Early language foundations for reading development

Research on the early foundations of reading distin- guishes two categories of skills—one related to word recog- nition and the other related to comprehension. Print knowl- edge, beginning writing skills, and phonological awareness have been grouped together as word recognition skills because they help children decode text. These code-related skills account for most of a child’s success in word recog- nition, the major task of beginning reading. Vocabulary, syntactic and discourse skills, and background knowledge have been grouped together as oral language or comprehen- sion skills (Storch & Whitehurst 2002; Sénéchal, Ouellette, & Rodney 2006). Developed in preschool, oral language skills predict later reading comprehension beyond the contribu- tion made by word recognition skills in the early grades (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network 2005). Vocabulary is highly sensitive to early adult input and critical to preventing later reading comprehension difficul- ties (Dickinson et al. 2003). Also, vocabulary is causally

related—that is, it helps reading comprehension (Dickinson et al. 2003)—and it is highly correlated with the rate of learning new words (Hart & Risley 1995). Thus, a meager beginning vocabulary slows the rate of vocabulary learning, which compromises reading comprehension. Two widely examined contexts for early language develop- ment are conversations and storybook reading (Dickinson & Tabors 2001). Pan and colleagues (2005) found that exposure to unfamiliar words in mothers’ talk with children is related to children’s vocabulary growth. Research on teachers’ talk at mealtimes shows a positive relationship between conver- sations and preschoolers’ vocabulary development (Cote 2001). Robust word learning has been found extensively in story reading contexts (De Temple & Snow 2003). While numerous studies have examined vocabulary acquisition, most focus on common words—that is, high-fre- quency vocabulary. A few studies examine children’s acquisi- tion of sophisticated, or low-frequency, vocabulary. Dickin- son and Porche (2011) find that preschool teachers’ use of complex vocabulary during play contributes to children’s reading comprehension in fourth grade. Research shows that among preschoolers in families with low incomes, there is a positive relationship between the amount of exposure to sophisticated words and supportive explanations during conversations with parents and children’s later vocabulary (Weizman & Snow 2001). In storybook reading contexts,

Beck and McKeown (2007) find that kindergartners and first- graders from families with low incomes learn sophisticated words from robust instruction during read-alouds. Pre- schoolers who hear rich explanations of sophisticated words learn significantly more words than children who do not (Collins 2010). These studies provide compelling evidence for the benefits of teaching sophisticated vocabulary to chil- dren in preschool through first grade, and they describe use- ful strategies and contexts for supporting this development.