Taiwanese preschoolers' emergent reading behaviours with an unfamiliar storybook

Abstract

Eighty-two Taiwanese preschoolers aged three and four years (boys = 40; girls = 42) were recruited from Tainan, Taiwan, for a parent–child storybook-reading research project. The Taiwanese preschoolers’ emergent reading behaviours were videotaped in a solo storybook-reading task. The children's most frequent emergent reading behaviours were: ‘browses pages’ (23%) and ‘describes pictures using verbs and adjectives’ (22%). Next most frequent reading strategies were: ‘labels pictures’ (19%) and ‘creates dialogues/monologues (story-like)’ (15%). Eight per cent of the children showed unwillingness to read the storybook; 4% noticed words by pointing at the words; 9% of the children tried to spell Chinese phonics to sound out Chinese characters; and 4%of the children tried to read some or all of the text. Three-year-olds used more ‘label and describe’ reading behaviours than did four-year-olds (p = .01); four-year-olds read some text independently more than three-year-olds did (p = .03). More boys than girls refused to try to read verbally (p = .01). Girls read some text more than boys (p = .00). More frequent home literacy practices predicted an increase in child reading some text from the story ‘correctly and independently’. Father's education and socioeconomic status were positively associated with children's trying to read or spell Chinese phonics (chu-yin-fu-how).