Influence of Verbal and Nonverbal References to Print on Preschoolers' Visual Attention to Print During Storybook Reading

• Published in: Developmental psychology Vol. 44; no. 3; pp. 855 - 866
• Main Authors: Justice, Laura M, Pullen, Paige C, Pence, Khara
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01-05-2008
• Subjects: Attention; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child development; Child, Preschool; Comparative Analysis; Developmental psychology; Emergent Literacy; Eye Movements; Female; Fixation, Ocular; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Humans; Interaction; Knowledge; Learning; Literacy; Male; Motivation; Parent Influence; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Picture Books; Preschool Children; Preschool Students; Printed Materials; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Questionnaires; Reading; Reading Aloud to Others; Reading Development; Reinforcement, Verbal; Skills; Speech Perception; Story Reading; Studies; Visual Attention; Visual task performance; emergent literacy; shared storybook reading; visual processing; literacy development; print awareness; Human; Preschool age; Awareness; Cognition; Literacy; Reading; Language; Vision; Language development; Perception; Visual attention; Child
• ISSN: 0012-1649; 1939-0599
• DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.44.3.855

How much do preschool children look at print within storybooks when adults read to them? This study sought to answer this question as well as to examine the effects of adult verbal and nonverbal references to print on children's visual attention to print during storybook reading. Forty-four preschool-aged children participated in this study designed to determine the amount of visual attention children paid to print in 4 planned variations of storybook reading. Children's visual attention to print was examined when adults commented and questioned about print (verbal print condition) or pointed to and tracked the print (nonverbal print condition), relative to 2 comparison conditions (verbatim reading and verbal picture conditions). Results showed that children rarely look at print, with about 5%-6% of their fixations allocated to print in verbatim and verbal picture reading conditions. However, preschoolers' visual attention to print increases significantly when adults verbally and nonverbally reference print; both reading styles exerted similar effects. The authors conclude that explicit referencing of print is 1 way to increase young children's contacts with print during shared storybook reading.