Pre-existing Background Knowledge Influences Socioeconomic Differences in Preschoolers’ Word Learning and Comprehension

Kaefer, Tanya; Neuman, Susan B.; Pinkham, Ashley M.

doi:10.1080/02702711.2013.843064

Cited by 37 publications

(35 citation statements)

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“…Furthermore, we found that children's extant vocabulary impacted their attention to the appropriate narrative details in text. Considerable prior research has identified background knowledge as a fundamental factor in children's comprehension (e.g., Kaefer et al, 2015), and these findings suggest that one mechanism by which background knowledge aids in comprehension in prereaders may be by guiding children's attention to relevant parts of illustrations. That is, it may be that children who understand the words of the text more readily can more easily identify the corresponding portion of the illustrations and therefore attend to them.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This process relies heavily on background knowledge (Cain, Oakhill, Barnes, & Bryant, 2001), working memory (Daneman & Carpenter, 1980), vocabulary (Sénéchal, Ouellette, & Rodney, 2006), and overall verbal intelligence (Cain, Oakhill, & Bryant, 2004). Less is known about the processes involved in comprehending stories for prereaders, but some research suggest that the overall process is similar (Paris & Paris, 2003) and dependent on similar skills (Kaefer, Neuman, & Pinkham, 2015). One important difference in comprehension skills between reading and nonreading contexts is that comprehension is not dependent on decoding skill for nonreaders.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Historically, one limitation to examining storybook comprehension in toddlers was that most measures of comprehension require significant oral language skills (Dickinson, McCabe, & Essex, 2006). Some studies have used measures that rely on pointing ability (e.g., Kaefer et al, 2015), which typically develops in the second year (Leung & Rheingold, 1981), but may not always be a reliable measure for toddlers (Hood, Carey, & Prasada, 2000), making measurement of comprehension in this age group a challenge. It is also possible that toddlers' comprehension skill may not be fully accessible to conscious awareness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seeing and knowing: Attention to illustrations during storybook reading and narrative comprehension in 2‐year‐olds

Kaefer

Pinkham

Neuman

2016

Infant and Child Development

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Research (Evans & Saint‐Aubin, ) suggests systematic patterns in how young children visually attend to storybooks. However, these studies have not addressed whether visual attention is predictive of children's storybook comprehension. In the current study, we used eye‐tracking methodology to examine two‐year‐olds' visual attention while being read an unfamiliar storybook. Immediately following reading, they completed a comprehension assessment. Children who visually attended to illustrations depicting key narrative events during the initial reading demonstrated stronger comprehension than children who focused on other areas. Importantly, visual attention to pertinent illustrations was also positively related to parental reports of vocabulary knowledge. Collectively, this supports a reciprocal model of early knowledge development: vocabulary knowledge facilitates visual attention, and visual attention to storybook illustrations facilitates subsequent learning. Highlights The current study examines two‐year‐olds comprehension of storybooks and whether this comprehension is impacted by their visual attention to illustrations and extant vocabulary. This study uses eye‐tracking methodology to examine the relationship between extant vocabulary, visual attention to illustration and comprehension in two‐year‐olds. This study found that two‐year‐olds visual attention to relevant illustration is predicted by their extant vocabulary and predicts comprehension.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seeing and knowing: Attention to illustrations during storybook reading and narrative comprehension in 2‐year‐olds

Kaefer

Pinkham

Neuman

2016

Infant and Child Development

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“…One of the most important predictors of young children's literacy development and lifelong academic achievement is their knowledge base [1,2]. For example, the depth and breadth of children's background knowledge is positively related to both their vocabulary knowledge and oral language comprehension, and these relationships appear to be mutually reinforcing [3,4]. Children's prior knowledge may support their learning in a number of ways.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taxonomies Support Preschoolers’ Knowledge Acquisition from Storybooks

Pinkham

Kaefer

Neuman

2014

Child Development Research

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For young children, storybooks may serve as especially valuable sources of new knowledge. While most research focuses on how extratextual comments influence knowledge acquisition, we propose that children’s learning may also be supported by the specific features of storybooks. More specifically, we propose that texts that invoke children’s knowledge of familiar taxonomic categories may support learning by providing a conceptual framework through which prior knowledge and new knowledge can be readily integrated. In this study, 60 5-year olds were read a storybook that either invoked their knowledge of a familiar taxonomic category (taxonomic storybook) or focused on a common thematic grouping (traditional storybook). Following the book-reading, children’s vocabulary acquisition, literal comprehension, and inferential comprehension were assessed. Children who were read the taxonomic storybook demonstrated greater acquisition of target vocabulary and comprehension of factual content than children who were read the traditional storybook. Inferential comprehension, however, did not differ across the two conditions. We argue for the importance of careful consideration of book features and storybook selection in order to provide children with every opportunity to gain the knowledge foundational for successful literacy development.

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“…From this so-called academic language, children are able to acquire tools to communicate and theorize efficiently and accurately about subjects beyond the here and now (Henrichs, 2010;Scheele, Leseman, Mayo, & Elbers, 2012;Schleppegrell, 2004). A certain level of mastery of these skills supports children in school, since these skills are regarded as important precursors of vocabulary knowledge (Pinkham & Neuman, 2012), grammar knowledge (Hoff, 2003;Vasilyeva, Waterfall, & Huttenlocher, 2008), and world knowledge (Kaefer, Neuman, & Pinkham, 2015), which, in turn, are related to reading comprehension (Cain, Oakhill, & Bryant, 2004;Leseman, Mayo, Messer, Scheele, & Vander Heyden, 2009;Rowe, 2013).…”

Section: Rural Socio-economic and Cultural Determinants Of Language Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of the language proficiency of five- to seven-year-olds in rural areas

Poolman¹,

Leseman

Doornenbal

et al. 2016

Early Child Development and Care

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Rural children are a largely understudied population in language and literacy research, despite the fact that these children often enter school with delays in their language development. Since most rural areas suffered from so-called selective rural outmigration, many parents in rural areas are lower or middle educated. The home literacy climate, however, depends not only on the educational level of parents, but also on their lifestyle. In this study, we examined whether parental educational level and literacy use -as a feature of parental lifestylepredict the language skills of children in Grade 1 in Northeast Netherlands. Structural equation modelling analyses revealed that the effect of parental literacy use on code-related skills is only significant in K-1 and K-2. In Grade 1, however, literacy use had a modest effect on oral language skills. The findings stress the importance of parents' literacy use for informational purposes. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Pre-existing Background Knowledge Influences Socioeconomic Differences in Preschoolers’ Word Learning and Comprehension

Cited by 37 publications

References 50 publications

Seeing and knowing: Attention to illustrations during storybook reading and narrative comprehension in 2‐year‐olds

Seeing and knowing: Attention to illustrations during storybook reading and narrative comprehension in 2‐year‐olds

Taxonomies Support Preschoolers’ Knowledge Acquisition from Storybooks

Development of the language proficiency of five- to seven-year-olds in rural areas

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