Early Literacy Research Library (ELRL) - Article

Page and screen: Storybook features that promote parent-child talk during shared reading

Strouse, G. A., Troseth, G. L., & Stuckelman, Z. D. (2023). Page and screen: Storybook features that promote parent-child talk during shared reading. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 86, 101522.,

Access: Institutional Access

Publication year

2023

study description

RCT

core topic(s)

Early Literacy , Shared Reading

Population Characteristics

Toddler/Preschool

Exposures, Outcomes, Other

Child Behaviors and Skills , Parent Behaviors and Skills , Parent-Child Relationships/Interactions , Technology and Digital/Screen-Based Media

objectives

The purpose of this study was to systematically vary the medium used for shared reading (digital versus print), the presence of an audio narration feature, and the inclusion of a character offering conversational prompts to identify their impact on parent-child language.

methods

Dyads participated in one of four conditions in a randomized experimental design whereby they shared a book twice; Digital/Narrated+prompts, Digital/Narrated, Digital, Print. After parents completed the consent form and children assented to participate, dyads were instructed to read their assigned book as they normally would at home. The sessions were audio and video recorded.

sample size

N= 67 dyads

measures

– Quality of parent and child language: measured as the following- content-related utterances, Vocabulary diversity,
– Quality of dialogic conversation: measured as the following- Cognitive demand (coding each content-related utterance into the levels of cognitive demand delineated by Price et al. (2009)), PEER usage (Content-related utterances could receive multiple PEER codes, including prompt (P) the child to talk about the story; evaluate (E) the child’s responses (praise/offer alternative answers); expand (E) by repeating and adding to what the child has said; and encourage the child to repeat (R) the expanded statement)
– Learning of reading strategies: Unique prompts, CROWD usage (To determine whether parents were using the dialogic-style prompts modeled by Ramone, all unique prompts parents used on the five parent-led page spreads were coded according to whether they fell into a category represented by the CROWD acronym (Completion, Recall, Open-Ended, Wh-, Distancing; Zevenbergen & Whitehurst, 2003) or were non-dialogic (generally, simple questions resulting in one-word responses, such as “Is she tall?” or “Do you see the drool?”)), Conversational turns

results

There was no evidence that the book being digital in format nor having automatically-playing narration decreased language or conversation quality compared to reading the print version.

conclusions

Based on this study, it appears that carefully designed digital books, including those with narration, provide similar opportunities for engaging in high-quality shared reading as print books. Parents may wish to select digital books with built-in prompts to provide even greater opportunities and support for rich conversation.

limitations

Researchers should consider that shared reading may not be as common or occur with as much discussion in all cultures (data for this paper collected in United States). Parents undoubtedly were aware that they were participating in a research study and were being recorded, and that extratextual discussion is a culturally valued practice.

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