the Upper-Case alphabet Knowledge and Name Writing Ability

19

subtests of the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (Invernizzi, Meier, & Sullivan, 2004).

The alphabet measure is administered by asking children to produce the name of all 26 letters

presented in random order. Children received one point for each correct name.

The name writing measure is administered by asking children to produce a portrait of themselves

and then to sign it. Children’s name-writing representations were scored on a 7-point scale based on

a developmental continuum of early writing development.

The third measure was the Preschool Word and Print Awareness Assessment which examined

children’s knowledge of concepts about print and words (Justice & Ezell, 2001). To implement this

task, an examiner and child read a book together and the examiner embeds a series of structured tasks

into the reading routine (e.g. the examiner ask child to show just one word on a page to demonstrate

his or her ability to represent words as units of a written language.

Findings The results indicate that children whose teachers used a print referencing style showed larger gains on 3

standardized measures of print knowledge, print concept knowledge, alphabet knowledge, and name writing,

with medium sized effects.

Invernizzi, M., Meier, J., & Sullivan, A. (2004). Phonological awareness and literacy screening: Pre-Kindergarten. Charlottesville,

VA: University of Virginia. 17, 207-225.

Justice, L. M. & Ezell, H. K. (2001). Word and print awareness in 4-year old children. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 17,

207-225.

20

Justice, L. M., & Kaderavek, J. N. (2003). Topic control during shared storybook reading. Topics in Early Childhood Special

Education, 23(3), 137-150.

Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to:

characterize control of topic during shared storybook reading for mothers and their children with

language impairments

to compare mothers and children in topic control verses contingency

to examine associations among maternal and child topic control, and

to examine individual differences in control arrangements across individual dyads to generate a

preliminary topic control typology

Research Questions The authors did not provide any research questions for this study.

21

Participants 11 children, 1 girl and 10 boys took part in this study.

The children ranged in age from 45 months to 67 months, with a mean age of 59 months.

At the time of the study, all the children were currently receiving speech-language intervention

The children were native English speakers and resided in homes in which English was the primary

language spoken

Ten children were Caucasian, and one was African American

Family socioeconomic status is best described as lower to middle class

Ten of the 11 children were residing in two parent households, with 5 of the mothers working part or

full time

In terms of education, one mother had completed some high school, three mothers were high school

graduates, four mothers had graduated from 2-year college program, one mother had received a 4-

year college degree, and two mothers held master’s degree.

One father had completed some high school, five fathers were high school graduates, one father had

completed a 2-year college degree, two fathers had a bachelor’s degree, and one father had a master’s

degree.

To participate in the study, the children were required to receive a standard score of less than 1

standard deviation below the mean on the receptive and/or expressive subtest of the Test of Early

Language Development (Hresko, Reid, & Hammill, 1991).

Method Parents completed a series of 40 storybook reading sessions in their homes over 10 weeks.

Each week, parents introduced their children to a new storybook, which was then read by the parents

and their children four times over the course of a week.

All home reading sessions were audiotaped using recording materials and these tapes were submitted

22

to the authors by mail every 2 weeks.

Control of discourse topic was studied for two book reading interactions involving 11 dyads

Findings The results indicated that mothers and their children shared the control of topic during book reading and that

both mothers and children displayed balance in their control verses contingent topic contributions. The

results also indicated robust reciprocal associations that were evident between maternal and child discourse

control features as well as three observable patterns of topic control arrangements characterized

individualized dyads.

Hresko, W. P., Reid, K., & Hammill, D. D. (1991). Test of early language development. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.

Justice, L. M. (2002). Word exposure conditions and preschoolers novel word learning during shared storybook reading. Reading

Psychology, 23, 87-106.

Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to characterize the influence of various conditions of word exposure

upon children’s receptive and expressive learning of novel words occurring within storybook reading

interactions.

Research Questions To what extent does adults’ questioning versus labeling of novel words during shared book reading

differentially influence preschool children’s receptive and expressive novel words learning?

With respect to novel word learning via adult questioning, to what extent do adults’ perceptual versus

conceptual questions during shared book reading differentially influence preschool children’s

receptive and expressive novel word learning?

Participants To participate in this study, children were required to have no known history of language, speech,

gross motor, or neurological impairment; exhibit hearing abilities within normal limits, and exhibit

23

receptive and expressive language skills within normal limits.

Eligibility was established by administering individual eligibility assessments, which included

administration of a parent questionnaire, bilateral hearing screening at 30 or 35 dB, the Peabody

Picture Vocabulary Test-III (Dunn & Dunn, 1997) and two subtests of the Clinical Evaluation of

Language Fundamentals – Preschool (Wiig, Secord, & Semel, 1992).

Twenty three preschool children participated in this study.

There were 10 females and 13 males

The children ranged in age from 37 months to 59 months, with a mean age of 47 months

All participants were native English speakers and resided in homes in which English was the primary

language spoken.

In terms of ethnicity, 19 children were Caucasian, 3 were African American, and one child was of

both Hispanic and African-American heritage.

All children were enrolled in a private day care center during the time of the study.

Majority of the children’s mothers held a high school diploma (n=15), three mothers had completed

some college or a technical degree and four had received bachelor’s degree.

As for the fathers, three had not completed high school, 14 held high school diplomas, four had some

college or a technical degree, and one had a bachelor’s degree.

Method The study included two experimental conditions:

Questioning versus labeling of novel words and conceptual versus perceptual questions about novel

words

A multivariate split plot research design served as the framework

Children participated in two individual shared book reading sessions over a one week period.

24

Each reading session lasted approximately seven minutes.

During each reading session, the adult read a single storybook, “Feathers for Lunch”. The adult

deviated from the text only to expose children to words comprising their novel word sets, and to

respond to children’s spontaneous questions and comments.

Children were exposed to each of their 10 novel words one time during each reading session.

After the second reading, children’s novel word learning was tested using the Novel Receptive and

Novel Expressive Vocabulary measures.

Post testing was conducted by the author in 20 minute individual sessions.

Measures Children’s receptive and expressive learning of novel vocabulary words were examined using two measures

developed for the purpose of this study

Novel receptive vocabulary: This measure examined children’s receptive knowledge of the target

vocabulary words (Dunn & Dunn, 1997). Children were presented with four illustrations on a test

plate (e.g. cardinal, oriole, wren, and woodpecker). A set of large laminated cards were developed

and used for this purpose. Children were asked to identify a target item named by the examiner (e.g.

show a wren)

Novel expressive vocabulary: This measure determined children’s expressive knowledge of the

target vocabulary items. Children were presented a series of test plates, each depicting a single

illustrated item (e. g. cardinal, oriole). Children were asked to label the item depicted on the card

(Gardner, 1990)

Findings The results indicated that adults’ labeling of novel words facilitated children’s receptive word learning more

so than questioning, however, this effect was not observed for expressive word learning. Results also

indicted no difference in receptive or expressive word learning as a result of conceptual versus perceptual

25

questions.

Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, L. M. (1997). Peabody picture vocabulary test. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.

Gardner, M. F. (1990). Expressive one word picture vocabulary test. Novato, CA: Academic Therapy Publications.

Wiig. E. H., Secord, W., & Semel, E. (1992). The clinical evaluation of language fundamental-preschool. New York: The

Psychological Corporation.

Pullen, P. C., Tuckwiller, E. D., Konold, T. R., Maynard, K. L., & Coyne, M. D. (2010). A tiered intervention model for early

vocabulary instruction: The effects of tiered instruction for young students at risk for reading disability. Learning Disabilities

Research, 25(3), 110-123. doi:101111/j1540-5826.2010.00309.x

Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to provide a review of a particularly effective model of vocabulary

intervention based on shared storybook reading and situates this model in a context of tiered intervention

Research Questions

Participants Participants included 224 first grade children from three elementary school.

The student sample consisted of 98 students at risk for language difficulties and reading failure based

on low levels of vocabulary and 126 designated as not at risk

Method A partially randomized design was implemented in which three groups of children were compared on three

hierarchically ordered measures of vocabulary following a two week intervention

26

Measures

Findings Results on the multivariate analysis of variance revealed significant differences on measures of target

vocabulary knowledge at the receptive and context level, suggesting that students at risk for reading failure

benefit significantly from a second tier of vocabulary instruction.

27

Immigrant families face difficulties in various academic tasks. Immigrant children may fall behind their monolingual peers especially in the size of their vocabularyTeachers are not well familiarized with flexible teaching practices aimed at immigrant children’s vocabulary development

Language Skills Language skills are good predictors of future

comprehension and production Low-income preschoolers enter kindergarten

already showing discrepancy in their oral language development when compared to their peers from the middle classes

Repeated exposure and elaboration of the meaning of words can improve vocabulary learning

Print Awareness Print awareness refers to the forms, conventions

and functions of print, including alphabet knowledge.

It includes skills such as understanding that print carries meaning, being aware of environmental print, being able to handle books properly, understanding the directionality of print, being familiar with major book elements such as the cover, title or author, and knowing the letters of the alphabet.

Low income children tend to show weaker print awareness skills than their middle class peers

During shared storybook reading, the adult can systematically and explicitly use non-verbal cues such as interrupting reading in order to talk about a print concept explicitly.

Enhancing vocabulary, print awareness and phonological awareness through shared storybook reading with low-income preschoolers

Phonological Awareness Phonological awareness refers to sensitivity to the

sound units of language, such as syllables, rhymes, and phonemes, and the ability to manipulate these units

Children from low-income backgrounds tend to show weaker phonological awareness skills than their peers from the middle classes

Second language AcquisitionPreschool-age ELLs may have special challenges in early language learning and development especially when they are asked to develop language and literacy skills in English and in their home language

Family InvolvementLiteracy experiences in the home environment, particularly parent/child shared storybook reading can have significant influence on children’s vocabulary, phonological awareness, decoding skills, print concepts, and alphabet awareness.

Shared Reading ExperienceShared reading experience has a significant impact on children’s expressive language skillsDialogic reading has been shown to have a significant effect on children’s developing language and emergent reading skills

Storybook Reading Intervention

28

Vocabulary learning is accomplished through incidental and explicit learning procedures which are imbedded in rich and meaningful contexts, such as storybook reading

Techniques such as word definitions, word synonyms and/or role-playing seem to contribute to children’s vocabulary learning

Interactive reading and open-ended questions encourage children’s active and cognitive involvement in stories and word discussion

Immigrant children come from different ethnic and language communities. These children often find themselves in a new school environment, in which the language of instruction is to some degree completely unfamiliar to them

Techniques for vocabulary instructionProvide word synonyms, present words in contexts different from that of the books, dramatization of the word meaning with facial expressions and gestures, pointing to illustration of the target word and asking labeling questions that encourage children to provide the label of a word

Phonological Awareness Phonological awareness refers to sensitivity to the

sound units of language, such as syllables, rhymes, and phonemes, and the ability to manipulate these units

Children from low-income backgrounds tend to show weaker phonological awareness skills than their peers from the middle classes