Shared Book Reading in Malaysia: Promoting Emerging Literacy Skills of Young Indigenous Children

• In Event: Poster Session 16
  In Poster Session: Home and Cultural Environments

Abstract

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to measure the impact of shared-book reading (SBR) on promoting emerging literacy skills of first-grade Malaysian Indigenous children learning a second language (L2). The treatment consisted of 10 in-class SBR sessions with a randomly-assigned treatment group that engaged students in personally-engaging free-flowing reading activities using giant-sized storybooks with enlarged texts. Student performance was measured using several pretests and posttests revised by the author using pre-existing, validated tests. No significant differences were found between the treatment and control groups during pretests indicating comparability between the two groups. Significant differences were found during posttests showing impact of shared-book reading in enhancing L2 vocabulary skills, oral narrative skills, as well as motivation and learning attitude towards L2.

Authors

• Aini Marina Ma'rof, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Richard C. Anderson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign