Cover not available

In:Narrative, Literacy and Other Skills: Studies in intervention
Edited by Edy Veneziano and Ageliki Nicolopoulou
[Studies in Narrative 25] 2019
► pp. 223–244

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Chapter 10
Enriching parent-child discourse during book sharing

The impact on children’s story comprehension and narrative skills

 | Oranim College of Education
 | Tel-Aviv University
 | Kaye Academic College of Education
Published online: 6 May 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.25.11fin
Abstract
The chapter describes a study that assessed the efficacy of an intervention designed to enrich the discourse between parents and preschool children during shared reading, and thereby enhance children’s story comprehension and narrative skills. Participants were Parent-child dyads from low socio-economic backgrounds. During the study, parents in both the intervention and the control groups were given one new book weekly for six weeks, and were instructed to read each book four times per week to their children. Parents in the intervention group were instructed to read the books interactively according to a structured model, which was based on Bruner’s (1986) “dual landscape” model. The first “landscape” is the action level, which refers to the plot and focuses on characters’ behaviors. The second “landscape” is the consciousness level, which refers to the mental states that underlie characters’ behaviors. Results show that children in the intervention group referred more often to both levels compared to children in the control group. When retelling the story, they referred to characters’ mental states significantly more than their counterparts did, and were better able to answer open-ended questions regarding the plot and the vocabulary used. They also showed a better understanding of the characters’ emotions and thoughts, as well as the reasons that led to those mental states. The chapter emphasizes the importance of the direct guidance of parents in effective shared bookreading.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • The study
    • The four repeated readings model
      • First reading – the book’s plot
      • Second reading – socio-cognitive themes
      • Third reading – correspondence to the child’s life
      • Fourth reading – child retells the story
  • Method
    • Participants
    • The intervention program
    • Coding of the children’s participation in the shared reading interaction
      • Action level
      • Consciousness level
        • Mental state terms
        • Mental causality
        • References to the child’s life
        • Reference to the central mental state theme
    • Coding reliability
    • Story comprehension and narrative skills measures
      • Story comprehension
      • Narrative skills
    • Control measures
      • Receptive vocabulary (PPVT)
  • Results
    • Preliminary analyses
    • Children’s involvement in the interaction, story comprehension, and narrative skills
  • Discussion
  • Suggestions for future research
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • Appendix
References (67)
References
Adrian, J. E., Clemente, R. A., & Villanueva, L. (2007). Mothers’ use of cognitive state verbs in picture-book reading and the development of children’s understanding of mind: A longitudinal study. Child Development, 78, 1052–1067. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aram, D. (2006). Early literacy interventions among low SES preschoolers: The relative roles of storybook reading and alphabetic skills activities. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 19, 489–515. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aram, D., & Aviram, S. (2009). Mothers’ storybook reading and kindergartners’ socioemotional and literacy development. Reading Psychology, 30, 175–194. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aram, D., & Shapira, R. (2013). Parent-child shared book reading and children’s language, literacy, and empathy development. Rivista Italiana di Educazione Familiare, 7, 55–65.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berman, R., & Lustigman, L. (2012). HARSP: A developmental language profile for Hebrew. In M. J. Ball, D. Crystal, & P. Fletcher (Eds.), Communication disorders across languages (pp.43–76). Bristol, UK: Bristol Language Series.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bruner, J. (1986). Actual minds, possible worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1991). The narrative construction of reality. Critical Inquiry, 18, 1–21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bus, A. G., van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Pellegrini, A. D. (1995). Joint book reading makes for success in learning to read: A meta-analysis on intergenerational transmission of literacy. Review of Educational Research, 65, 1–21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carle, E. (1995). The very busy spider. New York, NY: Philomel Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cassidy, K. L., Ball, L., Rourke. S., Werner, R., Feeny, N., Chu, J. Y., …, Perkins, A. (1998). Theory of mind concepts in children’s literature. Applied Psycholinguistics, 19, 463–470. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Curenton, S. M. (2004). The association between narratives and theory of mind for low-income preschoolers. Early Education & Development, 15, 121–145. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010). Understanding the landscapes of stories: The association between preschoolers’ narrative comprehension and production skills and cognitive abilities. Early Child Development and Care, 181, 791–808. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Curenton, S. M., & Craig, M. J. (2011). Shared-reading versus oral storytelling: Associations with preschoolers’ prosocial skills and problem behaviors. Early Child Development and Care, 1, 123–146. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Denham, S. A. (1986). Social cognition, prosocial behavior and emotions in preschoolers: Contextual validation. Child Development, 57, 194–201. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Denham, S. A., Zoller, D., & Couchoud, E. A. (1994). Socialization of preschoolers’ emotion understanding. Developmental Psychology, 30, 928–936. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
de Rosnay, M., & Hughes, C. (2006). Conversation and theory of mind: Do children talk their way to socio-cognitive understanding? British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 24, 7–37. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dunn, J., Brown, J., Slomkowski, C., Tesla, C., & Youngblade, I. (1991). Young children’s understanding of other people’s feelings and beliefs: Individual differences and their antecedents. Child Development, 62, 1352–1366. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dyer, J. R., Shatz, M., & Wellman, H. M. (2000). Young children’s storybooks as a source of mental state information. Cognitive Development, 15, 17–37. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elkivity, L. (1997). Zvuv holex layam [Fly’s day out on the beach]. Or Yehuda, Israel: Kinneret.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elliott, D. (1981). Yom huledet masriax leoskar [Oscar’s rotten birthday]. Ben Shemen, Israel: Modan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ensor, R., & Hughes, C. (2008). Content or connectedness? mother-child talk and early social understanding. Child Development, 79, 210–216. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fernald, A., & Weisleder, A. (2011). Early language experience is vital to developing fluency in understanding. In S. Neuman, & D. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy, Vol. 3 (pp.3–19). New York, NY: Guilford.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Feuerstein, R. (1998). Haadam keyeshut mishtana: Al torat halimida hametavechet [The human as a modifiable being: The theory of mediated learning experience]. Tel Aviv, Israel: Ministry of Defense.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Garner, P. W., Jones, D. C., Gaddy, G., & Rennie, K. M. (1997). Low-income mothers’ conversations about emotions and their children’s emotional competence. Social Development, 6, 37–52. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grazzani, I., & Ornaghi, V. (2011). Emotional state talk and emotion understanding: A training study with preschool children. Journal of Child Language, 38, 1124–1139. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harkins, D., Koch, P., & Michel, G. F. (1994). Listening to maternal story telling affects narrative skill of 5-year-old children. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 155, 247–257. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harris, P. L., Donnelly, K., Guz, G. R., & Pitt-Watson, R. (1986). Children’s understanding of the distinction between real and apparent emotion. Child Development, 57, 895–909. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hockenberger, E. H., Goldstein, H., & Haas, L. S. (1999). Effects of commenting during joint book reading by mothers with low SES. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 19, 15–28. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Howell, D. C. (2010). Statistical methods for psychology (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Wadsworth.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hughes, C., Jaffee, S. R., Happé, F., Taylor, A., Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. (2005). Origins of individual differences in theory of mind: From nature to nurture? Child Development, 76, 356–370. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jenkins, J. M., Turrell, S. L., Kogushi, Y., Lollis, S., & Ross, H. S. (2003). A longitudinal investigation of the dynamics of mental state talk in families. Child Development, 74, 905–920. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kang, J. Y., Kim, Y. S., & Pan, B. A. (2009). Five-year-olds’ book talk and story retelling: Contributions of mother-child joint bookreading. First Language, 29, 243–265. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Korat, O., Klein, P., & Segal-Drori, O. (2007). Maternal mediation in book reading, home literacy environment, and children’s emergent literacy: A comparison between two social groups. Reading and Writing, 20, 361–398. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Korat, O., & Levin, I. (2001). Maternal beliefs, mother-child interaction, and child’s literacy: Comparison of independent and collaborative text writing between two social groups. Applied Developmental Psychology, 22, 397–420. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Korat, O., Ron, R., & Klein, P. (2008). Cognitive mediation and emotional support of fathers and mothers to their children during shared book-reading in two different SES groups. Journal of Cognitive Development and Education, 7, 223–247. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Le Sourn-Bissaoui, S., & Hooge-Lespagnol, F. (2006). Maternal discourse, children’s language and development of theory of mind. Psychology of Language and Communication, 10, 6–19.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lever, R., & Sénéchal, M. (2011). Discussing stories: On how a dialogic reading intervention improves kindergartners’ oral narrative construction. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 108, 1–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levin, I., & Aram, D. (2012). Mother-child joint writing and storybook reading and their effects on kindergartners’ literacy: An intervention study. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 25, 217–249. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McArthur, D., Adamson, L. B., & Deckner, D. F. (2005). As stories become familiar: Mother-child conversations during shared reading. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 51, 389–411. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McDonnell, S. A., Friel-Patti, S., & Rollins, P. R. (2003). Patterns of change in maternal-child discourse behaviors across repeated storybook reading. Applied Psycholinguistics, 24, 323–341. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meins, E., Fernyhough, C., Wainwright, R., Das-Gupta, M., Fradley, E., & Tuckey, M. (2002). Maternal mind-mindedness and attachment security as predictors of theory of mind understanding. Child Development, 73, 1715–1726. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mol, S. E., Bus, A. G., & de Jong, M. T. (2009). Interactive book reading in early education: A tool to stimulate print knowledge as well as oral language. Review of Educational Research, 79, 979–1008. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mol, S. E., Bus, A. G., de Jong, M. T., & Smeets, D. J. H. (2008). Added value of dialogic mother-child book reading: A meta-analysis. Early Education and Development, 19, 7–26. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (1999). Levels and modes of representation: Issues for the theory of conceptual change and development. In E. K. Scholnick, K. Nelson, S. A. Gelman, & P. H. Miller (Eds.), Conceptual development: Piaget’s legacy (pp.269–292). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peles, R. (1994). Hazmana learuxa [An invitation to dinner]. Tel Aviv, Israel: Sefer Lakol.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pelletier, J., & Astington, J. W. (2004). Action, consciousness and theory of mind: Children’s ability to coordinate story characters’ actions and thoughts. Early Education and Development, 15, 5–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peterson, C. (1994). Narrative skills and social class. Canadian Journal of Education, 19, 251–269. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peterson, C. C., Wellman, H. M., & Slaughter, V. (2012). The mind behind the message: Advancing theory-of-mind scales for typically developing children and those with deafness, autism or Asperger syndrome. Child Development, 83, 469–485. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peskin, J. (1996). Guise and guile: Children’s understanding of narratives in which the purpose of pretense is deception. Child Development, 67, 1735–1751. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peskin, J., & Astington, J. W. (2004). The effects of adding metacognitive language to story text. Cognitive Development, 19, 253–273. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Raikes, H. H., Luze, G., Brooks-Gunn, J., Raikes, H. A., Pan, B. A., Tamis-Lemonda C. S., …, Rodriguez, E. (2006). Mother-child bookreading in low-income families: Correlates and outcomes during the first three years of life. Child Development, 77, 924–953. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ratner, N. K., & Olver, R. R. (1998). Reading a tale of deception, learning a theory of mind? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 13, 219–239. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ruffman, T., Slade, L., & Crowe, E., (2002). The relation between children’s and mothers’ mental state: Language and theory of mind understanding. Child Development, 73, 734–751. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sénéchal, M., Pagan, S., Lever, R., & Ouellette, G. (2008). Relations among the frequency of shared reading and 4-year-old children’s vocabulary, morphological and syntax comprehension, and narrative skills. Early Education and Development, 19, 28–45. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shapira, R. (2014). Repeated joint book readings: Variability and stability in mother-child discourse and the prediction of preschoolers’ socio-emotional competence. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Tel-Aviv University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Solberg, S., & Nevo, B. (1979). Tseadim rishonim betiknun Israeli shel mivxan pibodi [Preliminary steps towards an Israeli standardization of the Peabody Test]. Megamoth, 3, 407–413.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Storch Bracken, S., & Fischel, J. E. (2008). Family reading behavior and early literacy skills in preschool children from low-income backgrounds. Early Education and Development, 19, 45–67. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Symons, D. K., Fossum, K. L. M., & Collins, T. B. K. (2006). A longitudinal study of belief and desire state discourse during mother-child play and later false belief understanding. Social Development, 15, 676–691. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Symons, K. S., Peterson, C. C., Slaughter, V., Roche, J., & Doyle, E. (2005). Theory of mind and mental state discourse during book reading and story-telling tasks. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 23, 81–102. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Genechten, G. (2003). Jonnie [Hebrew translation]. Or Yehuda, Israel: Kinneret.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Velthuijs, M. (2000a). Tsfardea hu tsfardea [Frog is frog]. Tel Aviv: Zmora-Bitan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2000b). Tsfardea beyom meyuchad meod [Frog on a very special day]. Tel-Aviv: Zmora-Bitan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wagner, C. R., B. Sahlén, Nettelbladt, U. (1999). What’s the story? Narration and comprehension in Swedish preschool children with language impairment. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 15, 113–137. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wellman, H. M., & Liu, D. (2004). Scaling of theory of mind tasks. Child Development, 75, 523–541. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Whitehurst, G. J., Falco, F. L., Lonigan, C. J., Fischer, J. E., DeBaryshe, B. D., Valdez-Menchaca, M. C., & Caulfield, M. (1988). Accelerating language development through picture book reading. Developmental Psychology, 24, 552–559. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zevenbergen, A. A., Whitehurst, G. J., & Zevenbergen, J. A. (2003). Effects of a shared-reading intervention on the inclusion of evaluative devices in narratives of children from low-income families. Applied Developmental Psychology, 24, 1–15. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zoran, H., Shapira, R., & Aram, D. (July, 2012) The nature of parent-child discourse during repeated shared book reading. The Israel Association for Literacy and Language. Lecture given at Ono Academic College, Kiryat Ono, Israel.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Bergman Deitcher, Deborah, Dorit Aram, Mabsam Khalaily-Shahadi & Mona Dwairy
2021. Promoting Preschoolers’ Mental-Emotional Conceptualization and Social Understanding: A Shared Book-Reading Study. Early Education and Development 32:4 ► pp. 501 ff. DOI logo
Schapira, Rotem, Deborah Bergman Deitcher & Dorit Aram
2021. Variability and stability in parent–child discourse during and following repeated shared book reading. Reading and Writing 34:1 ► pp. 273 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 2 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue