In their research on adults’ styles of reading books to children, Reese, Cox, Harte, & McAnally (2003) concluded that literacy is one of the most important sociocultural tools children can acquire in Western society and a one that can only be learned through social interaction.
Parent-child book reading benefits children because the talk accompanying the interaction promotes early language and literacy skills and can contribute to children’s reading achievement (Baker, Mackler, Sonnenschein, & Serpell, 2001; Read, Macauley, & Furay, 2014).
Recent research has demonstrated that how adults interact around a book with a child is probably even more important than reading the complete text. These dialogic or interactive reading strategies can promote children’s language development quiet specifically.
A recent study found many similarities, along with several differences, when a father reads to their child and when a mother reads to them. The study demonstrated that fathers used more non-immediate talk, or talk not directly related to the book, than mothers did.
Non-immediate talk is often referred to as ‘decontextualised’ talk. P.A.I.R. reading books are one of the few picture books available, that prompt parents to use decontextualised talk, and thus support the development of the child’s reading comprehension.
P.A.I.R. stands for Parent Assisted Immersive Reading and has been created by Australian educators.
Reference:
Reese, E., Cox, A., Harte, D., & McAnally, H. (2003). Diversity in adults’ styles of reading books to children.
In A. van Kleeck, S. A. Stahl, & E. B. Bauer (Eds.), Center for Improvement of Early Reading Achievement, CIERA. On reading books to children: Parents and teachers (p. 37–57). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Retrieved from: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2003-02622-003