This study examined preschool teachers' fidelity in implementing a vocabulary intervention. The purpose of the study is to inform the scaling up of vocabulary interventions, identifying strategies that are both feasible for teachers and effective for vocabulary learning. We analyzed data from a vocabulary intervention in which teachers (n = 10)…

Parents are encouraged to read to their children as early as possible. Multiple studies of parent-child shared book reading with children ages 3 years and older have shown positive outcomes on parent use of language-based strategies and child language development. However, few studies have included children under the age of 3; thus, little is…

Purpose: We studied conversations initiated through teacher questions during shared book reading in prekindergarten and kindergarten classrooms as these conversations provide opportunities for the teacher to scaffold emerging language skills. This study provides detailed analysis of scaffolding strategies used by teachers after children answered…

This study evaluates the effectiveness of a dialogic reading picture book intervention on preschoolers' repeating patterning ability. Ninety-four children age 4 years 1 month to 6 years 8 months (M[subscript age] = 5 years 0 months) were randomly assigned to intervention (n = 46) or active control (n = 48) conditions. Well-trained university and…

Interactive read-alouds are versatile in that teachers can teach an array of literacy skills through this instructional strategy. However, our observations of six primary grade teachers and prior research revealed that teachers' implementation of interactive read-alouds varies. Without the necessary planning and preparation for interactive…

Reading aloud to students is a common practice among teachers of young children. While reading aloud is a research-based instructional strategy with many potential benefits, studies show that not all teachers read aloud to their students, and read-aloud use tends to decline as students age. The purpose of this study was to explore the current…

In this study, we describe a teacher educator's first experience implementing a service-learning project in a children's literature course in which pre-service teachers helped provide read-alouds for the local public library's summer reading program. We sought to examine the impact the project had on the seven participants. Data was collected…

Initiating conversations and responding to initiations of others via gestural and verbal means are prerequisites for participating in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) interactions. However, research to date has not addressed the multimodal initiations and responses of young second language learners (SLLs) in natural ECEC settings. This…

In this manuscript we show how read alouds can significantly enrich student vocabulary and comprehension by demonstrating enhancements that will foster student learning and language development. We anchor our examples to empirical evidence demonstrating that the content of a read aloud (i.e., the what we teach) as well as the quality of the…

Although it is well established that reading with young children supports early language and literacy development, few studies have focused on the importance of parental beliefs about reading with infants. The current study, which sheds light on parental beliefs had three main aims. The first was to examine practices of shared reading in infancy…

This case study examines the integration of a picture book app in an after-school program in Switzerland, focusing on challenges, benefits and chances of promoting reading as part of the after-school program through the perspectives of caregivers. The study explores the potential of digital media, particularly picture book apps, to enhance…

This paper describes a yearlong collaboration between a literacy professor, pre-service teachers enrolled in an undergraduate Children's Literature course, and community partners in a neighboring K-12 school. The partners collaborated to implement a motivational reading program for elementary students based on the Texas Bluebonnet Award booklist.…

Parents' attitudes are an important indicator of whether and how parents engage in shared book reading (SBR) at home. This study analysed Norwegian parents' attitudes towards reading books with their children aged between 1-4.5 years. Thematic analysis of data from 24 interviews revealed two main themes in parents' accounts: agency (the child's…

The aim of this paper was to examine the influence of picturebooks on children's "physical literacy" (PL). Fostering PL in early childhood can promote a physically active lifestyle in children and later adults. Picturebook use is a great opportunity for movement exploration in physical education classes, and recent research findings…

This article presents the results of an RCT assessing the impact of a Shared Book Reading (SBR) intervention that targeted children aged 4 attending kindergarten. We selected a large, random sample of families living in the city of Paris and provided parents of treated classes with free books for children, information on the benefits of book…