ED334541 CS010626
Title: Young Children's Storybook Reading: Longitudinal Study of Parent-Child Interaction and Children's Independent Functioning. Final
Report.
Author(s): Sulzby, Elizabeth; Teale, William H.
Pages: 119
Publication Date: November 1987
Sponsoring Agency: Spencer Foundation, Chicago, IL. (BBB06744)
Available from: EDRS Price MF01/PC05 Plus Postage.
Language: English
Document Type: Reports--Research (143)
Geographic Source: U.S.; Michigan
Journal Announcement: RIEDEC1991
A 3-year longitudinal study combined research in emergent storybook reading with research in parent-child interaction across income and cultural groups. In San Antonio, Texas, 8 families (4 each of low and middle income, with 2 families in each group being of Mexican- American heritage and 2 of Anglo heritage) tape recorded 1 storybook reading session with their children. Findings of the descriptive studies of parent-child interactions include: (1) storybook reading is an integral part of family life; (2) storybook reading interaction becomes internalized; and (3) children spontaneously engage in storybook reenactments. In the Chicago, Illinois, area, a number of studies were conducted in which storybook readings were elicited from large numbers of preschool and kindergarten children, focusing upon low income children recently immigrated from rural Mexico and placed in bilingual classrooms in a large suburban school district. After their teachers read storybooks repeatedly to them in both languages, the children were asked to read books in both English and Spanish. Readings were audiotaped and transcribed in both languages. One cohort was followed from preschool until November of kindergarten, and another was followed throughout kindergarten. Results indicated that children in both cohorts displayed an increase in emergent reading ability across time. Results also indicated that children produced reading attempts that fit the Sulzby Classification Scheme in both languages. Findings suggest that children discover the interrelationships between oral and written language within their culture during the period from birth to the time when they are conventionally literate. (Four tables of data and excerpts from a transcribed interview are included; 155 references and family demographic data are attached.) (RS)
Descriptors: *Beginning Reading; *Bilingualism; Cross Cultural Studies; Cultural Context; Longitudinal Studies; *Parent Student
Relationship; Primary Education; *Reading Aloud to Others; Reading Research
Identifiers: *Emergent Literacy; Illinois (Chicago); Texas (San Antonio)
