Shared Picture Book Reading Interventions for Child Language Development: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Area of Science:

• Child Development
• Linguistics
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Parental involvement in reading is crucial for early language acquisition.
• Picture book sharing interventions aim to enhance child language development through guided caregiver practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of parent-child book-sharing interventions on child language development.
• To examine factors moderating the impact of these interventions, such as dosage, child age, and caregiver education.

Main Methods:

• A meta-analysis was conducted using robust variance estimation modeling.
• Data were synthesized from 19 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 2,594 children aged 1-6 years.

Main Results:

• Book-sharing interventions showed small positive effects on expressive language (d=0.41) and receptive language (d=0.26).
• A large effect was observed on caregiver book-sharing competence (d=1.01).
• Intervention dosage moderated child language outcomes, with lower dosage yielding minimal impact.

Conclusions:

• Parent-child book-sharing interventions are a promising strategy for improving child language development.
• Optimizing intervention dosage is important for maximizing benefits to expressive and receptive language skills.