Impact of a Structured Shared Book Reading Intervention on the Vocabulary Knowledge of Preschool-Age Children: An Exploratory Study

The present study sought to examine the use of a structured, shared book reading intervention on preschool-aged children’s vocabulary knowledge using a multiple-probe across stimuli (book) single-case design. Participants included children from two preschool classrooms of three- and four-year-old children at a childcare center located in the Southeast. Across four storybooks, children in both classrooms (n = 12) received the whole-group component, and a small group of children (n = 5) was selected for the small-group intervention. Children were selected for the small group intervention based on their score on the Preschool Early Literacy Indicators (PELI) Language Index screener and a researcher-created expressive measure of target vocabulary (EVM). Each week, children in the small group received three additional lessons that included explicit vocabulary and listening comprehension instruction, the use of representational gestures, and intentional opportunities for different types of practice. Each week, receptive and expressive vocabulary assessment probes measured whether the taught vocabulary was learned. All small-group participants showed increased vocabulary knowledge across the four storybooks from baseline to intervention. These results suggest preschool children benefit from explicit small-group vocabulary instruction within shared storybook reading.