Product Description:
Background
Shared bookreading, typically measured by parent report, has been shown to be associated with the development of multiple skills during the toddler and preschool years, including vocabulary development (Bus et al., 1995; DeBaryshe, 1993; Ninio, 1983; S?n?chal & Cornell, 1993; S?n?chal et al., 1996; Snow & Goldfield, 1983), book handling skills (Snow & Ninio, 1986), knowledge about print (Clay, 1979), an understanding of fiction represented symbolically in pictures and text (Snow & Ninio, 1986), exposure to story structures and conventions necessary for story comprehension (Cochran-Smith, 1984), and positive attitudes about bookreading (Lonigan, 1994; Taylor & Strickland, 1986).
Overview
This longitudinal study extends results from a previous Early Head Start (EHS) study that examined maternal bookreading during the first three years of children?s lives (Raikes et al., 2006) and children?s language development. New data now also include Age 5 and Grade 5 inputs and outcomes.
The earlier study found: early bookreading predicted later bookreading, early language development predicted later language development, concurrent bookreading predicted concurrent language development and child language development also predicted maternal bookreading in a ?snowball-type? effect. Patterns were particularly pronounced at 14 and 24 months for English-speaking child and parent dyads and at 36 months for Spanish-speaking dyads.
The current study sought to determine if the early patterns of maternal bookreading would predict children?s later literacy competencies. We also investigated whether access to books at each age also contributed to language and literacy outcomes at each age and by Grade 5.
Research Questions
1. To what extent do early and concurrent bookreading and language outcomes continue to predict maternal bookreading and children?s language/literacy competencies: Does earlier bookreading predict children?s pre-literacy skills at 60 months or children?s reading ability at Grade 5?
2. Does access to books at 14, 24, 36, 60 months and Grade 5 predict children?s pre-literacy skills at 60 months or reading ability at Grade 5?
Methods
Data were from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (ACF, 2002). frequently
MOTHER READING: Maternal reading variables (i.e. how mothers read to their children) were collected via self-report surveys at 14, 24, and 36 months; mothers were asked: ?Please let us know how many time in the past month you read stories with your child??
BOOKS IN HOME: Mothers were asked at 14 and 24 months, ?About how many books do you have for your child?? At 36 and 60 months, mothers were asked: ?How many children?s books does your child have of his/her own??
Methods continued
CHILD LANGUAGE AND LITERACY ABILITIES:
At 14 & 24 months: vocabulary production and comprehension were measured by the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDI) Short Form (Fenson et al., 2000). Mothers chose which words (out of 85 for infants or 100 for toddlers) they believed their infants either comprehended or could say. At 14 months scores ranged from 0 to 83 and at 24 months ranges were from 0 to 100.
At 36 months: receptive vocabulary was measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary-III Test (PPVT-III; Dunn & Dunn, 1997). For Spanish speaking children, the TVIP (Dunn, Padilla, Lugo, & Dunn, 1986), a Spanish adaptation of the PPVT-III was used. Standardized scores ranged from 40 to 125.
At 60 months: Woodcock Johnson Letter-Word Identification Woodcock & Johnson, 1990) requires identifying and reading isolated letters and words. Standardized scores ranged from 44 to 136.
At Grade 5: Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-9 (ECLS-K ) To measure early literacy and reading skills children were given a scaled reading assessment (basic skills, vocabulary, and comprehension); scores were determined based on adaptive item response theory (IRT). Scores ranged from 32 to 181.
Methods: Analysis
Path analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between maternal book reading, the number of books in home, and child language abilities and to further understand effects related to timing.
We hypothesized five pathways to maternal reading, the number of books in home and child language abilities: (1) a direct path from early to later reading; (2) a direct path from early to later language abilities; (3) paths from maternal reading and the number of books in home to concurrent language abilities; (4) paths from maternal reading and the number of books in home) to later child language abilities; (5) paths from child language abilities to later maternal reading and the number of books in home. We used Monte Carlo integration as a numerical integration algorithm. Maximum Likelihood was used. Mplus 5.1 software was used.
Descriptive Findings
Previous findings before Age 3:
? About half of EHS mothers reported daily reading.
? White mothers read more than Hispanic or African-American mothers.
? EHS mothers reported reading more than control group mothers.
? Number of books ranged from 1 or 2 to 10 or more.
At Age 5:
? About 1/3 of mothers involved reported daily reading, again with EHS and White mothers reporting reading more.
? The number of children in program group who had more than 26 books were higher than those in control group, p<.05.
? More White children had more than 26 books than the other two groups, p<.001.
At Grade 5:
Reported number of books ranged from 0-999.
Results
? Concurrent bookreading was related concurrent language and pre-literacy.
? Concurrent books predicted language and literacy and reading.
? Early bookreading continued to be related to later bookreading.
? Books in home tended to predict later books in the home.
? Early language continued to be related to later pre-literacy skills (Age 5) and reading ability (Grade 5).
? Bookreading at 24 months was related to Grade 5 reading ability (above and beyond all concurrent language and literacy contributions to Grade 5 reading ability).
? Early language predicted later pre-literacy and reading ability.
? A story emerged for age 5 as a critical time for having books in the home.
Conclusions
The Snowball Continues:
Reading daily continues to be important to concurrent language and literacy abilities until school entry (when we no longer measured this).
