Five-year-olds' book talk and story retelling: Contributions of mother—child joint bookreading

This study examined the participation of preschool children (mean age 5;1) in two literacy-related activities — talking about a book with their mothers and subsequent independent retelling of the story. Sixty-two mother—child dyads from low-income families participated. Analysis of bookreading and story retelling transcripts revealed wide variability in extratextual talk during bookreading by both children and mothers. Children's responsive, but not spontaneous, extratextual book talk was closely associated with maternal types of talk. Children's story retelling skills were not related to the types of talk they produced during bookreading, but were predicted by the extent to which mothers encouraged their active participation during joint bookreading. Implications for bookreading intervention programs are discussed.