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Description
Research shows that children who are frequently read to by their caregivers have both more complex narratives and higher school-readiness scores. Research also shows that these effects are stronger when parents use dialogic and interactive reading styles. Of interest in the present study was the impact of the home literacy environment and parent-child reading styles on both narrative production and school-readiness as children approach preschool. This study also examines the concurrent relationship between narrative production and school-readiness. Data were collected on parent-child dyads and compared with data from children's previous laboratory visits at 18 months and 24 months of age. The Home Literacy Environment (HLE) was assessed through parent report on the HLEQ. Parent-child reading style and narrative complexity were assessed through laboratory observation of parent-child reading and child narrative production. Child language measures were transcribed from 10 minutes of shared reading and 10 minutes of narrative elicitation. Finally, school readiness was assessed by The Lollipop Test: Diagnostic Screening Test of School Readiness. It was predicted that the HLEQ and parent-child reading styles would differentially predict narrative production and school readiness scores and that parent-child reading styles would be the stronger predictor. It was also predicted that more complex narratives would be associated with higher school readiness scores. As anticipated, parent-child reading styles were a significant predictor of narrative production. However, parent-child reading styles did not significantly predict school readiness whereas narrative production was associated with school readiness scores. Surprisingly, the HLEQ did not predict either narrative production or school readiness. Directions for future research include exploring the apparent indirect relation between reading styles and school readiness as well as confirming the current results in larger samples.
