Abstract
BackgroundShared reading interventions can impact positively on preschool children's language development and on their caregiver's attitudes/behaviours towards reading. However, a number of barriers may discourage families from engaging with these interventions, particularly families from lower socio‐economic status (SES) backgrounds. We investigated how families from such backgrounds responded to an intervention designed explicitly to overcome these barriers.MethodsIn a preregistered cluster randomised controlled trial, 85 lower SES families and their 3‐year‐old to 4‐year‐old children from 10 different preschools were randomly allocated to take part in The Reader's Shared Reading programme (intervention) or an existing ‘Story Time' group at a library (control) once a week for 8 weeks. Three outcome measures were assessed at baseline and post intervention: (1) attendance, (2) enjoyment of the reading groups and (3) caregivers' knowledge of, attitudes and behaviours towards reading. A fourth − children's vocabulary – was assessed at baseline and 4 weeks post intervention.ResultsFamilies were significantly more likely to attend the intervention group and rated it more favourably, compared with the control group. However, there were no significant effects on caregivers' knowledge, attitudes and behaviours or on children's language.ConclusionThe intervention was only successful in engaging families from disadvantaged backgrounds in shared reading. Implications for the use, duration and intensity of shared reading interventions are discussed.HighlightsWhat is already known about this topic Shared reading interventions have the potential to impact positively on child language and on their caregivers' attitudes/behaviours. However, a number of barriers may discourage families from participating or engaging with these interventions, particularly families from lower socio‐economic status (SES) backgrounds. What this paper adds We investigated how families from lower SES backgrounds responded to an intervention designed to overcome these barriers by, in particular, emphasising the enjoyment of reading, rather than its educational value. This paper evaluates a real‐world intervention programme designed and developed by a third sector organisation, as opposed to a researcher‐designed shared reading intervention. Families were significantly more likely to attend the intervention group and rated it more favourably, compared with the control group. Implications for theory, policy or practice These findings highlight the importance of evaluating the effectiveness of real‐world interventions that have been designed outside of the research community. Despite the intervention using evidence‐based interactive reading techniques, which have been shown to positively impact on child language, this shared reading intervention did not have a significant effect on caregivers' home literacy practices or on child language. Testing longer/more intensive interventions or interventions that engage teachers and other practitioners, as well as families, would be a fruitful avenue for future research.
Highlights
An effective method to promote preschool children’s language development is shared book reading
Before implementing shared reading interventions, we must address the issue of why shared reading interventions do not work well across the socio-economic status (SES) spectrum (Manz et al, 2010; see Bus et al, 1995; Flack, Field, & Horst, 2018; Mol et al, 2008; Noble et al, 2019 for additional references on shared reading interventions.)
Because our goal was to evaluate whether The Shared Reading programme added value over and above a standard reading group, our control group families attended an existing ‘Story Time’ group at their local library, where reading sessions were similar in length to the intervention reading groups
Summary
An effective method to promote preschool children’s language development is shared book reading. It is thought that such interventions boost children’s language because they encourage parents to model rare vocabulary and complex sentence structures that rarely occur in everyday speech (Cameron-Faulkner & Noble, 2013) but because they encourage conversation between parent and child. This gives the child an opportunity to practice using language, which has a positive effect on language development (Hoff, 2006). Reading interventions seem to have a smaller, or no, effect with children from lower socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds (Manz, Hughes, Barnabas, Bracaliello, & Ginsburg-Block, 2010; Mol et al, 2008). Implications for the use, duration and intensity of shared reading interventions are discussed
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