Search

Within the medium of picturebooks is a category specifically targeted to the very youngest "readers"—board books. They are designed primarily for babies, infants, and toddlers, a preliterate audience from newborn to 3-years-old. And while board books are still technically picturebooks, their design and construction follows a different set of parameters from older picturebooks. The one thing they do share with their older siblings is that they are typically purchased by adults for child "readers," a paradox that raises complicated questions about the actual intended audience of board books. Furthemore, while board books "help infants learn to recognize familiar objects and to develop basic concepts related to people, animals, possessions, familiar events, and daily routines" (Hughes-Hassell in Inside board books: representations of people of color. The Library Quarterly, The University of Chicago Press Journals, Chicago, 2010), there is a new trend in board books of older books adapted into the board book medium, or for educational, politically driven topics obviously not intended for child readers at all. With sales of board books increasing in recent years (Harbison in Category snapshot: the benefits of the board book boom. Publishers Weekly. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/81736-category-snapshot-the-benefits-of-theboard-book-boom.html, 2019) it leaves one to wonder who are board books really for and what do these "readers" really want from them? This paper examines this new trend and what it says about the medium, from the perspective of a picturebook and board book creator as well as from an academic viewpoint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children in the digital era are exposed to the advancement of information technology and multimedia that might bring both positive and negative influence toward their development. During early childhood, children are using mostly their senses to explore the world around them, including learning some values from the story books exposed to them. However, parents or family do not give optimal support in the children’s learning process. Therefore, it is a challenge for English language teaching (ELT) pre-service teachers in implementing a digital storytelling to engage the children with the learning material and creative ways to optimally utilize technology, but at the same time give a comprehensive support for children to improve their English skills as well as the embedded values within the stories. The present study aims to reveal the opportunities and challenges in fostering a child’s reading interest through digital storytelling. All the details were recorded through observations, responses from the children while they were watching the digital story, and a daily journal written by ELT preservice teacher. From the result, it was found that through their interactions with the stories, children were exposed by the values embedded, furthermore, their reading interest is developing where more optimal support from the parents or caregivers is urgently needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiences with books before age three predict children's motivation to read (Bus et al., 1995), and can support the development of vocabulary, communication, and symbolic skills (Scarborough, 2001). Sharing books with infants and toddlers is different than reading aloud to older children. For example, it is important to attend more closely to infants' eye gaze and to support toddlers to respond with gestures. This article presents 10 research‐based practices for book‐sharing with infants and toddlers to foster love of reading and emergent literacy skills. For each practice, we provide examples with preverbal infants and newly verbal toddlers. We encourage teachers of reading to use these practices in their interactions with infants and toddlers and to use their role as literacy leaders to share the practices with childcare providers, families, and others who work with this age group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning to read transforms lives. Reading contributes to knowledge acquisition, cultural engagement, and success in the school. The unequal distribution of literacy skills in a society is associated with economic and social inequalities as a result, children with a poor foundation in literacy before entering formal schooling are more likely to struggle academically and to drop out of school. For these reasons, there has been an intense scientific interest for decades in understanding how children learn to read. It is well established that in the early stages of reading development, phonological awareness, letter namesounds knowledge, and the naming speed are three independent longitudinal predictors of children's later word-reading skills in alphabetic-writing systems. Phonological awareness constitutes the ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds of their own language, meanwhile letter knowledge promotes the discovery of systematic relationships between writing and oral language. As early readers develop some level of phonological awareness and some level of letter knowledge, they can recognize written words through phonological recoding processes, in which graphemes are recoded as phonemes and assembled to pronounce words. In addition, rapid naming expresses the speed at which phonological information is accessed from a graphic label. Phonological processing and letter knowledge are powerfully affected by the experience, stimulation, and support that children receive before beginning formal education. Most children acquire these abilities relatively effortlessly during early childhood. However, there is a significant number of children in Latin America who experience difficulties in their pre-literacy skills development. This study examined the cognitive profiles of a total of 50 Uruguayan preschoolers from different socioeconomic backgrounds from two public schools in Montevideo, Uruguay. Twenty-six children from low-income households were compared to peers from middle-income. At the end of the pre-schooling period (time 1) receptive vocabulary, phonological awareness, letter name-sounds knowledge, and object naming speed tests were administered to children. One year later (time 2), word -reading of a subgroup of children was measured. Significant correlations were observed between all predictors at time 1; between predictors at time 1 and word reading at time 2; and between all measured abilities and socioeconomic status. Comparative analysis between children of different socioeconomic status showed that children growing up in poverty contexts performed more poorly than their peers from middle-income families in all the tests. Nonetheless, both groups performed poorly in word reading. Descriptive statistics indicated that, out of a total of 26 words, low SES children correctly read a total of 7 words per minute, and medium SES children a total of 14 words. Finally, regression analyses indicated that phonological awareness contributed 30 % variance in predicting the total score achieved in a reading-word test in children of low-income families, meanwhile letter name knowledge contributed 74 % variance in predicting the total score achieved in a reading-word test in their peers from middle-income families. In general terms, results of pre-reading skills and reading performance seem to indicate that children of different socioeconomic status use different word recognition strategies according to their level of letter-knowledge of and phonological processing. Discussion considers international literature pointing out that children who enter elementary school with limited reading-related skills are unlikely to be able to keep pace with their peers. These findings warn about the importance to elaborate systematic and high-quality educational proposals to try to reduce the gap in reading development for children from low-income families. Developing literacy and language skills before formal schooling sets a child up for success in school and life. Results also suggest the importance of analyzing the variables that affect reading development in populations that are not the majority described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's views on text sets and series that help children experience and sustain the deep joy of reading. It requires educators to consider four domains to get equitable outcomes, including identity, skills, intellect, and critical thinking. It includes a series of books for children of different ages, including the Juana and Lucas series, the Front Desk series, and the front books in the verse text set.

We examined the bidirectional relations between home literacy environment, reading interest, and children's emergent literacy and reading skills in a sample of 172 English-speaking Canadian children (Mage  = 75.87 months) followed from Grade 1 to Grade 3. Results of cross-lagged analysis revealed that the reading comprehension activities (RCA) at home positively predicted children's reading skills at the end of Grade 2 and the reading skills negatively predicted the RCA in Grade 3. Parent-rated reading interest was bidirectionally related to reading skills, whereas child-rated reading interest was only predicted by earlier reading skills, but not vice versa. These findings suggest that parents are sensitive to their children's reading performance and modify their involvement accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article suggests ways to help real readers grow their remote reading lives during the Covid-19 pandemic. They include the need for educators to prioritize readers before focusing on educational tools and technology, providing children easy and steady access to books, and recognizing the importance of student choice in text which is supported by the National Council of Teachers of English.

This study investigated the role of home learning environments and family socioeconomic status in children's learning in Tanzania. A total of 303 participants from the naturalized refugees, rural, and urban majority groups were recruited. Data were collected using parents' questionnaires, interviews, Bracken's Basic Concept Scale–Receptive, Early Grades Reading Assessment, and Early Grades Mathematics Assessment. The results indicate that although naturalized refugees' home learning environments were comparable to those of the rural majority, and had lower socioeconomic status than the urban majority, their learning attainments were as good as those of the more-advantaged urban majority. Parental beliefs and expectations were the possible reasons for their demonstrating better learning attainments. These findings broaden our understandings of various protective and supportive factors which have implications on children's development and learning across contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an approach to reader response journals that broadens definitions of "reader" and acknowledges student as place makers. It mentions that repositioning, as a place-conscious mode of reader response in middle childhood, is a conceptual re-storying or reimagining of one's own socially and culturally constructed identities.

Surprisingly little has been written in school-related science education literature about reading for pleasure. This article reports the findings of a survey exploring free-choice science book reading habits of children and young teens. In the survey, over 300 children aged 8-14 completed a written questionnaire. The results showed that most did not read science books outside school and about a fifth of the sample did not read them in school. For a significant number, the assumption is that such books are boring, difficult, only for specialists or only for the academically gifted. The implications of this perception are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many approaches to reading that are common in schools focus narrowly on the skills and strategies that comprise the technical ability to read. In contrast, attention to reading identities prompts teachers to center children's ideas about what reading is and who they are as readers. In this article, the author draws on his own experiences with children in prekindergarten to examine the various aspects of children that together make them a reader, including how children conceptualize, perform, and experience reading, and how they connect reading to understandings of language and other aspects of their identities. The author describes approaches to learn about and assess children's reading identities that are based on his work in a prekindergarten classroom. These include intentional talk about reading, drawing about reading, observation during play and classroom activities, and family questionnaires. The author then provides guidance on how these assessments can inform classroom practices, and how teachers can account for the role of identities as they plan instruction for and support early reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on the use of children's picture books in the study and teaching of vocabulary to young students.

Although nonfiction has always been a significant component within children's literature, the genre remains understudied. This article redresses the balance by focussing on perspective taking in literary nonfiction for children. Adding a cognitive framework to Sutliff Sanders' ideas (2018) on critical engagement with nonfiction, this article explores how deictic markers and blending position readers in different roles and perspectives and how these positions influence the representation of scientists. An analysis of The Mystery of Life by Jan Paul Schutten and Floor Rieder shows how deixis and blends proffer readers opportunities to overcome strict alignment with the narratee and temporarily identify with the group of scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two young men create a personal digital map of a site important to their literate youth. They are demographically similar and each regards the Harry Potter series as an important childhood text. Yet their mental approach to fictional world-building is very different. One places a high priority on life experience (explorations in a nearby ravine) and applies those sensations in relatively unarticulated ways to his reading. The other starts with the words and mentally builds a detailed interior world that is as accurate as careful reading can make it. Cognitive diversity deserves recognition as much as other kinds of difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports that aim to provide a roadmap to cognitive approaches to children's literature, guiding readers to see the range of questions made possible and answerable from this perspective.

The role of reading in educating a future writer is discussed through the study of memoirs by writers including Janet Frame, James Baldwin, and Eudora Welty. The memoirs show reading books to have been a transformative way of melding forms of experience. The following features of childhood reading are examined: (1) the role of the physical book, (2) the cognitive-aesthetic-affective impact of letters, words and 'voices', (3) the partially unplanned and challenging path of children's exposure to texts, and (4) absorption of models that can be imitated and outgrown. The discussion links sympathetically to views in philosophy of education about the importance of content and beauty and of influences whose impact cannot be planned, measured or captured as generic skills. The autobiographical evidence considered here suggests that these influences can nonetheless be crucial to expanding learners' horizons and stimulating their educational and artistic progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a short-term longitudinal study conducted in low-performing rural primary schools in South Africa. The authors were involved in developing a two-year multimedia reading programme for rural South African children in grades 1–3, and sought to assess key learning outcomes in existing school computer laboratories. The programme provided interactive local-language support in three local languages plus English, with content designed to be culturally appropriate and contextually relevant for the target group. The study tracked a total of 215 learners, some of whom used the programme once a week for its duration, while a control group did not. Findings revealed a positive and significant impact on local-language reading fluency and reading comprehension among the children who had used the instructional software. The outcome demonstrates nearly three-quarters of a year of additional reading growth compared to reading growth at control schools within the sample, as well as a twofold increase in reading comprehension in the treatment group. The study demonstrates that technology-based reading support can help rural learners in South Africa to make substantive gains so they can complete their schooling. The ability to accomplish a full cycle of primary school with well-developed reading skills has important implications for lifelong learning. The authors argue that guided and contextualised instructional software can lead to enhanced learning outcomes compared to unguided digital content or traditional teacher support alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the education context of sub-Saharan Africa, reading has received substantial attention in recent years. Reading skills and habits have been identified as a marker of success in formal education, particularly with the current international focus on reading achievement as a measure of learning. Meanwhile, adult literacy continues to be seen as an important feature of human development, and reading skills are carefully tracked in reporting on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This attention given to reading by major international agencies, and by the partners whom they influence, has contributed to a general belief that progress of all kinds can be linked to the ability to read and understand written text. Literacy and reading certainly feature prominently in many aspects of lifelong learning. However, the current interest in establishing so-called reading cultures is handicapped by a significant mismatch in assumptions about the utility and functions of literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the proposed mechanisms underlying reading difficulties observed in developmental dyslexia is impaired mapping of visual to auditory speech representations. We investigate these mappings in 20 typically reading and 20 children with dyslexia aged 8–10 years using text-based recalibration. In this paradigm, the pairing of visual text and ambiguous speech sounds shifts (recalibrates) the participant's perception of the ambiguous speech in subsequent auditory-only post-test trials. Recent research in adults demonstrated this text-induced perceptual shift in typical, but not in dyslexic readers. Our current results instead show significant text-induced recalibration in both typically reading children and children with dyslexia. The strength of this effect was significantly linked to the strength of perceptual adaptation effects in children with dyslexia but not typically reading children. Furthermore, additional analyses in a sample of typically reading children of various reading levels revealed a significant link between recalibration and phoneme categorization. Taken together, our study highlights the importance of considering dynamic developmental changes in reading, letter-speech sound coupling and speech perception when investigating group differences between typical and dyslexic readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There exists an abundance of literature on the use of wordless picturebooks in literacy development, yet very little research exists on their use in the South African context. South Africa is facing what researchers have referred to as a 'national crisis of reading'. Only 5 per cent of parents read with their children, as a result, many children are not exposed to books or book‐sharing activities prior to entering formal school. Despite the acknowledgement and acceptance of the importance of mother tongue education, especially in Foundation Phase, there still exists a lack of indigenous language picturebooks for young readers. The article reports on the findings of an exploratory study in which wordless picturebooks were used in parent–child joint reading. By moving the reading environment from a community centre or daycare to participant homes, the main aim was to determine the perceptions of the parents or primary caregivers and children that participated in the programme regarding the value of utilising wordless picturebooks in their homes. The research sought to gain an understanding of how wordless picturebooks could assist in ensuring that literacy‐poor families are supported as a child's first educator. We argue that wordless picturebooks warrant further investigation in the South African context, as key findings indicated that they can be viewed as a valuable tool in fostering a culture of reading in the South African context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Style within genre (rhyming vs. non-rhyming narrative) affected extratextual talk. • Parents made higher proportions of meaning-focused talk in the non-rhyming book. • Parents made higher proportions of code-focused talk in the rhyming book. • Associations with children's language and early literacy skills differed per book. • A novel finding was that code-focused talk predicted early literacy skills. Abstract Extra-textual talk during shared picture book-reading is hypothesized to scaffold children's early literacy skills; however, observational research has shown mixed results. This study compared meaning- and code-focused talk in rhyming versus non-rhyming picturebooks in relation to children's language and literacy skills. Forty-five parents were audio-recorded reading two picturebooks, one rhyming and one non-rhyming, with their preschool-aged children. Children's concurrent oral language and early literacy skills were also assessed. Parents made higher proportions of inference/predictions in the non-rhyming book, and higher proportions of print- and sound-focused talk in the rhyming book. Further, parents' meaning-focused talk predicted children's concurrent oral language skills, and parents' code-focused talk (both print- and sound-focused) predicted children's concurrent early literacy skills. These associations differed by book style and were moderated by children's age, such that parents' print-focused talk in the rhyming book was positively associated with early literacy only for older children. These results suggest that rhyming picturebooks may elicit code-focused talk, and non-rhyming picturebooks may elicit meaning-focused talk. Moreover, print-focused talk may be more useful for older than for younger pre-schoolers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attempts to determine the adequacy of reviews of children's books in the six most utilized reviewing journals. Analysis of data in relation to the extent of the coverage and content of reviews of Notable Children's Books lists; Comment that there is variation in the adequacy of the content of the reviews; Examples of reviews examined; Findings of study.

Abstract: This article describes the conceptualisation and development of a pedagogical framework to support the design of e‐books for children to enhance literacy development. It emerged from research undertaken within the Q‐Tales international consortium project of the EU's Horizon 2020 Programme for Research and Innovation, where the aim was to facilitate key stakeholders to collaborate and participate in the online production and publication of high‐quality, educational e‐books for children. The pedagogical framework described here sought to answer the question “What concepts and principles undergird the effective design of pedagogically impactful e‐books for children?” It is grounded by the theoretical underpinnings of socio‐constructivism, constructionism and skill theory, and how they relate to children's literacy development. A framework describing different narrative forms and component features, key pedagogical activities appropriate for different stages of reading development and design recommendations regarding the integration of multimedia into e‐books are also central to the pedagogical framework. As well as informing the design of the Q‐Tales infrastructure for children's e‐book design and publication, we hope the guidelines and pedagogical activities enumerated here will be widely useful for those designing and developing digital, interactive narratives, particularly e‐books to enhance children's emerging literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In educational settings, physical objects or artwork are commonly used to convey meanings. These designs can be enhanced in ways which provide dynamic information overlay and context for children’s stories, such as how augmented reality technology (AR) uses created overlay digital information on the realistic object for enhancing interactions in learning and reading. The recent advancements in mobile AR have attracted a great deal of attention in the area of children’s learning and reading. In this context, a mobile AR story library (containing 228 picture books created by young artists from secondary schools) was developed for children’s reading. An AR platform (Hp Reveal) was used with Drupal for the management of story video clips, with children invited to immerse themselves in the artwork and stories in the library. Specific research questions were raised in this study: (1) how did teachers and the library implement the AR stories for children’s reading and (2) how did children react to AR reading? Observations and questionnaires were used to gather research data, while themes for scaffolding children’s reading in the mobile AR reading environment are summarized. It was observed that adults learned to use the AR mobile application and set up physical reading spaces (the library and classrooms) for children. When children were reading with AR, adults provided guidance and support for scaffolding children’s reading processes. The children were positive about the use of tablet with AR for reading stories and enjoyed reading the story content triggered by the AR technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The author explores the possibilities that posthumanist thinking offers for amplifying our understanding of multimodality in children's literacies in school and beyond. Drawing on data from a five‐month case study on the multimodal literacy practices of six fifth‐grade students across home, community, and school settings, the author focuses on one 10‐year‐old student. The author uses the student's engagement with graphic novels as a starting place for considering what students’ entanglements with multimodal literacies beyond the classroom can teach us about multimodality in classrooms. The author first discusses multimodality as it is typically framed and then puts this framing into conversation with posthumanist perspectives on literacy learning to open up considerations of what counts as multimodality. Finally, the author discusses ways that thinking with posthumanist concepts such as affect, embodiment, relationship, movement, and place can enhance both multimodal literacy instruction and students’ engagement with literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing number of studies report links between nonlinguistic rhythmic abilities and certain linguistic abilities, particularly phonological skills. The current study investigated the relationship between nonlinguistic rhythmic processing, phonological abilities, and early literacy abilities in kindergarteners. A distinctive aspect of the current work was the exploration of whether processing of different types of rhythmic patterns is differentially related to kindergarteners’ phonological and reading-related abilities. Specifically, we examined the processing of metrical versus nonmetrical rhythmic patterns, that is, patterns capable of being subdivided into equal temporal intervals or not (Povel & Essens, 1985). This is an important comparison because most music involves metrical sequences, in which rhythm often has an underlying temporal grid of isochronous units. In contrast, nonmetrical sequences are arguably more typical to speech rhythm, which is temporally structured but does not involve an underlying grid of equal temporal units. A rhythm discrimination app with metrical and nonmetrical patterns was administered to 74 kindergarteners in conjunction with cognitive and preliteracy measures. Findings support a relationship among rhythm perception, phonological awareness, and letter-sound knowledge (an essential precursor of reading). A mediation analysis revealed that the association between rhythm perception and letter-sound knowledge is mediated through phonological awareness. Furthermore, metrical perception accounted for unique variance in letter-sound knowledge above all other language and cognitive measures. These results point to a unique role for temporal regularity processing in the association between musical rhythm and literacy in young children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the Project LIT Community which has the goal of increasing book access and promoting reading in schools and communities. Topics discussed include the successful launch of a book drive through a social media campaign; reading challenges such as lack of interest, motivation, and confidence; and motivating students to read books.

Although strong claims have been made regarding the educational utility of eye tracking, such statements seem somewhat unfounded in the absence of clear evidence regarding the technical adequacy of eye movement ( EM) data. Past studies have yielded direct and indirect evidence concerning the utility of EMs as measures of reading, but recent research explicitly investigating their reliability and validity has been lacking. The current study updates and extends past research by investigating the reliability and validity of recently used EM measures of children's reading. Participants were 175 second-grade students whose EMs were monitored during silent reading of narrative text(s) at two timepoints. Participants were also individually administered measures of reading achievement. Results indicate adequate reliability and validity for passage-level measures of fixation duration but suggest that elementary students' reading behaviors relative to specific words are weakly associated with their normative levels of reading achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated the relation among reading skills and attributions, naming speed, and phonological awareness across a wide range of reading skill. Participants were 1,105 school-age children and youths from two understudied populations: African Americans and Hispanic Americans. Individual assessments of children ranging in age from 8 to 15 years were conducted for reading outcomes, cognitive and linguistic predictors of reading, and attributions for success and failure in reading situations. Quantile regressions were formulated to estimate these relations across the full skill span of each outcome. Reading-related attributions predicted contextual word recognition, sight word and decoding fluency, and comprehension skills. Attributions to ability in success situations were positively related to each outcome across the full span. On three reading outcomes, this relation strengthened at higher skill levels. Attributions to effort in success situations were consistently and negatively related to all reading outcomes. The results provide evidence that the strength of the relation between reading and attributions varies according to reading skill levels, with the strongest evidence for ability-based attributions in situations of reading success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, little is known about the high-level language skills and cognitive processes underlying reading comprehension in children. The present study aimed to investigate whether children with high, compared with low, reading comprehension differ in their sequencing skill, which was defined as the ability to identify and recall the temporal order of events in narratives. A novel age-appropriate reading and recall measure was developed to assess sequencing in typically developing primary school students. Sixty-four students between the ages of 8 and 11 years read short narratives containing either a forward or backward temporal shift and then placed a set of cards depicting the scenario in either picture or text format in the correct chronological order that the events occurred. Participants also completed measures of verbal and visuospatial working memory to investigate potential relations between working memory and sequencing ability. High comprehenders were found to produce more accurate sequences than low comprehenders in all conditions of the sequencing task, suggesting that sequencing ability may be important for facilitating comprehension. Additionally, participants produced more accurate sequences in the forward condition than the backward condition, indicating that sequencing is facilitated by chronological presentation of events in text. Measures of working memory were unrelated to sequencing ability or comprehension. The results of this study provide preliminary evidence that sequencing is an important skill for children's comprehension of narrative texts and have implications for reading education and intervention programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Findings: This study examined preschool teachers’ literal talk (LT) and inferential talk (IT) during shared book readings in early childhood education (ECE) and early childhood special education (ECSE) classrooms. We aimed to characterize and compare teachers’ LT and IT in these 2 classroom contexts and determine whether differences in LT and IT are predicted by classroom type, teachers’ educational background, or children’s average language skills. We examined the shared book reading activities of 52 teachers (26 ECE classrooms, 26 ECSE classrooms). Results revealed that ECSE teachers used significantly more LT and showed more variability in their LT and IT than ECE teachers. ECSE classroom type predicted teachers’ use of LT when we controlled for teacher education and children’s language skills, whereas teacher education predicted teachers’ use of IT when we controlled for classroom type and children’s language skills.Practice or Policy: These findings have implications for best practice guidelines and policies, particularly for ECSE environments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]