A longitudinal study of maternal interaction strategies during joint book-reading in Taiwan.

Abstract

This longitudinal study examines change in maternal interaction strategies in Taiwanese mothers across time, and the synchronic and diachronic relationships between maternal interaction strategies and children s language and early literacy skills. Forty-two mother-child dyads participated in this study. Their interactions during joint book-reading were tape-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed when the children were fourteen, twenty-six, and thirty-six months of age. The children received a battery of language and early literacy tests when they were thirty-six months old. Findings showed that Taiwanese mothers adjusted their use of interaction strategies as their children grew. Maternal use of description, performance, prediction inference, and print-related talk were positively correlated with their children s language and literacy skills. Significant negative correlations were found between use of task-behavioral regulation strategy and text reading in mothers and their children s language performance. This study suggests that age-appropriate interaction strategies are important for children s language and early literacy development.