Stylistic differences in parent's extratextual comments during shared-book reading and receptive language skills in children

Master of EducationThis study identified and examined styles of parent language during a shared book reading activity and the relationship between parent language style and receptive language skills in children. Shared-book reading sessions were video-recorded in 20 parent-child dyads and parental language was transcribed and analysed for the occurrence of immediate (contextualised) and non-immediate (decontextualised) talk. Differences in parent language styles were distinguished by the amount of immediate and non-immediate utterance types in parent's extra textual comments. Language assessment scores of the children were then analysed to see if a relationship existed between the parent's language style and their pre-school child's receptive language development. Parents also completed a questionnaire on home literacy practices. Children's language assessment scores and parent's language style were found to significantly correlate; the proportion of parental non-immediate utterances for 2 book readings was highly associated with children's performance on receptive language assessment (p=0.005). Results indicated that it was the proportion of non-immediate language used by parents rather than the absolute value that was most predictive of the child's. subsequent performance on assessment of receptive language. Other factors demonstrating a relationship with children's language scores were size of home library (p=0.013) and maternal education levels (p=0.042). In a qualitative analysis of parent interactions, language styles were considered in the context of the linguistic supportive strategies parents used by parents to enhance the learning experience for their child. The analysis of 2 parent groups - high and low users of non-immediate talk highlighted key features of the style of parent language that is associated with more highly developed receptive language skills in children. Results of the qualitative analysis suggested that it is not the use of non-immediate language alone that contributes to more sophisticated language skills in children, but also the context in which it is used and the strategies that parents employ to enhance the level of representational demand in their language. These findings highlight the importance of the use of non-immediate language during parent-child interactions and of the supportive strategies used to provide a framework upon which understanding of more abstract language forms can be established. Implications for future research are discussed