Describes one assessment instrument, the Classification Scheme for Emergent Reading of Favorite Storybooks, that has evolved into a tool for helping teachers understand development. Notes that the instrument can be used day to day to track the development of individuals or groups of children over time. (MG)

Investigates the extent that reading aloud to children in the classroom aids them in acquiring new vocabulary. Finds that oral story reading constitutes a significant source of vocabulary acquisition, whether or not the reading is accompanied by teacher explanation of word meanings. (RS)

Discusses how reading aloud to students improves their reading competencies, including language processes, reading and listening skills, and reading motivation. Concludes that reading aloud should be a regular part of a daily classroom schedule. (MM)

Finds that fourth graders were more likely than fifth and sixth graders to understand story characters in terms of immediate situation rather than overall story context and in terms of individual perspectives rather than social relationships. Finds that adults differ from fifth and sixth graders in the same way. (SR)

This award-winning article describes a research project which evaluated use of "social stories" with primary-grade children who have autism. Social stories are written to describe social situations the child finds difficult and include descriptive sentences which describe the situation, perspective sentences which explain the reactions of others,…

This case study investigated the efficacy of repeated storybook reading (RSR) with adult scaffolding as an intervention for a 3-year-old child with autism. An ABA single-subject design was employed. Results suggest that RSR encouraged spontaneous language use. Guidelines for using RSR with children with autism are provided. (Contains extensive…

Examines whether storybook exposure and the amount of teaching in reading and writing skills reported by middle-class parents were related to oral language skills and written language skills of kindergarten children. Shows that storybook exposure explained statistically significant unique variance in children's oral language skills but not in…

Compares effects of storytelling versus story reading on comprehension and vocabulary development of 32 British primary children. States one group listened to stories in storytelling style, the other group listened to stories read by a student teacher. Finds children who witnessed storytelling scored higher on comprehension/vocabulary measures…

Examines the influence of language proficiency and comprehension skill on situation-model construction during narrative comprehension. Studies 12 college students who thought aloud reading French and English stories for comprehension and who performed a verb-clustering task after reading each text. Finds that the students generated more…

In this article, the authors discuss the importance of oral language formation as it relates to literacy and the development of children's skills, knowledge, and understanding with respect to reading and writing. Describing stories as the link between everyday language and literate forms of language, they explain why children need the experience…

The effects of adult questioning on children's novel word acquisition during storybook reading were investigated. Three-year-olds were assigned to one of three conditions: vocabulary eliciting questions, noneliciting questions, and no questions (control). General vocabulary comprehension and novel word knowledge were equivalent across the groups…

This paper reports an investigation of children's picture storybooks about school. Previous research has indicated that parents and educators choose to read books about school to children as a way of helping children become familiar with school expectations. Drawing on over 100 children's picture storybooks, the content (text and illustrations) of…

The effects of rehearsing actions by source (slideshow vs. story) and of test modality (picture vs. verbal) on source monitoring were examined. Seven- to 8-year-old children (N = 30) saw a slideshow event and heard a story about a similar event. One to 2 days later, they recalled the events by source (source recall), recalled the events without…

This article reports on an investigation of how mothers and fathers differ in reading aloud with children between 13 and 46 months of age. Twenty-seven mother/child dyads and 36 father/child dyads were observed on three consecutive weeks by trained observers who used a modified version of descriptors of read-aloud behaviors developed by…

This pilot study examined, from a dynamic systems perspective, changes in maternal/child discourse behaviors across repeated readings of a storybook. Four Caucasian children (2 boys, 2 girls), ranging in age from 2 years 7 months to 2 years 10 months, were videotaped reading unfamiliar storybooks with their mothers. The videotapes were…