Different Methods On Children Shared Reading Text Knowledge Development

Print knowledge is defined as children’s implicit and explicit knowledge of print. The acquisition and development of print knowledge plays an important role on emergent literacy which linked to the processing of reading. Indices of print knowledge exhibit moderate to strong predictive relations to children’s later reading achievement. However, some children are considered low relative to peers in print knowledge and at risk for future reading difficulties due to lack of expose in print-rich context. Not surprisingly, researchers strongly seek to identify specific practices and programs that directly facilitate their print knowledge in kindergarten.This study examined whether participation in24print referencing shared reading sessions and dialogue share reading sessions in a kindergarten over an8-week period increased young children’s attention on the print, and thus improved their print knowledge. Book-reading interventions were conducted for54children of4-5years old from two middle classes in a kindergarten. The two middle classes were matched and then randomly placed into an experimental or control group. Children in the experimental group participated in shared reading sessions that included a print focus. As an alternate condition, control-group children participated in shared reading sessions with dialogue. Pretest and posttest measures of children’s eye movements and print knowledge were administered.The results showed that:(a)Young children paid little attention to the print in independent reading. Children who participated in dialogue shared reading sessions paid more attention to the print after invention, whereas their peers who participated in print referencing reading sessions paid more attention to the print as well as the full-page. The latter outperformed the former in terms of attention to the print and the full-page,(b) The development of different aspects of print concepts differed. Children mastered the basic concepts of print (e.g., front of bock, title of book) and book-reading conventions (e.g., left-to-right directionality of print) earlier than print function and contextual print. Except in title and contextual text, both groups have gained significantly in print concepts especially in two aspects (print function and book-reading conventions). Children who participated in print referencing shared reading sessions outperformed their control-group peers in tow aspects of print concepts (print function and front of book) and in terms of overall performance.(c) Dialogue shared reading intervention did not positively influence children’s print awareness. On the contrary, children who participated in print referencing shared reading sessions improved markedly in print awareness, especially in understanding of form styles and primary radical knowledge. Although there were no significant differences between the two groups, children who participated in print referencing shared reading sessions showed a better development trend compared with their control-group.This study suggested that educators and parents to use print referencing shared reading to promote the development of young children’s print knowledge, although the role of dialogue shared reading should nct been overlooked. In addition, this study also recommended kindergarten teachers to assess their children’s print knowledge first to see what knowledge they know and on which knowledge they need for further assistance. Knowing this information can help in determining appropriate lessons creating a more effective use of instructional time.