Purposes

    Research has proved that early reading experiences have positive effects on children (Saracho & Spodek, 2010). However, most research focuses on shared reading between mothers and their children aged three and above. This research aimed to investigate caregivers’ reading activities arrangement and reading strategies in nursery centers for infants and toddlers.

Theoretical Framework

Beck and McKeown’s (2001) text talk approach and Chambers’s (1993) framework of the book discussion process were used to understand nursery school reading activities. 

Literature Review

Reading in Nursery Centers

     However, studies showed that caregivers care more about the details of care than about providing high-quality educational activities. Caregivers seldom read to the children, and the one-on-one reading activity is not a typical routine (Morrow, 2001; Soundy, 1997). Conducting reading activities was challenging for the caregivers (Honig & Shin, 2001).

Reading Strategies for Infants and Toddlers

    Research on reading strategies at nursery centers is very limited, and thus the researcher can only build literature reviews from works on parent-child shared reading strategies. Makin (2006) discussed reading interactions between 10 mothers and their eight- to 12-month-old children. In nonverbal interactions, the mothers tried to get attention from the children on books that they pointed to words and pictures and had eye contact with their children. In oral interactions, the mothers used book-related vocabulary.

    Bus and van Ijzendoorn (1997) invited 85 pairs of 11- to 14-month-old children and their mothers to demonstrate shared reading at a lab and observed their interactions. The results showed that the mothers often held their children in their arms and held the book properly at a distance, so the children could not touch it. During shared reading, the mothers observed their children’s facial expressions and reactions attentively. When the mothers noticed their children were interested in something in the picture books, they would point to the pictures immediately. The results not only elucidated the mothers’ reading behavior but also emphasized that the mothers’ reading behavior was influenced by their children’s reactions.

    Fletcher, Perex, Hooper, and Claussen’s review (2005) on parent-child shared reading indicated the strategies parents used were not rigid and would be changed and adjusted as the years go by. For children under 18 months old, parents tended to attract the children’s attention, such as point to the pictures in the books, name the pictures. For older children, parents were inclined to ask questions and had more conversations about pictures and plots. 

    Only two studies were conducted in nursery centers. Phillips and Twardosz (2003) chose 15 24- to 35-month-old children and six caregivers as participants. The oral strategies the caregivers utilized in shared reading included: (1) introducing the story, (2) discussing things relevant to the story, (3) inviting the children to ask questions or respond to the stories, (4) scaffolding the children’s learning, (5) responding to the children again when the children had responses to the story. Since the children were above two years old, the caregivers no longer used strategies like identifying the pictures and naming the pictures, but replaced these strategies with more discussion. Honig and Shin (2001) identified more specific strategies caregivers used in shared reading: reading texts, naming and describing, asking questions about who did what, asking questions about the locations, asking yes/no questions, identification, fun tones, eye contact, etc. 

    The above studies illustrate reading strategies used by parents and caregivers. Yet, most of these studies were conducted in the one-on-one parent-child shared-reading context, which might be different from what is possible in nursery centers. As for those studies conducted in nursery centers, they merely observed group-reading contexts instead of remarking on other reading formats.

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