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This research synthesis examines whether the association between print exposure and components of reading grows stronger across development. We meta-analyzed 99 studies (N = 7,669) that focused on leisure time reading of (a) preschoolers and kindergartners, (b) children attending Grades 1-12, and (c) college and university students. For all measures in the outcome domains of reading comprehension and technical reading and spelling, moderate to strong correlations with print exposure were found. The outcomes support an upward spiral of causality: Children who are more proficient in comprehension and technical reading and spelling skills read more; because of more print exposure, their comprehension and technical reading and spelling skills improved more with each year of education. For example, in preschool and kindergarten print exposure explained 12% of the variance in oral language skills, in primary school 13%, in middle school 19%, in high school 30%, and in college and university 34%. Moderate associations of print exposure with academic achievement indicate that frequent readers are more successful students. Interestingly, poor readers also appear to benefit from independent leisure time reading. We conclude that shared book reading to preconventional readers may be part of a continuum of out-of-school reading experiences that facilitate children's language, reading, and spelling achievement throughout their development., ((c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.)

Novel word learning is reported to be problematic for children with severe language impairments (SLI). In this study, we tested electronic storybooks as a tool to support vocabulary acquisition in SLI children. In Experiment 1, 29 kindergarten SLI children heard four e-books each four times: (a) two stories were presented as video books with motion pictures, music, and sounds, and (b) two stories included only static illustrations without music or sounds. Two other stories served as the control condition. Both static and video books were effective in increasing knowledge of unknown words, but static books were most effective. Experiment 2 was designed to examine which elements in video books interfere with word learning: video images or music or sounds. A total of 23 kindergarten SLI children heard 8 storybooks each four times: (a) two static stories without music or sounds, (b) two static stories with music or sounds, (c) two video stories without music or sounds, and (d) two video books with music or sounds. Video images and static illustrations were equally effective, but the presence of music or sounds moderated word learning. In children with severe SLI, background music interfered with learning. Problems with speech perception in noisy conditions may be an underlying factor of SLI and should be considered in selecting teaching aids and learning environments.

The goals of this study were to examine (a) whether extratextual vocabulary instructions embedded in electronic storybooks facilitated word learning over reading alone and (b) whether instructional formats that required children to invest more effort were more effective than formats that required less effort. A computer-based "assistant" was added to electronic storybooks. The assistant posed extratextual vocabulary questions. Questions were presented in a multiple-choice format so that children could respond by clicking on the picture that best represented the target word. In Experiment 1 (N = 20), children read stories with and without questions. Children learned more words when reading with questions than without. Expressive vocabulary was particularly affected by question insertion. In Experiment 2 (N = 27), we used two methods for teaching words: one requiring more effort on the part of children (questions) and one requiring less effort ("hotspots" that provide definitions). Results revealed that questions were more beneficial than just providing a definition or synonym of the target word. Implications for designing new e-book apps are discussed. (Contains 6 figures and 3 tables.)

Explores specific characteristics of insecure-avoidant, secure, and insecure-ambivalent mother-infant dyads (N=82) in the context of sharing a picturebook. Results support the view that early literacy skills are connected to a fundamentally social process. The learning/instruction process depends on the affective dimension of the infant-mother relationship. (RJM)

Children showing poor executive functioning may not fully benefit from learning experiences at home and school and may lag behind in literacy skills. This hypothesis was tested in a sample of 276 kindergarten children. Executive functions and literacy skills were tested at about 61 months and again a year later. In line with earlier studies, correlations between both skills were significant at age 5 years, but the predictive value of executive functions on alphabetic skills weakened or disappeared 1 year later. Assuming that executive functions are in development at this age and change has to be taken into account, we applied fixed effects analyses (FEAs) to repeated measures of alphabetic skills and executive functions. FEAs demonstrated that changes in children's alphabetic skills concur with changes in executive functions, thus strengthening inferences about a causal relationship. Executive functions are unstable in the early stages of cognitive development and one-time measures cannot predict their impact on reading 1 year later. Consequences of this new insight are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a randomized control trial, the authors tested whether short- and long-term effects of an early literacy intervention are moderated by mild perinatal adversities in accordance with differential susceptibility theory. One-hundred 5-year-old children (58% male) who scored at or below the 30th percentile on early literacy measures were randomized to a Web-based remedial early literacy program Living Letters or a treated control group. Parents gave written informed consent to access the perinatal data of their children at the Perinatal Register in the Netherlands. Twenty-one children were, at birth, small for gestational age (between the 2.5th and 10th percentiles) or late preterm (between 34 and 37 weeks, 6 days). In this group with mild perinatal adversities, intervention children outperformed the control group immediately after the intervention and after 8 months of formal reading instruction, but a similar effect of the computerized literacy program in children without mild perinatal adversities was absent. In line with the theory of differential susceptibility, children with mild perinatal adversities seem to be more open to environmental input, for better and for worse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major purpose of this study was to test how preliterate learners use illustrations in storybooks to understand a story. Subjects were 23 five-year-old low-SES children, learning Dutch as a second language. Each child was exposed four times to a digital picture storybook. Five books were used and counterbalanced over children and repetitions. During book exposure, eye movements were registered using a remote eye-tracking system. To test whether eye fixations matched the text we scored how often and how long children fixated visual elements in the illustrations that the story text highlighted. We also scored how often human and non-human objects were fixated. In line with the hypothesis that eye fixations are time locked to referential expressions in the text, visual elements that the text highlighted were fixated more often and longer than elements in illustrations not highlighted in the story text. We also found evidence that, at times, inspection of illustrations followed an autonomous pattern. We discuss how both types of visual behaviour can add to vocabulary development and story comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Does alphabetic-phonetic writing start with the proper name and how does the name affect reading and writing skills? Sixty 4- to 5½-year-old children from middle SES families with Dutch as their first language wrote their proper name and named letters. For each child we created unique sets of words with and without the child’s first letter of the name to test spelling skills and phonemic sensitivity. Name writing correlated with children’s knowledge of the first letter of the name and phonemic sensitivity for the sound of the first letter of the name. Hierarchical regression analysis makes plausible that both knowledge of the first letter’s name and phonemic sensitivity for this letter explain why name writing results in phonetic spelling with the name letter. Practical implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research focuses on the ability of book-based animated stories, when well designed and produced, to have positive effects on young viewers' narrative comprehension and language skills. Sixty 5-year-olds, learning Dutch as a 2nd language, were randomly assigned to 4 experimental and 2 control conditions. The children profited to some extent from repeated encounters with a storybook with static pictures but more from repeated encounters with the animated form of the story. Both story formats were presented on a computer screen; both included the same oral text spoken in the same voice but the animated story was supplemented with multimedia features (video, sounds, and music) dramatizing the events. Multimedia additions were especially effective for gaining knowledge of implied elements of stories that refer to goals or motives of main characters, and in expanding vocabulary and syntax. The added value of multimedia books was strengthened over sessions. In a group from families with low educational levels who were lagging in language and literacy skills, multimedia storybooks seem to provide a framework for understanding stories and remembering linguistic information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study analyzing how parents from different cultural groups mediated a simple narrative text to their 4-year old children. The subjects include Surinamese-Dutch, Turkish-Dutsch, and Dutch parent child dyads. Videotaped sessions in the families' homes are transcribed and coded with a detailed behavioral coding system that maps the function and content of parent and child behaviors. The sessions are rated on four 7-point scales on how parents interacted with their children in terms of supportive presence. Results supports the assumption that when reading is less important for the parents personally, they are less inclined to depart from the text in order to interpret the meaning.

Provides a critique of the research of R.F. West, K.E. Stanovich and H.R. Mitchell on reading psychology. Focus on the experimenters' interpretations of mind and mental functioning; Problems with the experimenters' literacy tests.

Is reading subconsciously experienced as a source of threat by reading reluctant (RR) students which may explain their persistent resistance to reading? In four separate studies ( N  = 1205), we used a print exposure checklist to identify RR students in primary education (Grades 4 and 5) and secondary education (Grades 7 and 8) in the Netherlands. The visual dot probe task, commonly used to assess feelings of threat in clinical and health psychology, was applied to reading to test whether RR students indeed selectively attended to reading-related stimuli. Using a meta-analytical approach, we found that RR students scoring zero or below on a print exposure checklist were not only less proficient readers with a more negative attitude toward reading as compared to more enthusiastic readers, but also showed an attentional bias toward reading. The findings corroborate the theory that about 60% of reluctant readers avoid reading because reading is a source of threat to them. As part of promoting reading we need to find ways to make reading a less threatening activity for those students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]