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Interest in the ways in which parents help their children to develop the requisite language skills for reading has been growing. Many educators believe that certain practices are important for beginning readers. In many countries the importance of the family in promoting literacy is operationalized in the intergenerational nature of literacy programs (Nickse, 1990). In particular, the number and the nature of parent-child joint book reading experiences during early childhood are assumed to set the stage for future differences in academic achievement (Cochran-Smith, 1983; Mason & Allen, 1986; Teale, 1981). In line with this assumption, researchers have been exploring the process of interactive reading to trace parental strategies that may explain the effects of book reading on young children's growing literate orientation (Pellegrini, Brody, & Sigel, 1985; Sulzby & Teale, 1991; Whitehurst et al., 1988). While narrative reviews have led some researchers to draw conclusions, no review has made an exhaustive test of the extent to which early literacy development is indeed associated with book-reading experiences. The current review is a comprehensive examination of the available empirical evidence related to parent-preschooler reading and literacy. Since the 1950s, several studies on book reading have examined the efficacy of parent-preschooler reading in relation to reading skills, emergent literacy skills, and language growth. The current meta-analysis is an attempt to test empirical evidence regarding the importance of joint book reading as "the single most important activity for developing the knowledge required for eventual success in reading" (Commission on Reading, National Academy of Education, 1985).
Book reading might, of course, increase children's interest in reading books, provide them with factual information about the world, and make them aware of letter-sound relations. However, the interest in parents' book reading appears to be particularly inspired by the assumption that reading stimulates a literate orientation (Holdaway, 1979; Scollon & Scollon, 1981). Book reading brings young children into touch with story structures and schemes and literacy conventions which are prerequisites for understanding texts (Cochran-Smith, 1984). Reading books to children also exposes them to the written language register (Mason & Allen, 1986). Although the grammatical rules for spoken and written language are in fact the same, the use of the options that grammar offers turns out to be quite different in speaking than in...