Search

This study explored the quality of interactions in mother–child shared reading with a print book and with an electronic book on an i-Pad. The study involved a Turkish mother and her 5-year-old son who were observed at home when reading the printed book Ay’ı kim çaldı? (Who stole the moon?) and its exact digital match. The shared book reading interactions were analysed in terms of (a) the amount of talk with the different book formats and (b) the content of the mother–child talk including the focus of the talk, expansion of ideas and behavioural-related talk. The results revealed that print book reading engaged the child in higher-level thinking compared to digital book reading. There was greater frequency of non-immediate talk in the print book reading compared to the digital book reading. Also, results suggested that the digital book encouraged more behaviour-related talk related to negotiating the book sharing routine Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This study explored associations in the family context, conceptualized as comprising parent–child practices and parental expectations, and five-year-old children's attitudes toward literacy. A total of 94 children from four primary schools and their parents participated in the study. Each child completed an individually administered Literacy Attitude Scale that assessed her enjoyment in reading-related activities. Parents completed a questionnaire about aspects of their family context. The results revealed a high level of positive attitudes toward literacy by beginning readers, with no gender difference. Frequency of parent–child everyday interactions and parental expectations had significant relationships with children's attitude toward literacy. This study highlights the importance of looking beyond parent–child literacy activities when examining children's attitudes toward literacy. Refereed/Peer-reviewed