The Relationship Between Middle-Class Parents’ Book-Sharing Discussion and Their Preschoolers’ Abstract Language Development

Abstract

Thirty-five mothers and fathers were videotaped in their homes as they read a familiar and unfamiliar book to their preschoolers aged between 3;6 and 4;1. Parental discussions about the text were coded for four levels of abstraction and correlated with children's gains one year later on a formal test of the same four levels of language abstraction (the Preschool Language Assessment Instrument). Parental input at three of the four levels of abstraction was positively and significantly correlated with their children's gains at the highest level of abstraction. This was also the level at which children's scores were the lowest initially and showed the greatest gains. The results suggest that discussions during book reading with preschoolers may be a positive influence, since it was parents' amount of input at lower as well as higher levels of abstraction that correlated with the children's development of more abstract language. We speculate that more input at lower levels might enhance learning by creating a climate of success in allowing children to display mastered skills, whereas more input at higher levels might enhance learning by challenging children with abstract language skills they are just beginning to acquire. In contrast to previous research, these results suggest that there is a great deal of variability in middle-class families in the amount of input that children receive at various level of abstractions during book sharing.

Quality of language and literacy instruction in preschool classrooms serving at-risk pupils

“…Likewise, few teachers provided literacy instruction that was explicit, systematic, and purposeful. This finding is of concern as children's exposure to instruction characterized by high quality ratings -including abstract vocabulary (van Kleeck, Gillam, Hamilton, & McGrath, 1997;van Kleeck, Vander Woude, & Hammett, 2006), open-ended questions (Girolametto & Weitzman, 2002;Whitehurst et al, 1988), and explicit description of phonological structures and print concepts Justice & Ezell, 2002;van Kleeck et al, 1998) -have been linked to accelerated performance on measures of language comprehension and expression, alphabet knowledge, and phonological awareness. Although this study did not use experimental methods and consequently cannot study the linkages between teachers' participation in professional development in the fall of the year and instructional quality, it is disturbing that quality was low even after workshop training.…”

Effects of automated Tier 2 storybook intervention on vocabulary and comprehension learning in preschool children with limited oral language skills

“…Inferencing ability predicts later listening comprehension (Kendeou, Bohn-Gettler, White, & Van Den Broek, 2008;Lepola, Lynch, Laakkonen, Silvén, & Niemi, 2012) and studies of inferential question use by teachers and parents indicate that these types of questions may result in children's use and understanding of more sophisticated, abstract language (Tompkins, Zucker, Justice, & Binici, 2013;van Kleeck, Gillam, Hamilton, & Cassandra, 1997;Zucker, Justice, Piasta, & Kaderavek, 2010). Few studies have examined interventions to teach such comprehension skills to young children.…”

The Effect of Reciprocal Mapping on High-Risk Sixth-Grade Students' Social Studies Achievement

“…Even at home, parents tend to read narrative text more frequently to their children than informational text (Price, van Kleeck, & Hubert, 2009;van Kleeck, Gillam, Hamilton & McGrath, 1997). Textbooks in elementary grades are predominately narrative.…”