Reading comprehension often depends on prior topic knowledge, as evident in everyday experiences like understanding technical manuals. Dong and colleagues studied how topic background knowledge (TBK) and parent-child storybook reading styles affect kindergarteners’ Chinese language skills, reading interest, and reading anxiety. TBK allows children to relate their experiences to the new information presented in the book. The study compared the effects of high-level TBK (H) and low-level TBK (L) across two interaction types: dialogic reading (DR), where adults and children discuss the story, and typical reading (TR).
The research randomly allocated 346 families (mean age of children: around 5.5 years) from the southern cities in China into four groups: H-DR, H-TR, L-DR, and L-TR They engaged in 25-minute reading sessions twice a week over eight weeks using the same eight storybooks. Children in high-level TBK groups (H-DR and H-TR) received pre-learning activities relevant to the reading material, while low-level groups (L-DR and L-TR) received activities using unrelated materials. Additionally, DR-group parents participated in workshops to enhance their interactive reading techniques, and hints of DR were provided along with storybooks.
The results, after controlling for background characteristics, revealed that:
- DR groups: High-TBK children outperformed low-TBK children in all outcomes.
- TR groups: High-TBK children showed better receptive vocabulary and listening comprehension.
- Among high-TBK groups, DR outperformed TR across all measures.
- In low-TBK groups, DR showed advantages only in vocabulary and listening comprehension.
This study highlights the benefits of prior knowledge of a book’s content combined with high-level interactive reading on children’s oral language skills and affective outcomes during parent-child reading sessions.
Source: Dong, Y., Chow, B. W.-Y., Xia, G., Mo, J., & Dong, H. (2025). Contribution of topic background knowledge to language learning outcomes through parent–child dialogic reading. Reading Research Quarterly, 60(1), e608. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.608