Video Script
Azra Jabbar
Azra Jabbar
Hi everyone and welcome to this episode on Bedtime Stories: Reading for Better Languaging.
Have you been having trouble finding a useful activity to engage your child with at bedtime? Here’s a great activity you can try while you tuck your child into bed. It's free, educational and enhances the bond you have with your child. What am I talking about? Reading bedtime stories of course.
In this video we will be answering the question, how does reading bedtime stories help with child languaging, in children aged 1-5 years old.
'Child languaging' in this video refers to your child’s language development, in other words, how do children pick up language (s) in the early years of their life. Bedtime stories serve as a platform for children to interact with language in a meaningful and engaging way. According to children's author Emilie Buchwald, "Children are made readers on the laps of their parents". This practice is also referred to as shared reading , where parents and children read together (Hall, 2018). Reading with young children, especially at bedtime, has proven to support early language and literacy development. As mentioned by Hall (2018), there is a positive correlation between how often parents read to their children and their child’s language development and emergent literacy (364).
Also a study by (Niklas, Cohrssen, Tayler, & Schneider, 2016), found that, the age children were first read to, had a positive effect on children’s rhyming abilities development of vocabulary. It was found that “the age children were first read to, was a significant predictor of reading frequency in kindergarten, children’s rhyming abilities, vocabulary, and….other cognitive abilities (such as numeracy skills and intelligence as well)”. This means that shared reading between parents and children, at an earlier age also promotes better languaging and the benefits extend beyond this, to include improved cognitive abilities.
While your child may read during different times of the day, reading at bedtime has been known to result in better quality sleep. A study conducted on Latino Preschoolers by S. J Brown et al (2015), shows that “Reading at bedtime was significantly associated with longer total nighttime sleep duration” (525). So, bedtime stories may help your child sleep longer and better and therefore, are strongly recommended by child specialists.
Now that we’ve established the benefits of reading stories at bedtime, what are the benefits of shared reading at bedtime?
Firstly, reading helps children acquire new vocabulary. Picture books contain words that children do not have in their vocabulary. The pictures alongside clever storylines help highlight the meanings of new words and make them memorable. Children learn best when parents are
responsive to them. So vocabulary learning is enhanced when parents ask questions and make the child interact with the story material (Kerr et al , 2012).
Secondly, reading stories, helps children become more fluent in the use of grammatical features. The linguist Noam Chomsky (1972), found that children’s abilities to understand grammar is related to the amount of story reading they hear (Kerr et al , 2012; 141). For example when they read they may learn how to use important question words like 'what', 'who', 'where' and how to use them in daily communication.
Video clip of mother and child reading together:
Mom: Sophie is a Volcano, ready to explode! And when Sophie gets angry, really really angry, she runs!
Child: Why she runs?
Mom: So that she will feel less angry.
Thirdly, reading helps improve communication skills. The purpose of language is to express ourselves and communicate. As you saw in the video, Shared reading, which is interactive, will have a positive effect on your child’s speaking skills as well (Kerr et al , 2012). A study by Mowerk in (1985) found that shared picture book reading helped the child gradually master book language, and it also contributed positively to the child’s oral language development (Kerr et al , 2012; 141).
Reading also helps improve your child’s emotional intelligence. For example, books like “Andana Baba” Janaki Sooriyaarachchi and “Tough Guys Have Feelings Too” by Keith Negley, teach your child how to deal with difficult emotions…This will set the foundation for building empathy skills in later years.
The bedtime routine you create with your child, through shared reading can also increase bonding time between you and your child (Bergin, 2001). Bonding through reading may even increase your child’s love for reading.
So on the whole, shared reading offers a host of language related benefits and also contributes to the wholistic development of your child by having a positive impact on your child’s cognitive skill and emotional intelligence.
Are there any drawbacks of reading at bedtime?
While there are no significant drawbacks of reading at bedtime stories, make sure your child is mentally ready for the task. If your child has had a busy day and is overstimulated it probably means they now need a break. If you force them to read they might end up in tears –and parents, you most certainly don’t want that!
Parents, here are some points to remember, before you get started:
Always, always choose a book that your child is interested in, otherwise reading can become unpleasant and tedious.
Remember to include books in more than one language, if your child is bi/multilingual : (yes you can read books to your child in more than one language, it’s not harmful).
Try to inculcate reading as part of your child’s bedtime routine–it's a good way to minimize screen time just before bed.
So, overall shared reading at bedtime is extremely beneficial for your child. It is fun, educational and can be seen as a long-term investment in the development of your child’s language and literacy skills.
This brings us to the end of this video. Thank you for watching! Until next time, happy reading for better languaging!
References:
Bergin, C. (2001). The parent-child relationship during beginning reading. Journal of Literacy Research, 33(4), 681-706. https://doi.org/10.1080/10862960109548129
Brown S. J, Rhee K. E, Gahagan S. Reading at bedtime associated with longer nighttime sleep in Latino preschoolers. Clinical Pediatrics. 55(6), 525-531. https://doi:10.1177/0009922815593907
Hall, M., Levy, R., & Preece, J. (2018). “No-one would sleep if we didn’t have books!”: Understanding shared reading as family practice and family display. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 16(4), 363-377. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X18809389
Kerr, B. M., & Mason, J. M. (2012b). Awakening literacy through interactive story reading. In F. Lehr & J. Osborne (Eds.), Reading, Language and Literacy: Instruction for the Twenty-First Century (pp. 136–151). https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203052631-16
Moss J. F. (1976). The bedtime story and language development. American journal of diseases of children (1960), 130(2), 180–183. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.1976.02120030070013
Niklas, F., Cohrssen, C., & Tayler, C. (2016). The sooner, the better: Early reading to children. SAGE Open 6(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016672715
Sellam Gedara Sinhala Fairy Tales. (2021, September 8). Sellam Gedara - සිංහල සුරංගනා කතා 42 - චූටි කළු (With English subtitle) [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved March 5, 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuX4pbjfkhE