13.3.8: Strategies that Support Language Development-Shared Reading

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Todd LaMarr

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Shared Reading

Is reading books with infants and toddlers important? Most likely, you quickly answered this question with a resounding “yes!”. While most people might strongly agree that reading with young children is an important activity, only 37.2% of infants and toddlers nationally are read to everyday (Keating et al., 2021). Reading is so important because it maximizes the kinds of experiences that optimally predict language learning. A study of 3,547 children between 1 to 2 years of age, found that children who were read to for at least eleven minutes everyday had stronger reading, spelling, and grammatical skills in both third grade and fifth grade (Brown, Wang & McLeod, 2022). There are at least three ways in which book reading influences language learning: ^{^[1]}

First, it offers children the opportunity to hear new vocabulary items embedded in varied grammatical sentences. Books written for children use well-formed, relatively short sentences that are rich in varied vocabulary. Furthermore, books often use the same words in diverse grammatical constructions, offering implicit lessons in how words are used. The texts of books tend to have more words that are less commonly used than does spoken language (Dickinson & Tabors, 2001) and books encourage use of a wider range of words than would occur in everyday conversations. Indeed, shared reading is a robust predictor of children’s vocabulary and reading comprehension abilities (Demir‐Lira, Applebaum, Goldin‐Meadow & Levine, 2019; Sénéchal, 2011). ^{^[1]}
The second way in which book reading enriches children’s language development is that it promotes joint attention and interest. Consider all the ways in which books help children maintain their attention. Children’s books often use bold colors and strong contrasts and typically depict illustrated objects and animals that appeal to young children. The page of the book provides a clear focus for attention, and, unlike movable toys such as balls and trucks, books are held and remain relatively stationary. An attentive adult can easily notice what a child is attending to and build on it with commentary. In turn, children are able to draw an adult’s attention to interesting areas of the pictures using a broad range of cues including gestures, sounds, and words. Thus, attention can be managed by the child as well as the adult. ^{^[1]}
Finally, book reading helps children learn language because it requires the participants, both caregiver and child, to be active and engage in responsive interactions about word meanings. It is an opportunity for a caregiver to focus on the child and make efforts to be responsive to their interests. When caregivers and young children communicate during book reading and move away from the text, they are engaging in a language-rich activity that yields even more varied vocabulary and diverse sentence structures (Arnold, D. H., Lonigan, Whitehurst & Epstein, 1994; Whitehurst et al., 1988). Dialogic reading occurs when adults follow the child’s interest and engage in conversation about material on the printed page or about experiences the child has had that relate to the story. Book reading becomes an “up close and personal” experience when done in this way and yields the most in the way of language learning (Valdez-Menchaca & Whitehurst, 1992). ^{^[1]}

Additionally, the frequency of shared reading, the age at which caregivers begin to read to children and repeated reading of books are important factors that further the benefits of shared reading for language development.

The importance of reading frequency for children from birth to age three is clearly revealed by numerous studies (Rodriguez & Tamis‐LeMonda, 2011). Just reading one picture book every day can lead to an increase of approximately 78,000 words each year (Logan, Justice, Yumus & Chaparro-Moreno, 2019). Findings of a large study finding caregivers’ reports of daily book reading at age 14 months related to vocabulary and language comprehension at 14 and 24 months (Raikes et al., 2006). A longitudinal study focused on 1,046 children examined language and cognitive abilities at 14, 24, and 36 months of age (Rodriguez et al., 2009). Literacy experiences at each of the three ages was related to language and cognitive skills at three years of age.^{^[1]}

Infant standing reaching through a collection of books in low wooden crate. — Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Infant looking through a collection of books. (^{^[2]})

There is also evidence that the age at which parents begin to read to children is important. One observational study found that children in households where reading was reported with children as young as eight months had stronger early language growth (Debaryshe, 1993). An intervention study compared the effects of interactive reading when their babies were 4 months old and when babies were 8 months old. Only the condition with older babies was effective, with improved language abilities being found when the babies were 12 and 16 months old (Karrass & Braungart-Rieker, 2005). ^{^[1]}

Repeated readings of the same books can also increase children’s engagement (Fletcher & Jean-Francois, 1998; Morrow, 1988) and enhance their language learning through shared reading (Snow & Goldfield, 1983). Children who read a familiar book talk more than when reading a novel book (Fletcher & Reese, 2005). Moreover, parents and children talk more about related content or their own experiences when re-reading the same book, which also increases children’s world knowledge (Haden et al., 1996; Hayden & Fagan, 1987). For children with lower language abilities, repeated readings of the same book increase engagement in comparison to readings of different books (Morrow, 1988). Repeated readings provide multiple opportunities for repeated imitation (Ninio, 1983) and processing of novel words in a meaningful context (Sénéchal, 1997) as books contain more unique words compared to child-directed speech (Montag, Jones & Smith, 2015). Experimental studies have found that children’s expressive vocabulary is enhanced after two or more readings of the same book, whereas one reading often does not result in significant vocabulary gains (Horst, Parsons & Bryan, 2011; McLeod & McDade, 2011; Sénéchal & Cornell, 1993; Sénéchal, 1997;). ^{^[3]}

^{^[1]} Dickinson et al., (2012). How reading books fosters language development around the world. Child Development Research. CC by 3.0

^{^[2]} Image from Brina Blum on Unsplash.

^{^[3]} Grolig (2020). Shared storybook reading and oral language development: A bioecological perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1818. CC by 4.0