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This article was downloaded by: [Tufts University] On: 08 October 2014, At: 08:45 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK European Early Childhood Education Research Journal Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/recr20 The impact of reading children's literature on language development in the preschool child Ljubica Marjanovi Umek a , Urška Fekonja a , Simona Kranjc a & Petra Lešnik Musek a a University of Ljubljana , Slovenia Published online: 15 Jun 2007. To cite this article: Ljubica Marjanovi Umek , Urška Fekonja , Simona Kranjc & Petra Lešnik Musek (2003) The impact of reading children's literature on language development in the preschool child, European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 11:1, 125-135, DOI: 10.1080/13502930385209111 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13502930385209111 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/ terms-and-conditions

The impact of reading children's literature on language development in the preschool child

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Page 1: The impact of reading children's literature on language development in the preschool child

This article was downloaded by: [Tufts University]On: 08 October 2014, At: 08:45Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

European Early Childhood EducationResearch JournalPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/recr20

The impact of reading children'sliterature on language development inthe preschool childLjubica Marjanovi Umek a , Urška Fekonja a , Simona Kranjc a &Petra Lešnik Musek aa University of Ljubljana , SloveniaPublished online: 15 Jun 2007.

To cite this article: Ljubica Marjanovi Umek , Urška Fekonja , Simona Kranjc & Petra LešnikMusek (2003) The impact of reading children's literature on language development in thepreschool child, European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 11:1, 125-135, DOI:10.1080/13502930385209111

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13502930385209111

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms& Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: The impact of reading children's literature on language development in the preschool child

European Early Childhood Education Research Journal Vol. 11, No. 1 2003

125

The Impact of Reading Children's Literature on Language Development in the Preschool Child

LJUBICA MARJANOVI UMEK, URSKA FEKONJA, SIMONA KRANJC & PETRA LESNIK MUSEK

University of Ljubtjana Slovenia

SUMMARY: The importance o f the role played by children 'S literature in the child's mental, social and linguistic development and in the development o f his or her basic academic skills, such as reading and writing, has been confirmed by numerous studies (e.g. Beeher and Wolfgans, 1977; Browne, 1996; Pellegrini, 1980; Pellegrini and Galda, 1992). A central issue in developmental psychology is what activities related to children "s books exert an influence on the child's develop- ment and in what ways. This interest in children "s books and in child language development places our research into two scientific disciplines, viz. psychology and linguistics. The study explores the impact o f systematic and regular reading o f selected children's books in preschool institutions on the development o f language competences in children aged four to six years, boys and girls.

RESUM[~: L'importance et le r6le de la litt~rature pour la jeunesse sur le d~veloppement de l 'enfant - aussi bien au niveau mental social que langagier -, ainsi que sur certaines eompdtences scolaires, comme la lecture et l'dcriture, ont dtO confirm~s par de nombreuses recherches (par exemple: Becher et Wolgang, 1977; Browne, 1996; Pellegrini, 1980; Pellegrini et Galda, 1992). Une question centrale pour la psychologie du dOveloppement coneerne les activitds li~es aux livres pour enfants qui ont une influence sur leur ddveloppement de l 'enfant et laquelle. Cet int~r~t pour les livres pour enfants et pour le d~veloppement langagier positionne notre dtude dans deux domaines, celui de ta psychologie et cetui de la linguistique. Notre travail dtudie t 'influence de la lecture syst~matique et r~gulikre de certains livres pour enfants, dans des structures pr~scolaires, sur le d~veloppement des compdtences langagi~res d'enfants, filles et gar9ons, 6gOs de 4 gl 6 ans.

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Die Bedeutang von Kinderliteraturj~r die geistige, soziale und spraehliche Entwicklung von Kindern, ebenso wie J~r den Erwerb grundlegender Kulturtechniken wie Lesen und Schreiben wird von zahlreichen Studien bestiitigt (u.a. Becher / Wolfgang, 1977; Browne, 1996; Pellegrini, 1980; Pellegrini / Galda, 1992). Was uns in der Entwieklungspsychologie vor allem interessiert, ist die Frage, welche Aktivitdten im Zusammenhang mit Kinderbiiehern die Entwicklung von Kindern beeinflussen und in welcher Weise. Das Interesse an Kinderliteratur einerseits und kindlicher Sprachentwicklung andererseits verortet unsere Forschung in zwei wissenschaftlichen Disziplinen, der Psychologic und der Linguistik. Die Studie untersucht den Einflufl systematischen und regelmiifligen Vorlesens ausgewdhlter Kinderbiicher in vorschulischen Einrichtungen auf die Entwicklung sprachlicher Kompetenzen 4 - 6jdhriger Mdidchen und Jungen.

RESUMEN: Numerosas investigaciones (como por ejemplo Becher y Wolfgang, 1977; Browne, 1996; Pellegrini, 1980; Pellegrini y Galda 1992) confirmaron la importancia y la influencia del

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126 European Ear ly Ch i ldhood Educa t ion Research J o u r n a l

libro infantil sobre el desarrollo del niho, tanto en el nivel del pensamiento como en el nivel social y lingiiistico, y sobre el desarrollo de algunas destrezas escolares brsicas como son la lecturay la escritura. Lo que en psicologla evolutiva nos interesa especialmente es saber cufles son las actividades relacionadas con los libros infantiles que ejercen influencia sobre el desarrollo del nifto y crmo se manifiesta dicha influencia. El anflisis del problema involucra a dos disciplinas cientificas, la psicologia y la lingiiistica, ya que el objeto de nuestra investigacirn es el libro infantil y el desarrollo lingiiistico del niho. La investigacirn se dedica al anflisis de la influencia ejercida por una lectura programada y regular de la literatura infantil seleccionada y realizada en losjardines de infancia sobre el desarrollo de la competencia lingiiistica de nihas y nihos entre 4 y 6 a~os de edad.

Keywords: Children's literature; Systematic reading in preschool institutions; Language competences; Storytelling; Parent's education; Quality of education in the family.

Introduction

Results of recent empirical developmental psychology studies and criticisms and redefinitions of some theoretical concepts allow us to rethink our understanding of childhood, including a socio- cultural aspect of child development and learning. Watson (1996, in Torance & Olson, 1996) says that today the child is considered to be cognitively and socially competent, intellectually much more active than described in earlier developmental psychology theories. It is in the preschool period that children surpass self-centredness and become capable of assuming another person's perspective, and of developing friendship concepts, as well as various mental strategies based on metarepresentation, theory of mind, communication, and metacommunication.

Children's book in the context of child development

The significance of the children's book in child development - cognitive, language and social - and in development of academic skills, such as reading and writing, has been demonstrated in a number of studies (e.g. Pellegrini, 1980; Pellegrini & Galda, 1993; Browne, 1999).

Browne (1996) gives a detailed review of the contributions of the children's book to vari- ous fields of child development. In the fields of emotional and social development, the influence of the children's book is noticeable especially in development and expansion of imagination, de- velopment of empathy, representation of other people's points of view, recognition and under- standing of interpersonal relations, reflections on social events, and perception and understanding of various cultural traditions and values. In the fields of intellectual and linguistic development its impact is felt in concretisation and explanation of abstract ideas, greater sensitivity for moral di- lemmas, formation and modification of attitudes and values, acquisition of language registers, vocabulary, conversation strategies, grammar, awareness of the power of language, which means removal from the "here and now".

From the point of view of language development, a special place goes to a continuum starting with early child-adult communication, early story reading and storytelling by adults, stimu- lation of imaginative and symbolic play, stimulation of unaided storytelling, and conversation. All this is later reflected in a better or poorer language competence, reading ability, comprehension of what has been read, mental functioning, and social skills.

Papalia, Wendoks Olds and Duskin Feldman (2001) conclude that the frequency and man- ner of caregiver's reading has a positive influence on the child's language competence and read- ing, and that children who are frequently read to by their parents in the preschool period learn to read early. Reading aloud, it is claimed, offers opportunities for establishing social interactions, emotional intimacy, and use of language in different functions. Dombey (1983, in Moyles, 1995) thus found that when adults read to children, their intonation and emphasis helped children to

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L. M. Umek, U. Fekonja, S. Kranjc & P. L. Musek 127

understand the meaning of words; and Meek (1985, in Moyles, 1995) emphasised the importance of the development of the metalinguistic ability.

Jordan, Show, and Porsche (2000) studied the effect of a family literacy project on early prewriting and prereading skills in preschool children. The project, which was carried out with 248 preschool children (177 in the experimental group and 71 in the control group), lasted for a year. Parents were invited to attend sessions (five one-month units) at which they were told about the significance of interaction with children, they were given selected books to take home, and taught how to discuss the content of a book and events surrounding it with the child. They could also observe life in the preschool institution, especially the various activities focussing on verbal fluency, word associations, shared book reading, etc. The children whose parents participated in the guided homework and work in the preschool institution (the experimental group) achieved much higher scores on tests of vocabulary, story comprehension, and storytelling than their peers from the control group. The greatest progress was observed in those children who at the beginning of the project showed very poor linguistic competence and subsequently received very strong support in home literacy.

Storytelling

Storytelling is mostly performed in two ways, either with pictured event sequences support or as unaided narration. Some authors (e.g. Pellegrini & Galda, 1982, 1993) focussed on the correlation between decontextualisation in play and in a literary text, because they believed that in both sym- bolic - especially sociodramatic - play and storytelling it was vital for the child to create his or her mental images, draw conclusions, construe situations, all this in a way which allows the other (the co-player, the listener) to understand what is going on. The child's storytelling reflects his or her language, cognitive, and social development. As Fein (1995) says, the child's first stories are sim- ple, not yet supported by schemata, lacking a defined problem, goal, and resolution. They are mostly descriptions of events or sequences of events. Fein claims that a qualitative shift occurs around the fourth year of age, when children's storytelling begins to include information about problems and problem solutions, as well as affective themes, and when characters' emotions and thoughts become important.

Fein (1995) analysed stories told by children in terms of several variables:

• story length (number of sentences); • style of narration (e.g. a story made up of a sequential order of events with mere description

and no problem; a story with a problem and at least one dyadic structure, e.g. poverty- solution to poverty);

• structural complexity of the story.

The elements defining the structural coherence of the story were evaluated using a seven-level scale (plus Level 0) designed by Botvin and Sutton-Smith (1977, in Fein, 1995):

Level 0: Lists (of characters, characteristics); Level 1: Arbitrary event sequences (a story consisting of multiple events not connected by tempo- ral or causal relations; Level 2: Thematic sequences (a story containing multiple events connected by a shared theme); Level 3: Problematic state/no reaction (a problem appears but there is no attempt to resolve it, i.e. the problem-solution dyad never occurs); Level 4: Dyadic structure frames story (a problem-resolution dyad occurs but events that mediate between problem and resolution are omitted); Level 5: Dyadic chaining (dyadic units are repeated with only slight variation; a problem occurs and is alleviated, only to recur in some form); Level 6: Dyad with intermediate secondary elements (e.g. the main character faces a problem and two or more events intervene to facilitate a problem solution). 1 ~,I~1 "7. A r,rf-lPd I,~vo| fi [dvnde xvith intorv~.ninc, ~oennclnrv ~l~rnent~ in n eire.nlnr r~lntinn]

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128 European Early Childhood Education Research Journal

Fein concluded that characters and situations in which they found themselves had a strong influence on the child's story, as the results of the analysis showed that some characters enhanced higher levels of story structuring than others. To the child, who matters more than what and where.

Similar conclusions are reached by Shapiro and Hudson (1991, in Fein, 1995), who claim that the child gets a better stimulation for storytelling from illustrations in which something unex- pected, unforeseeable, disruptive, or frustrating is happening, i.e. from emotionally arousing illus- trations.

The structural level of a story is not something fixed or permanent (cf. e.g. Fein, 1995; Sutton-Smith, 1975), it is not simply related to the child's age; rather, it is a process that can be enhanced by various forms of support to the child's thinking and storytelling. In children aged four to five years the impact of training and context on storytelling is very great, especially if children can enact the story (cf. Pellegrini, 1985).

The aim of our study was to explore the influence of the kindergarten teacher's planned and regular reading of selected children's literature on the development of preschool children's language competence as measured by a standardised language performance scale and storytelling analysis. We also wanted to examine the correlation between the child's language development and selected variables of family environment, in particular those that might, according to findings of similar studies, significantly contribute to the child's language development.

Method

Subjects

The study included 70 children aged four to five years. They were divided into the experimental group (exposed to a program of planned and systematic reading of children's books) and the con- trol group (in which activities were carried out as usual, in accordance with the Slovene national preschool curriculum). The structure of the sample was as follows:

TABLE 1: Sample structure

Children's average age Number of children (by sex)

Experimental group 4;6 years 33

(SD=+/- 3 months) (14 boys, 19 girls)

Control group 4;6 years 37

(SD = +/- 4 months) (23 boys, 14 girls)

The children in the sample came from two preschool institutions, and one experimental and one control group was formed in each of them. Both preschool institutions follow the Slovene national curriculum (Slovene National Preschool Curriculum, 1999), which particularly emphasises that communication is carried out within the framework of planned language activities and as pre- school teacher-child and child-child language interaction in a variety of situations prompting dif- ferent uses of language.

Materials and instruments

To test children's language development, the standardised Vane Evaluation of Language Scale (the Vane-L) (Vane, 1975) was used. The scale measures children's language comprehension (recep-

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L. M. Umek, U. Fekonja, S. Kranjc & P. L. Musek 129

tive language) and expression (expressive language). The receptive language subscale comprises the following fields: comprehension of action words, body parts, singular vs. plural, and concepts. The expressive language subscale comprises the following fields: information presentation, rep- etition of sentences, and vocabulary. Tasks are also set using various play materials (toy cars, building blocks, and bottles).

Besides the Vane-L scale, the unstandardised test of retelling a story was used. The story used in the test was Hans Christian Andersen's The Princess and the Pea illustrated by the Slovene child illustrator Marija Lucija Stupica. The illustrations in the book are prevailingly symbolic. Children's storytelling was analysed in terms of the number of sentences and structural complex- ity. The latter was made up of space and/or time specification, relations among characters, chrono- logical order of events, causal relations, the narrator's distancing him-/herself from the story.

To determine the quality of language education in the family, a questionnaire was designed covering two areas:

1.

2.

Family environment or material circumstances in the family, including the number of all books and the number and kinds of children's book that the family have at home. Family activities stimulating the child's language development, including data on how often parents read to the child, take him/her to a library, and how often the child watches children programs on TV. The questionnaire also included a question about the parents' educational level.

The preschool teachers used 16 children's books of different genres (e.g. fairytales, traditional folk stories, poems) to read aloud systematically in the experimental groups. The books were selected by a librarian who is a specialist in children's literature. All teachers in the experimental groups used the same books.

Procedure

In the experimental groups, the preschool teachers read to the children two selected books a week, while all the other activities in the group proceeded as usual, including those related to stimulating language development and communication. This systematic reading of books lasted two months, and the order of the books was not established in advance. In the control group, the activities followed the usual program.

When the systematic reading program was concluded, each child was individually tested using the standardised Vane-L scale.

In the next few days, the children were additionally tested in story retelling. Each child was first read the fairytale The Princess and the Pea and then asked to retell it spontaneously. The storytelling was tape-recorded for later analysis.

At the same time, the parents of the children included in the sample filled in the question- naire on home literacy environment and activities.

Results (see Table 2)

There is a statistically significant difference between the children in the experimental and the control group in the total score on the standardised Vane-L scale of language development. Sig- nificant differences were found also in the receptive language subscale (the fields of comprehen- sion of body parts and comprehension of concepts) and in the expressive language subscale (the field of sentence repetition).

A statistically significant difference also occurred in the unstandardised test of picture- supported story retelling, namely in the "structural complexity of the story".

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130 European Early Childhood Education Research Journal

TABLE 2: Differences between the experimental and the control group on language development tests

Variable t M1 M2

Total score of Vane-L 3.14"* 54.70 47.41

Receptive language 2.53* 35.94 31.19

Action words 1.42 3.18 2,86

Body parts 2.60* 4.55 4.00

Singular/plural -0.92 0.85 1.06

Concepts 2.83** 27.52 23.43

Expressive language 2.59* 18.97 16.49

Information 0.70 5.73 5.62

Sentences 2.82** 4.97 3.51

Vocabulary 1.02 7.97 7.35

Total score of storytelling 2.24* 4.15 2.86

Number of sentences 1.67 1.39 1.00

Story complexity 2.31" 2.75 1.86

Legend: * ... sig.<0.05 ** ... sig.<0.01 t ... t-test M 1 ... mean value in the experimental group M2 ... mean value in the control group

TABLE 3: Partial correlations between child's language competence and some variables of family environment.

Variable Maternal Paternal Family Family education education environment activites

Total score of Vane-L 0.24* 0.10 0.27* 0.27*

Receptive language 0.22 0.13 0,30* .33**

Action words 0.12 -0.09 -0.01 -0,06

Body parts 0.31" 0.02 0,20 0.15

Singular/plural 0.05 0.02 0.05 0.03

Concepts 0.16 0.13 0.36** 0.34**

Expressive language 0.19 0,02 0.02 0.00

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L. M. Umek, U. Fekonja, S. Kranjc & P. L. Musek 131

TABLE 3 (continued) : Partial correlations between child's language competence and some variables of family environment.

Variable Maternal Patemal Family Family

education education environment activites

Information 0.24 0.11 0.21 0.18

Sentences 0.28* 0.20 0.10 0.05

Vocabulary 0.03 -0.20 -0.09 -0.05

Total score of storytelling 0.11 0.08 0.039 -0.081

Number of sentences 0.09 0.14 0.029 -0.09

Structural complexity of the 0.12 0.04 0.04 -0.07

story

Legend: * ... sig.<0.05 ** ... sig.<0.01

The results show a positive and statistically significant correlation between maternal education and both the child's total score on the standardised scale of language development (0.24) as well as his/her achievements in individual fields of the scale (body parts and sentence repetition; 0.31 and 0.28 respectively).

Family environment (material circumstances in the family) is positively and significantly correlated to the total score on the Vane-L scale (0.27), to the total score on the receptive language subscale (0.30), and to the concept comprehension score (0.36).

Family activities that stimulate the child's language development positively and signifi- cantly correlated with the total score on the Vane-L scale (0.27), with the total score on the subscale of receptive language (0.33) and with the concept comprehension score (0.34).

Qualitative story analysis

To support the quantitative results, we carried out a qualitative analysis of storytelling in the two groups. Here are two selected examples, one for each group./Key: (T) - the tester; C = the child; the translation does not show some morphosyntactic mistakes, e.g. wrong case forms/.

1. The experimental group

(T: You can leaf through the book, i f you want.) C: The king wanted to have the real princess, and when he saw the princess,

no princess was the right one ... And the princesses were all different ... And the king gave up hope because he didn't have because he would want very much to be have a wife ... And no princess was ... There was a knock on the door. The king opened. There was the princess. She was all wet from that. And water was dropping from her hair and from her feet and to ... When the old ... When the old princess got up ...

(T: Yes, go on.) C: When the princess got up, she found ... What's this called?

(T: Pea.)

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132 E u r o p e a n E a r l y C h i l d h o o d E d u c a t i o n R e s e a r c h J o u r n a l

C: A pea ... And she put a bean from pea ... What else did she put down there then?

(T: Try to remember. Just tell it as you remember it, in your own way.) C: And she asked how she slept well last night. And she said, I didn't close

at all, all night I could not sleep because I felt that pea ... And when the prince got married, he found out that she was the right one, because that he didn't find the right princess yet. And the pea was still there unless someone yet took it.

The child reconstructs the sequence of events (establishes temporal relations), establishes rela- tions among the characters (the old princess, the princess - the young, future princess), and iden- tifies e,g. causal relations (And the king gave up hope because he didn't have because he would want very much to be have a wife.) and object relations (And when the prince got married, he found out that she was the right one, because that he didn 't f ind the right princess yet.) This last sentence is very complex; it contains three subordinate clauses which express all three logical relations mentioned above (time, object, cause). The story also contains an instance of reporting (And she said, I didn "t close at all, all night I couM not sleep because l fel t that pea ...).

When the child's sentences are analysed in terms of completeness and correctness, there are of course some illogical structures (And when the prince got married, he found out that she was the right one, because that he didn ?find the right princess yet.), a few incomplete sentences (When the old princess got up ...) and a few instances of sentence pattern change (... Andthe ldng gave up hope because he didn't have because he would want very much to be have a wife ... instead of: because he would want to get married). All these, however, are not characteristic only of child language, but of any unedited, spontaneous spoken discourse, as a reflection of the con- current cognitive processes (cf. Kranjc, 1999: 65-66).

The child introduces into his/her narration dynamic elements, which help to create sus- pense (There was a knock on the door. The king opened There was the princess. She was all wet from that. And water was dropping from her hair and from her feet and to...). Parts of the story are connected using the conjunction in (and), which represents a higher level of establishing textual cohesion (children - but also adults - frequently use the adverbial connector potem (then) or its colloquial variant poI, or the more colloquial conjunction pa). A hint of Iiteralising the narration or an indicator that the child is aware of the fairytale textual pattern is the last sentence (And the pea was still there unless someone yet took it.), where the reference of the deictic there is not specified; however, this is a typical closing sentence in fairytales.

2. The control group

(T: All right, you can do it, yes? Let's try together.) C: The princess.

(T: What was happening to her?) C: She was wet.

(T: Right. What else?) C: Nothing. Nothing.

(T: Nothing else? Have a look at the pictures, maybe you' l l remember something else. What happened?)

C: She slept all night. (T: And then?) C: I don't know more.

(T: Nothing at all?) C: No.

The child is practically not telling the story at all. He needs to be prompted all the time and guided through the story. His sentences are made up of one (~The/princess.) to three or four words (She

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L. M. Umek, U. Fekonja, S. Kranjc & P. L. M u s e k 133

was wet.; She slept all night.), they are all simple and express simple logical relations. The one- word sentence (~The/princess.) simply establishes an exophoric referential relation between the extralinguistic and linguistic realities, i.e. he names the character in the picture, and in the other two sentences related to the story (She was wet.; She slept all night.) he just attributes a feature to this character and an activity respectively.

Half of the child's utterances are in a way discourse organisers, because the child is saying that he cannot go on, that he doesn't remember anything else (Nothing. Nothing.; I don't know more.; No.).

Comparison of the two stories

Differences between these two selected stories, one from the experimental group and the other from the control group, are substantial. The child that was exposed to additional systematic book reading in his kindergarten group told the story using elements of dynamic narrative structure, trying to create suspense, including constituents of the fairytale textual pattern (the final sentence). The control group subject, on the other hand, who was not exposed to additional reading, uses none of these elements into his/her narration. There are also differences in sentence structure. The experimental subject uses both structurally and semantically complex sentences (with cause, time and object clauses of different levels of embedding), while the control subject uses very simple sentence patterns, prevailingly one-word sentences.

Conclusion

The results of our study support the claim by Papalia et al. (2001) that the preschool teacher or any adult person reading children's literature to young children is a positive contribution to the child's language development. Children aged four to five years who were systematically read selected children's books in their preschool groups, achieved significantly higher scores on the Vane lan- guage development scale, both in receptive and expressive language skills. The total score in the experimental group was also significantly higher than in the control group, which included chil- dren who were not exposed to systematic book reading.

The two groups differ significantly also in unaided picture-supported storytelling. These results confirm the conclusion of some authors (e.g. Fein, 1995; Sutton-Smith, 1975) that the structural level of the child's storytelling can be improved by various kinds of support for the child's cognitive and language development. One of these supports is also systematic reading of children's books, as shown by our study. The developmental level of storytelling in children who were included in preschool groups where teachers read aloud children's literature was found to be significantly higher than in the control group, whose subjects were not exposed to a program of systematic reading. The experimental group stories were richer in content and in form. They estab- lished temporal relations more frequently, searched for relations among characters, introduced more dynamics, and established causal relations among events (cf. the examples in Qualitative analysis of storytelling).

The results also show a statistically significant correlation between the quality of language education at home and some scores on the language development scale and the child's unaided storytelling. Maternal education, home literacy environment (number of books in the family, number and diversity of children's book in the family), and activities in the family (how often the parents read to the child, whether they take him/her to the library, whether the child watches children's programs on TV) are positively and significantly correlated to the total score on the language development scale. Similar results are reported e.g. by Jordan et al. (2000) and Meek (1985, in Moyles, 1995), who describe the so-called risk factors in the child's environment that in their view contribute to achieving e.g. higher scores on vocabulary tests, to a better story comprehension, and to a developmentally higher unaided storytelling.

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134 European Early Childhood Education Research Journal

In applying a program of systematic reading of children's books in the preschool groups we ex- pected to find a positive impact on children's language development. We probably expected even higher correlations, and on all the dependent variables (total and partial language development scores). To put the actual results into perspective, at least two things should be pointed out:

The children of both preschool groups, experimental and control, receive a systematic language education through planned language activities and more broadly in the context of child-child and child-preschool teacher communication during various activities. A systematic additional language development oriented activity, in our case reading aloud of a children's book, has a positive impact on the development of certain language components in children aged four to five years, as shown by the results of the Vane-L scale and the unstandardised technique of storytelling. Given the theoretical premises of language development and results of some comparable studies involving older preschool children (e.g. Pellegrini and Galda 1982), planned reading aloud of children's books might be supplemented by other approaches, e.g. after listening to a story, children can enact it in symbolic play, they can be asked to describe individual characters from the story, construct different continuations or conclusions of unfinished stories, etc. All these activities stimulate children's language transformation, development of schemata, flexible use of language, and use of language in different functions,

It should be emphasised that the results are open to interpretation, as the experimental and the control group were selected randomly, without a prior testing and matching of subjects by the level of language development.

The results show that there exists a connection between reading children's literature and the achieved level of language development as measured by the unstandardised test of retelling a story and the Vane-L language scale. They also suggest it would be interesting to explore some other factors in the preschool institution (e.g. the frequency of reading sessions, interpretations of the book they read) and in the child's home (e.g. the quality of child-parent interactions) which may contribute to the positive impact of reading children's literature on language development in the preschool child.

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Correspondence about this paper should be addressed to:

Ljubica M. Umek Univerza Ljubljani

Filozofska Fakulteta Oddelek za Pshiologijo

101 Ljubljana A~kerceva 2

Slovenia

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