Dialogic Reading Practices of Young Children at Home

Abstract

Frequent and high-quality reading helps children develop language and early literacy skills, which, in turn, influence their academic achievements. Few empirical studies provide insights into the ways parents engage with young children. The aim of the present mixed-method study was to identify factors that influence dialogic reading at home, based on parent questionnaires with 323 parents, and based on interviews and observations with eight parents and their two- to four-year-old children. The regression analysis showed that the most significant predictors that influenced dialogic reading at home was children’s reading behaviour, children making up stories and pretending to read, as well as number of books at home, controlling for children’s age, parent education, children’s interest, and parent belief that dialogic reading will positively influence children’s socio-emotional development. While age was not significant in this analysis, in the qualitative analysis, we found that it influenced the choice of reading material, the duration of reading, and the interaction patterns between adults and children. Children’s developing language, cognitive, and socio-emotional skills also influenced their interest in stories, their ability to make up stories, and the behaviour of pretending to read. The number of books did not appear to influence the reading practices of the eight focus children. We argue that it is important to make all parents aware of the benefits of dialogic reading and encourage particularly parents of older children to continue to read, ask higher-level questions, and engage their children in conversations about text to develop both their language skills and concepts of print.