Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T20:49:55.327Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Keeping it simple: the grammatical properties of shared book reading

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 November 2017

Claire H. NOBLE ,
Thea CAMERON-FAULKNER  and
Elena LIEVEN
Claire H. NOBLE*
Affiliation:
The University of Liverpool
Thea CAMERON-FAULKNER
Affiliation:
The University of Manchester
Elena LIEVEN
Affiliation:
The University of Manchester
*
Address for correspondence: Claire Noble, University of Liverpool – Department of Psychological Sciences, Eleanor Rathbone Building, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool, Merseyside L69 7ZA, United Kingdom. e-mail: c.noble@liv.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The positive effects of shared book reading on vocabulary and reading development are well attested (e.g., Bus, van Ijzendoorn, & Pellegrini, 1995). However, the role of shared book reading in grammatical development remains unclear. In this study, we conducted a construction-based analysis of caregivers’ child-directed speech during shared book reading and toy play and compared the grammatical profile of the child-directed speech generated during the two activities. The findings indicate that (a) the child-directed speech generated by shared book reading contains significantly more grammatically rich constructions than child-directed speech generated by toy play, and (b) the grammatical profile of the book itself affects the grammatical profile of the child-directed speech generated by shared book reading.

Type
Brief Research Reports
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , May 2018 , pp. 753 - 766
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Claire Noble is a Research Associate on the Reading Together Project at the University of Liverpool. The support of the Economic and Social Research Council [ES/M003752/1] is gratefully acknowledged. Lieven and Cameron-Faulkner's research is supported by a grant to the ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development (LuCiD: www.lucid.ac.uk). The support of the Economic and Social Research Council [ES/L008955/1] is gratefully acknowledged.

References

Bus, A. G., van Ijzendoorn, M. H., & Pellegrini, A. D. (1995). Joint book reading makes for success in learning to read: a meta-analysis on intergenerational transmission of literacy. Review of Educational Research, 65, 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron-Faulkner, T., Lieven, E., & Tomasello, M. (2003). A construction based analysis of child directed speech. Cognitive Science, 27, 843–73.Google Scholar
Cameron-Faulkner, T., & Noble, C. (2013). A comparison of book text and child directed speech. First Language, 33, 268–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carpenter, M., Nagell, K., Tomasello, M., Butterworth, G., & Moore, C. (1998). Joint attention, and communicative competence from 9 to 15 months of age. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 63, 1–174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crain-Thoreson, C., Dahlin, M. P., & Powell, T. A. (2001). Parent–child interaction in three conversational contexts: variations in style and strategy. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 92, 23–38.Google Scholar
Crain-Thoreson, C., & Dale, P. (1992). Do early talkers become early readers? Linguistic precocity, preschool language, and emergent literacy. Developmental Psychology, 28, 421–9.Google Scholar
Cronan, T. A., Cruz, S. G., Arriaga, R. I., & Sarkin, A. J. (1996). The effects of a community-based literacy program on young children's language and conceptual development. American Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 251–72.Google Scholar
Curtis, M. E. (1980). Development of components of reading skill. Journal of Educational Psychology, 72, 656–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeBaryshe, B. (1993). Joint picture-book reading correlates of early oral language skill. Journal of Child Language, 20, 455–61.Google Scholar
Duursma, E. (2014). The effects of fathers’ and mothers’ reading to their children on language outcomes of children participating in early head start in the United States. Fathering, 12, 283–302.Google Scholar
Farrant, B. M., & Zubrick, S. R. (2011). Early vocabulary development: the importance of joint attention and parent–child book reading. First Language, 32, 343–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrant, B. M., & Zubrick, S. R. (2013). Parent–child book reading across early childhood and child vocabulary in the early school years: findings from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. First Language, 33, 280–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrar, J. (1990). Discourse and the acquisition of grammatical morphemes. Journal of Child Language, 17, 607–24.Google Scholar
Fletcher, K. L., & Reese, E. (2005). Picture book reading with young children: a conceptual framework. Developmental Review, 25, 64–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. (1989). Spoken and written language. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hart, B. & Risley, T. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.Google Scholar
Hayes, D., & Ahrens, M. (1988). Vocabulary simplification for children: a special case of ‘motherese’? Journal of Child Language, 15, 395–410.Google Scholar
Hoff, E. (2003). The specificity of environmental influence: socioeconomic status affects early vocabulary development via maternal speech. Child Development, 74, 1368–78.Google Scholar
Hoff-Ginsberg, E. (1991). Mother–child conversations in different social classes and communicative settings. Child Development, 62, 782–96.Google Scholar
Horst, J. S., & Houston-Price, C. (2015). Editorial: an open book: what and how young children learn from picture and story books. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1719.Google Scholar
Huttenlocher, J., Vasilyeva, M., Cymerman, E., & Levine, S. (2002). Language input and child syntax. Cognitive Psychology, 45, 337–74.Google Scholar
Kirjavainen, M., Theakston, A., Lieven, E., & Tomasello, M. (2009). ‘I want hold Postman Pat’: an investigation into the acquisition of infinitival marker ‘to’. First Language, 39, 313–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leech, K. A., & Rowe, M. L. (2014). A comparison of preschool children's discussions with parents during picture book and chapter book reading. First Language, 34, 205–26.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B. (2000). The CHILDES Project: tools for analyzing talk, 3rd ed. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
McGillion, M. L., Herbert, J. S., Pine, J. M., Keren-Portnoy, T., Vihman, M. M., & Matthews, D. E. (2013). Supporting early vocabulary development: What sort of responsiveness matters? IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development, 5, 240–8.Google Scholar
Mesmer, H. A. E. (2016). Text matters: exploring the lexical reservoirs of books in preschool rooms. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 34, 67–77.Google Scholar
Moll, S. E., & Bus, A. G. (2011). To read or not to read: a meta-analysis of print exposure from infancy to early adulthood. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 267–96.Google Scholar
Montag, J. L., & MacDonald, M. C. (2015). Text exposure predicts spoken production of complex sentences in eight and twelve year old children and adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 144, 447–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, P. L., Farkas, G., Hillemeier, M. M., Hammer, C. S., & Maczuga, S. (2015). 24-month-old children with larger oral vocabularies display greater academic and behavioral functioning at kindergarten entry. Child Development, 86, 1351–70.Google Scholar
Nyhout, A., & O'Neill, D. (2013). Mothers’ complex talk when sharing books with their toddlers: book genre matters. First Language, 33, 115–31.Google Scholar
Price, L. H., Van Kleeck, A., & Huberty, C. J. (2009). Talk during book sharing between parents and preschool children: a comparison between storybook and expository book conditions. Reading Research Quarterly, 44, 171–94.Google Scholar
Read, K., Macauley, M., & Furay, E. (2014). The Seuss boost: rhyme helps children retain words from shared storybook reading. First Language, 34, 354–71.Google Scholar
Scarborough, H., & Dobrich, W. (1994). On the efficacy of reading to preschoolers. Developmental Review, 14, 245–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sénéchal, M., Cornell, E. H., & Broda, L. S. (1995). Age-related changes in the organization of parent–infant interactions during picture-book reading. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 10, 317–37.Google Scholar
Snow, C. E., Arlman-Rupp, A., Hassing, Y., Jobse, J., Joosten, J., & Vorster, J. (1976). Mothers’ speech in three social classes. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 31, 424–44.Google Scholar
Snow, C., & Ferguson, C. (Eds.) (1977). Talking to children: language input and acquisition. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Theakston, A. L., Lieven, E. V. M., Pine, J. M., & Rowland, C. F. (2001). The role of performance limitations in the acquisition of verb–argument structure: an alternative account. Journal of Child Language, 28, 127–52.Google Scholar
Tomasello, M. (2003). Constructing a language: a usage-based theory of language acquisition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Tomasello, M., & Farrar, M. J. (1986). Joint attention and early language. Child Development, 57, 1454–63.Google Scholar
Whitehurst, G. J., Falco, F. L., Lonigan, C. J., Fischel, J. E., DeBaryshe, B. D., Valdez-Menchaca, M. C., & Caulfield, M. (1988). Accelerating language development through picture book reading. Developmental Psychology, 24, 552–59.Google Scholar