Differences in the complexity of math and literacy questions parents pose during storybook reading

Abstract

Parent–child interactions, such as the complexity of their talk during storybook reading, can play a vital role in supporting the development of children’s literacy and math skills. Given that parents may have different beliefs and confidence helping their children learn literacy and math, the present study compares the level of abstraction, or complexity, of questions posed by parents when prompted to help their child learn about math or literacy topics during storybook reading. We also sought to identify factors that influence parents’ use of abstract questions within the story. A total of 172 parents of 3.5–4.5-year-old children named a question they would pose to their child about the character’s actions, numbers, or shapes on 18 storybook pages as part of an online survey. Results revealed that storybook pages without math content evoked questions of significantly higher abstraction than did pages with math content. Parents’ confidence and enjoyment helping their child learn literacy and parents’ educational attainment were found to be significantly and positively related to their use of complex questions for character’s actions, while parents’ reading anxieties had a negative relation to the complexity of their questions. In contrast, parents’ rating of their child’s number ability was significantly and positively related to their use of complex language for number while no significant effects were found for shape. In addition, parents posed more complex questions about number to their sons than daughters. Overall, our findings suggest that parents may benefit from support in engaging their children in challenging and abstract math-related talk about number and shape during storybook reading in order to promote their children’s mathematical development.