The effectiveness of dialogic reading in increasing English language learning preschool children's expressive language

The effectiveness of dialogic reading in increasing the literacy interactions between English language learning parents (ELL) and their preschool aged children and children's expressive language development were studied. Twenty-one ELL parents of preschool aged children received dialogic reading training every other week for a ten-week period. Parents in the dialogic reading group allowed their children access to the book and posed and solicited questions significantly more than the control group. Children with parents in the dialogic reading group held the book, posed and solicited questions, and sustained attention significantly more. Overall, parents in the dialogic reading group exhibited significantly stronger skills in two categories of reading: promoting interactive reading and using literacy strategies. Children whose parents received the dialogic reading training acquired significantly more words from pre-test to post-test. Researchers found that and parents' literacy interactions with their children were positively influenced by the dialogic reading training and that parents' use of dialogic reading positively affected their children's expressive language skills. International Research in Early Childhood Education, vol. 5, no. 1, p. 1-10