Contributions of shared book reading to children's learning of new semantic facts through memory integration

•Caregivers read to their child a book with opportunities to integrate facts.•The book either had or did not have embedded questions on the book's facts.•Questions increased dyads' integration of facts in talk while reading.•Children's memory integration performance was most predicted...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Early childhood research quarterly 2024-01, Vol.68, p.99-111
Main Authors: Miller-Goldwater, Hilary E., Williams, Bethany M., Hanft, Melanie H., Bauer, Patricia J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Embedded questions
Extratextual talk
Memory integration
Semantic learning
Shared book reading
Young children
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Summary:•Caregivers read to their child a book with opportunities to integrate facts.•The book either had or did not have embedded questions on the book's facts.•Questions increased dyads' integration of facts in talk while reading.•Children's memory integration performance was most predicted by integration talk.•Shared book reading promotes young children's factual memory integration. Young children rapidly learn facts about the world. One mechanism supporting knowledge acquisition is memory integration: derivation of new knowledge by combining separate, yet related facts accumulated over time. There are both developmental changes and individual differences in young children's learning through memory integration. However, there is little research on how everyday social interactions may promote memory integration and contribute to individual differences. Accordingly, we investigated how the everyday social interactions of caregiver-child shared book reading support 5- to 6-year-olds’ memory integration (N = 82 parent-child dyads; 47 female children; M age 6.10; 56.5 % White non-Latinx, 15 % Black, 6 % White Latinx, 5.5 % Asian, 17 % more than one race). Caregivers read a narrative book that included opportunities to integrate facts. Half the dyads were assigned to an embedded questions condition (questions on facts included throughout the book) and half to a no embedded questions condition (statements only). We measured dyads’ extratextual talk while reading for the extent to which they integrated the facts (integration talk). Children's learning was tested with both memory integration and fact recall questions. Dyads in the embedded questions condition had more integration talk. The extent to which the dyads integrated while reading predicted children's integration performance, above and beyond condition effects. This effect was specific to memory integration: integration talk nor condition accounted for fact recall. These results suggest that shared book reading can support young children's integration, especially when books engage dyads through embedded questions and dyads integrate facts while reading.
ISSN:0885-2006
1873-7706
DOI:10.1016/j.ecresq.2024.04.005