Preece, J; Levy, R; (2019) Understanding the barriers and motivations to shared reading with young children: The role of enjoyment and feedback. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 10.1177/1468798418779216. (In press).

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Abstract

Shared reading with young children has a positive impact on a range of areas including language development and literacy skills, yet some parents face challenges in engaging in this activity. While much is known about the benefits of shared reading, the barriers to it are poorly understood. The research presented here draws on in-depth interviews with 20 parents of pre-school children to understand home-reading practices in a socio-economically and culturally mixed sample, exploring the motivations and barriers that exist to engaging in shared reading. Results indicate that parents are motivated to engage in shared reading when there is clear evidence of their child’s enjoyment. However, parental perceptions of ‘negative’ child-feedback could be a barrier to shared reading. This has particular implications for the age at which parents perceive reading to be a valued and worthwhile activity for their child, suggesting that some parents may choose not to read with their babies because they are not receiving the feedback they require in order to sustain the activity. Moreover, this study also revealed that, for many parents, their enjoyment of shared reading activity was closely related to evidence of child enjoyment, thus creating a further barrier to reading when child enjoyment was perceived to be absent. This has strong implications for interventions that seek to encourage and support home-reading practices between parents and young children.

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