Abstract
The ability to deduce implicit information about relations in a text (i.e., inferencing) is essential to understanding that text. Hence, there is increasing attention for supporting inferencing skills among children in early literacy programs including shared book reading interventions. This study investigated whether embedding scripted inferencing questions in a story that children (4.3–6.6 years) and parents (N = 32 parent–child dyads) read together increases the number of inferences during shared reading and supports children’s story comprehension. Results showed that during shared book reading parents and children made more inferences when the book contained scripted inferencing questions. However, there were no associated benefits regarding story comprehension: having read with scripted inferencing questions resulted in comparable story comprehension as reading without scripted inferencing questions. In addition, after reading with scripted inferencing questions more inferences were made during shared reading of a second book without scripted inferencing questions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 172-191 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | First Language |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 23 Dec 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2020 |
Funding
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5136-2261 de Koning Björn B. Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands Wassenburg Stephanie I. Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Carnegie Mellon University, USA Ganushchak Lesya Y. Krijnen Eke Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands van Steensel Roel Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands Björn B. de Koning, Department of Psychology, Education, and Child Studies, Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Email: [email protected] 12 2019 0142723719894770 © The Author(s) 2019 2019 SAGE Publications The ability to deduce implicit information about relations in a text (i.e., inferencing) is essential to understanding that text. Hence, there is increasing attention for supporting inferencing skills among children in early literacy programs including shared book reading interventions. This study investigated whether embedding scripted inferencing questions in a story that children (4.3–6.6 years) and parents ( N = 32 parent–child dyads) read together increases the number of inferences during shared reading and supports children’s story comprehension. Results showed that during shared book reading parents and children made more inferences when the book contained scripted inferencing questions. However, there were no associated benefits regarding story comprehension: having read with scripted inferencing questions resulted in comparable story comprehension as reading without scripted inferencing questions. In addition, after reading with scripted inferencing questions more inferences were made during shared reading of a second book without scripted inferencing questions. Inferencing literacy intervention parent–child interaction shared book reading story comprehension Stichtling Lezen 2017/11.5.11 edited-state corrected-proof typesetter ts1 We would like to express our gratitude to Bibi Smaal, Brechtje van Zeijts, and Tosca van Duijnen for their assistance in collecting the data and scoring the parent–child interactions. We also thank Mina Nisar for scoring the comprehension test and the schools who have assisted us in recruiting parents and children for this study. We also thank Simone Hemerik for creating the books used in this study. Funding The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by a grant from the Dutch Reading Foundation (Stichting Lezen) awarded to Bjorn de Koning, Stephanie Wassenburg, Lesya Ganushchak, and Roel van Steensel. ORCID iD Björn B. de Koning https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5136-2261
Keywords
- Inferencing
- literacy intervention
- parent–child interaction
- shared book reading
- story comprehension
