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Today we published the latest in a series of articles on shared reading in the early years, funded by @ESRC. For me, this work illustrates a crucial point: it is not easy, nor simple nor cheap to improve children’s early language skills simply by reading with them. 1/
We ran a series of gold-standard RCTs that yielded null results. In Noble et al (2020) published today, we report no meaningful effect of dialogic & pause reading interventions (over an active reading control group) on language of English 2-year-olds 2/ https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-19-00288
In @Cat_Davies et al (2020), published earlier this year, we report no meaningful effect of a parent-delivered intervention intended to promote 4-year-olds' oral inferencing skills during shared book-reading 3/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31858950/
And in @LingwoodJamie et al (2020a) we report no meaningful effect of a ‘real-world’ shared reading intervention on English 3-4 year olds’ language. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-9817.12301
In fact, in a meta-analysis (Noble et al 2019), we report that “while there is an effect of shared reading on language development, this effect is smaller than reported in previous meta-analyses ... &is negligible in studies with active control groups. 5/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X18305116?via%3Dihub
In most interventions, we *were* able to change parental behaviour; e.g. Noble et al (2020) reported that “caregivers from all socioeconomic backgrounds successfully adopted an interactive shared reading style”. It’s just this had no meaningful effect on children’s language. 6/
Why is this? Well, put simply, it's because it is very difficult to engender substantial, lasting change in parental behaviour, and in children’s language, with short-term, inexpensive interventions lasting only a few weeks. 7/
For example, in @LingwoodJamie et al (2020b), we report on the barriers facing parents who want to take part in family-based education interventions. The stresses and strains of real life just get in the way. 8/ https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_3136190_6/component/file_3193325/content
It’s also important to understand the central role of enjoyment. Preece & @DrRachaelLevy1 (2018), in a detailed interview study, shows that parents’ motivation to read is driven by whether there is clear evidence of the child’s enjoyment of reading. 9/
…https://journals-sagepub-com.liverpool.idm.oclc.org/doi/10.1177/1468798418779216
…https://journals-sagepub-com.liverpool.idm.oclc.org/doi/10.1177/1468798418779216
However, they also show (in @DrRachaelLevy1, Hall & Preece, 2018) that it isn’t necessary for parents to have a positive relationship with reading books themselves to enjoy shared reading with their children. What matters is the ‘construct’ of reading. 10/ https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1183597
And the role of reading in daily life - Hall, @Levy & Preece, 2018: "Endeavours to engage families with shared reading require a comprehensive understanding of family life and family practices and the role of shared reading within.” 11/ …https://journals-sagepub-com.liverpool.idm.oclc.org/doi/10.1177/1476718X18809389
All these studies were funded by an @ESRC grant awarded to a group of researchers at the Universities of Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds & Manchester https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES/M003752/1. We have a few more papers to come from this grant. So watch this space... 12/12
