Effects of shared book reading focusing on letters and sounds versus vocabulary for low–income prekindergarten children

ABSTRACT

A total of 29 low-income, prekindergarten children, attending a summer school program, participated in a six-week shared book-reading (SBR) intervention. Children were randomly assigned to one of four conditions that varied in the extent to which teachers embedded an explicit emphasis on print (code-focused interactions), vocabulary (meaning-focused interactions), or both print and vocabulary during SBR sessions. Measures of print knowledge, phonological awareness, and vocabulary were administered one week prior to and immediately following the intervention. Results confirmed the specificity of early literacy interventions on targeted print or vocabulary outcomes and offered support for a potential synergistic effect of a combined focus on both print and meaning during storybook reading.

KEYWORDS:

• Early literacy
• phonological awareness
• picture vocabulary
• print knowledge

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maribeth Gettinger

Maribeth Gettinger is a professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research focuses on providing teachers with professional development and knowledge of evidence-based practices to promote academic success among students in prekindergarten and early elementary grades.

Karen C. Stoiber

Karen C. Stoiber is a professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Her current research interests include early literacy, evidence-based practices, functional assessment, and developing social competence development in children with challenging behavior.