Effects of Scripted Storybook Reading on Young Children and Mothers from Low-Income Environments

Vocabulary is considered one of the critical language skills necessary for children to develop at a young age, as it has been shown to be highly correlated with future academic success in school. Children from low-income environments have been identified as at risk for delayed acquisition in this area, as their environments often lack the exposure and opportunities necessary for vocabulary acquisition. Shared storybook reading is considered an ideal context in which to target learning of vocabulary. Researchers have been successful in teaching parents from low socioeconomic status (SES) to implement shared storybook reading strategies, and as a result, some gains, although not dramatic, have been observed in children's vocabulary. However, parents have not been taught how to embed effective vocabulary instruction into book reading. This study investigated the effects of teaching mothers of preschoolers from low SES homes how to embed rich vocabulary instruction in shared storybook reading through scripts on mothers' behaviors during book reading and the word learning of the preschoolers. A multiple baseline design across mother-child dyads and books was utilized. Data on the mothers' reading behaviors were collected through audiotaped reading sessions. Tapes were transcribed and coded for the mothers' comments, questions, and explanations relating to target words and other words in the story. Additionally, an alternating treatments design was used to compare the effects of two types of scripted reading procedures, word explanation condition and a no word explanation condition. Each type of scripted reading involved the use of comments and questions relating to target vocabulary words. However, the script in the word explanation condition also included the provision of a definition of the target word. Varying levels of children's vocabulary knowledge were assessed on a weekly basis. Increases in the mothers' vocabulary-related utterances were observed with the implementation of the scripted reading procedures. Additionally, large gains were observed in children's knowledge of novel words. The evidence suggests that teaching mothers from low SES homes how to embed vocabulary instruction in book reading through the use of scripts results in changes in the mothers' behavior, along with increases in children's word knowledge. This easy to implement method of intervention shows great promise for widespread application by professionals working with families and children.