Shared Book Reading: Effective Parent Verbal Scaffolding Techniques for Preschool Children

Parsons, Zoe

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Shared Book Reading: Effective Parent Verbal Scaffolding Techniques for Preschool Children Public Deposited

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Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/8623j037q

Abstract

In a world of evolving technology and research, it is essential to continue to educate our youth in the most effective ways possible to allow them to succeed in the future. Language learning begins at an early age and continues throughout childhood; thus, we must know how to implement reading and vocabulary knowledge to support language growth. My study aims to determine how parents can effectively teach their children vocabulary terms while participating in shared book reading. Studies have shown the importance of receptive and expressive learning through reading and the importance of an adult to help guide this learning. My goal for this research study is to narrow down different expressive learning strategies to find one that best fits a preschool-age audience. This study was done in a laboratory setting where parents and children participated in joint book reading. This proceeded to a picture-naming vocabulary task for target words they had read previously. Through transcriptions and coding of 21 participant video data, I concluded on five scaffolding strategies used most often by parents: elicitation, correction, definition, recall, and real-life connections. Through greater analysis, I found that most scaffolding strategies, aside from real-life connections, had an insignificant effect on vocabulary acquisition. I found that the children could recognize and name target words more than control words, proving that vocabulary learning occurred during their visit to our lab. These findings are significant because they assist in future research to narrow down strategies that produce significant results to better help parents and educators understand the most effective ways they can teach their children. With some confounds to this study, these techniques should not be deemed insufficient language learning strategies.

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