Poster #85 - Teacher-reported child reading engagement predicts early literacy skills

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

Young children’s engagement in shared reading refers to the extent of children’s attention, involvement, and enjoyment during reading and has been treated as an indicator of reading-related motivation and learning. Children’s engagement, involvement and attention may determine the benefits of shared reading (Son & Tineo, 2016) and researchers have been interested in measuring children’s reading engagement. We developed a teacher-report measure of children’s engagement in classroom read-aloud, using items assessing specific behavioral indicators of reading engagement. The 25-item measure, Reading Engagement Rating Scale (RERS), covers both active engagement (e.g., participation by asking questions or giving responses) and passive engagement (e.g., paying attention).

RQ1) Is children's fall engagement (both active and passive) associated with children's spring literacy skills? RQ2) Are changes in children's engagement from fall to spring associated with children's spring literacy skills?

METHOD
Participants were 263 three- and four-year-old preschoolers (mean age=49 months, SD=6.86) enrolled in 21 classrooms housed in three Head Start sites in urban settings in the Mountain West region. Participating children were ethnically diverse with 49.8% Hispanic, 6.1% African American, 14.1% Asian, and 7.6% of mixed or other ethnicity. Many children used home language other than English (43%). About half of the children were boys (50.2%). Some children were part of a community involvement program.
In the fall and spring children were assessed on their literacy engagement using the RERS (Son & Baroody, 2017). Researchers directly assessed children’s fall and spring literacy skills (letter-word identification, picture vocabulary, sound awareness, and print awareness) using the Woodcock-Johnson III (Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2001). Parents completed questionnaires on child and family demography.
To address RQ1, simultaneous multilevel models were conducted controlling for demographic characteristics (sex, age, and home language), condition (program/no program), and fall literacy skills. To address RQ2, the same models were conducted, but active and passive change scores from fall to spring were included instead of fall engagement.

RESULTS
Children’s fall active engagement was a significant predictor for all spring literacy skills (i.e., letter-word identification, picture vocabulary, sound awareness, and print awareness). Passive engagement was not associated with spring literacy outcomes (Table 1). An increase in active engagement from fall to spring was positively associated with letter-word identification and marginally associated with sound awareness. Changes in passive engagement were not associated with spring literacy skills (Table 2).

DISCUSSION
These findings suggest that active engagement, not passive engagement, is what matters in the fall in terms of spring literacy outcomes. Active engagement in literacy is important for knowledge about letter names and sounds, developing vocabulary, and knowledge about print awareness. Additionally, positive changes in active engagement are related to higher spring letter-word identification (significant) and sound awareness (marginal). It could be that children who are actively engaged during book reading not only pick up on the larger picture lessons such as vocabulary and how to read a book, but also on decoding skills such as identifying letters, words, and making the connection between letters and letter sounds (skills that might need attention and participation to learn).

Authors

• Alison Baroody-Sarboraria, San Francisco State University
  Presenting Author

• Seung-Hee Claire Son, University of Utah
  Non-Presenting Author