Can inferencing be trained in preschoolers using shared book-reading? A randomised controlled trial of parents' inference-eliciting questions on oral inferencing ability. Issue 3 (20th May 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: DAVIES, Catherine; MCGILLION, Michelle; ROWLAND, Caroline; MATTHEWS, Danielle
• Is Part Of: Journal of child language. Volume 47:Issue 3(2020)
• Page Start: 655
• Page End: 679
• Publication Date: 2020-05-20
• Subjects: randomised controlled trial, -- inferencing, -- language intervention, -- oral language, -- shared book-reading; Children -- Language -- Periodicals; 401.9305
• DOI: 10.1017/S0305000919000801
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0305-0009

Abstract

Abstract: The ability to make inferences is essential for effective language comprehension. While inferencing training benefits reading comprehension in school-aged children (see Elleman, 2017, for a review), we do not yet know whether it is beneficial to support the development of these skills prior to school entry. In a pre-registered randomised controlled trial, we evaluated the efficacy of a parent-delivered intervention intended to promote four-year-olds' oral inferencing skills during shared book-reading. One hundred children from socioeconomically diverse backgrounds were randomly assigned to inferencing training or an active control condition of daily maths activities. The training was found to have no effect on inferencing. However, inferencing measures were highly correlated with children's baseline language ability. This suggests that a more effective approach to scaffolding inferencing in the preschool years might be to focus on promoting vocabulary to develop richer and stronger semantic networks.