Effects of preschoolers' storybook exposure and literacy environments on lower level and higher level language skills

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

Authors

  • Lorenz Grolig
  • Caroline Cohrdes
  • Simon P. Tiffin-Richards
  • Sascha Schroeder

The development of preschoolers’ language skills is influenced by literacy environments and individual differences in storybook exposure. Extant research is limited as most studies (a) investigate the effects on lower level language (LLL; e.g., vocabulary, grammar), but not the effects on higher level language (HLL; e.g., comprehension monitoring, narrative comprehension), and (b) focus on shared reading in the home literacy environment (HLE), but not on the child care literacy environment (CCLE) and the child as active literacy agent. We addressed these two gaps. First, we investigated the contributions of the HLE and the CCLE to the storybook exposure of 201 German preschoolers (M Age = 5; 5 years). A multilevel model showed that parents’ storybook exposure was the most important predictor of children’s storybook exposure. By contrast, child care workers’ storybook exposure was not a significant predictor. Second, we explored the unique contributions of HLE, CCLE, and preschoolers’ storybook exposure to LLL and HLL skills. Multilevel models showed that children’s storybook exposure explained unique variance not only in LLL skills, but also in HLL skills. Literacy environments explained additional variance in LLL skills. In sum, our results suggest that literacy environments are differentially related to children’s storybook exposure and language skills. Our finding that children’s storybook exposure was a unique predictor of vocabulary, grammar, comprehension monitoring, and narrative comprehension indicates that shared book reading has the potential to foster a range of early literacy skills which predict reading comprehension.

OriginalspracheEnglisch
ZeitschriftReading and Writing
Jahrgang32
Ausgabenummer4
Seiten (von - bis)1061-1084
Anzahl der Seiten24
ISSN0922-4777
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 15.04.2019
Extern publiziertJa

Bibliographische Notiz

Funding Information:
Open access funding provided by Max Planck Society. The research reported in this manuscript was supported by Forschungsfonds Kulturelle Bildung (Rat für kulturelle Bildung and Stiftung Mercator, Project 14-001-4). We thank Johanna Braun, Nicola Hohensee, Janis Keck, Felix Klapprott, and Sarah-Lena Schaefer for their assistance, and all child care centers, parents, and children for supporting the study.

Funding Information:
Acknowledgements Open access funding provided by Max Planck Society. The research reported in this manuscript was supported by Forschungsfonds Kulturelle Bildung (Rat für kulturelle Bildung and Stif-tung Mercator, Project 14-001-4). We thank Johanna Braun, Nicola Hohensee, Janis Keck, Felix Klap-prott, and Sarah-Lena Schaefer for their assistance, and all child care centers, parents, and children for supporting the study.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, The Author(s).

DOI