The Impact of Shared Book Reading on English Language Learners’ Language and Literacy Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis GTN
Abstract
Shared book reading is thought to have a positive impact on young children's language devel-
opment, with shared reading interventions often run in an attempt to boost children's language
skills. However, despite the volume of research in this area, a number of issues remain out-
standing. The current meta-analysis explored whether shared reading interventions are equally
effective (a) across a range of study designs; (b) across a range of different outcome variables; and
(c) for children from different SES groups. It also explored the potentially moderating effects of
intervention duration, child age, use of dialogic reading techniques, person delivering the in-
tervention and mode of intervention delivery.
Our results show that, while there is an effect of shared reading on language development, this
effect is smaller than reported in previous meta-analyses (g ̅ = 0.194, p = .002). They also show
that this effect is moderated by the type of control group used and is negligible in studies with
active control groups (g ̅ = 0.028, p = .703). Finally, they show no significant effects of differ-
ences in outcome variable (ps ≥ .286), socio-economic status (p = .658), or any of our other
potential moderators (ps ≥ .077), and non-significant effects for studies with follow-ups (g ̅
= 0.139, p = .200). On the basis of these results, we make a number of recommendations for
researchers and educators about the design and implementation of future shared reading interventions.