The more individuals consume media that portray people who participate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as white and able-bodied men, the more likely individuals within STEM communities will only recognize those who fit that image as belonging there, thereby alienating individuals who do not fit the portrayed media image…

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has deleterious effects on children. Our research observed mothers' conversations with their 5-7-year-old children about the conflict during shared book reading (SBR) of a fiction book, indirectly depicting the conflict. Using a mixed-methods study, we compared the SBR of secular and religious Israeli Jewish…

This study develops an intercultural and intergenerational model for teaching Mandarin as a second language, aimed at enhancing international students' intercultural communicative competence. Three native Mandarin-speaking kindergarten children in Taiwan, with no English knowledge, participated in a university Mandarin class with international…

This study is carried out to investigate the impact of Interactive storybook reading method on scientific vocabulary acquisition by children. The study pattern employed was an experimental one, involving pre-test, post-test, follow-up test, and control group. The study group was composed of 52 children (26 in the experiment group, and 26 in the…

Deixis -- a fundamental part of communication -- involves combinations of speech, gesture and eye-gaze, yet little is known about the temporal dynamics of this coordination. The authors analysed eye-gaze, pointing gestures and verbal productions in 514 deictic episodes during triadic, semi-naturalistic, book-reading sessions performed by Italian…

Teaching learners to reflect on their work has been widely researched within language-learning contexts in higher education. Research has revealed that self-reflection leads to both development in learners' reading comprehension and lecturers being enabled to write more meaningful corrective feedback on learners' assignments. Using a collaborative…

This research explored children's attitudes towards gossipers in relation to gossip valence. Four- to 8-year-old children (N = 214) read three storybooks containing positive, neutral, or negative gossip statements. Following each book, children were interviewed on whom they viewed as nicer and more honest (ascription of desirable traits), whom…

This study evaluated the effect of peer-assisted learning strategies (PALS) intervention on the language and story comprehension skills of two kindergartners with developmental delays from a special education class while reading a digital storybook. The study was conducted in Taiwan with participants who spoke Mandarin Chinese. This study was a…

Multilingual children living in areas with low socioeconomic status (SES) are at an increased risk of having speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). Many multilingual children with SLCN in Sweden have insufficient basic vocabulary knowledge in the majority language, preventing them from achieving the school's learning goals. However,…

This study aims to understand how Swedish storybooks targeting youth portray, the relationships (social capital) and emotions of characters with intellectual disability. A collection of 37 storybooks were analysed using grounded theory. The results suggest that romantic relationships dominate in the storybooks. In the portrayal of romantic…

The study examined the efficacy of an intervention designed to promote self concept, representation of self and autobiographical memory among preschoolers during shared reading within a sample of 22 families from the low-SES background. The intervention is based on PRO approach and Bruner (1986) model to consider both aspects of stories content…

This study provides an opportunity for young children to express their thoughts about all matters affecting them based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Accordingly, 20 five-year-old children attending a preschool in Korea participated in this study, reading picture books, including animal matters. I recorded and…

This study explores relationships between Taiwanese Sign Language (TSL) and Chinese reading comprehension with 65 deaf adults/youth (study 1: ages 14--50 years) and 27 deaf children (study 2: ages 6--13 years). Significant relationships were found between scores on two tests measuring TSL tasks. In study #1, the TSL tasks (measured by Taiwan Sign…

Learning to read is a process that begins well before children commence formal schooling and well before children learn to decode print. Children's early reading skills are, first and foremost, foundationally contingent upon children's oral language and phonological awareness proficiencies -- skills that can be mapped across a continuum of…

Advanced technology and the shift to a digital childhood have dramatically reshaped children's early life experiences. Children's literacy experiences are also evolving; in addition to printed storybooks, children are now exposed to electronic stories (e-stories). While previous studies have addressed the effects of e-stories on children's…