What impact does a collaborative reading comprehension program have on emerging literacy skills of preschool students?

Term

2006

Capstone

Thesis

Degree Name

MAEd

Abstract

My research study and following paper resulted from working in a collaborative preschool setting involving Early Childhood Special Education, Head Start, and Early Childhood Family Education. I noticed there were different philosophies on what appropriate preschool literacy activities should be. One program had instituted programming teaching preschoolers to read letters of the alphabet and identify their sound. One program emphasized writing skills. My program involved Developmentally Delayed students who were not ready for either type of activity. My review of literature provided evidence that improved dialogic reading between a child and adult is one of the most effective ways to improve some emergent literacy skills. My literature review also established that rhyming, vocabulary building, and alliteration are learning activities that are predictive of a child's future literacy skills. The purpose of my study was to examine whether dialogic reading between a child and parent would help increase emergent literacy skills of rhyming, vocabulary and alliteration at the Early Childhood level. My study consisted of six preschool children. A pretest and a post test were done in a preschool setting. Dialogic reading took place in the home between a parent and child for six weeks. Book packets with guide sheets were used. The results indicated parents enjoyed the dialogic reading and activities. The post test showed a small gain in rhyming, alliteration and vocabulary skills.

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