How you read the text matters: Caregiver oral reading prosody during shared reading relates to children’s language skills

Purpose: Emerging research suggests that caregiver oral reading prosody may be a key feature of shared reading that supports children’s storybook comprehension, with potential implications for broader language development. Building on this evidence, the present study investigated whether associations between caregiver oral reading prosody and children’s language at the preschool age extend beyond real-time listening comprehension to include broader language skills. Methods: Forty-one caregivers read a children’s book to their child (ages: 4–5 years) as they normally would at home. The caregivers’ oral reading prosody (intonation, timing, and loudness features) was examined in relation to children’s receptive vocabulary and core language skills. Moderated mediation models then investigated possible impacts of caregiver reading skills and shared reading time on putative links between caregiver oral reading prosody and child language.Results: Caregiver intonation range positively related to child receptive vocabulary and caregiver inappropriate (i.e., ungrammatical) pausing negatively related to child core language skills. Mediation models revealed that caregiver reading skills indirectly related to child language skills through oral reading prosody. Importantly, the indirect effect linking caregiver reading skills to child receptive vocabulary via caregiver intonation range was moderated by shared reading time, with the strongest effects observed in dyads reporting less shared reading engagement. Conclusions: Findings illuminate caregiver oral reading prosody as one factor linking caregiver reading skills to child language, with effects through caregiver intonation on child vocabulary most evident in families with limited shared reading engagement. Overall, this research has implications for early language intervention approaches, especially among families of caregivers with reading difficulties and for those with limited shared reading opportunities.