Enhancing Expressive Vocabulary Skills of At-Risk Preschoolers

Children of low socioeconomic levels are at risk for academic failure due to restricted exposure to early language and literacy skills. This restricted exposure results in significant delays in reading and other academic areas, resulting in greater educational costs and widening achievement gaps. The purposes of this mixed method design study were to extend existing research on improving children's expressive vocabulary during reading aloud activities, and to educate parents of children who are at-risk for academic failure to become active participants early in their children's educational experiences. Research questions addressed if any differences existed in expressive vocabulary growth of preschoolers and parents' perceptions of language and literacy. Two separate groups of parents read three books aloud per week over a 6-week period to preschoolers, ages 4.0 to 5.6, and asked why and what questions to elicit vocabulary growth. Independent t-tests revealed no differences in vocabulary gain scores by preschoolers. Qualitative data analysis revealed experiences to be enjoyable and educational. These results are consistent with sociolinguistics -- how children learn language within the context of daily activities as they interact with parents and others. Viewing the study through the scaffolding framework of Vygotsky, the cognitive theory of Piaget, and the constructivism theory of Lambert, reinforces the benefit of active parental involvement at an early age in assisting children in vocabulary acquisition. Positive social change was demonstrated by gains in knowledge of building a strong foundation for future educational attainment in reading and vocabulary acquisition.