Physical manipulatives (PMs) are concrete objects used during hands-on learning activities (e.g., building blocks, fraction tiles, counters), and are widely used in primary-school teaching, especially during maths instruction. This scoping review collated studies that have examined the effectiveness of educational PM interventions with pre-primary…

Vocabulary learning is an essential component of early literacy instruction. However, choosing appropriate words for instruction can be a challenge, with many resources encouraging the instruction of words that are either too easy or too obscure. This article, based on a systematic review of vocabulary interventions, presents research-based…

Touchscreen devices have become the mainstream terminals for human-information interaction and have great appeal to children. Scholars still have disputes on the effects of touchscreen learning in young children aged three to six. This study aims to investigate whether touchscreen devices can promote young children's learning achievements, and to…

Background: The array of availability of diverse digital reading applications, the mixed results emerging from small-scale experimental studies, as well as the long-standing tradition and range of known positive developmental outcomes gained from adult-child storybook reading warrant an investigation into electronic storybooks (e-books) by…

This report summarizes research conducted primarily over the past 10 years on how families' involvement in children's learning and development through activities at home and at school affects the literacy, mathematics, and social-emotional skills of children ages 3 to 8. A total of 95 studies of family involvement are reviewed. These include both…

The purpose of this study was to critically examine how family literacy is promoted and represented on websites developed by family literacy program providers. Naturalistic research over the last 20 years or so demonstrates that the family is a rich site for supporting children's literacy development across socioeconomic and cultural contexts.…

This article presents a literature-based overview of emergent literacy and explores the fit between emergent literacy and the learning needs of children who are blind or visually impaired. Components of emergent literacy--reading aloud, concept of a symbol, emergent writing, and literacy environments--are discussed and applied to children with…

Notes that research has demonstrated the importance of parent-child interactions in developing literacy. Claims that parent literacy programs are effective in the children's literacy development. Proposes that research on the value of extensive interventions can suggest ways to improve parents' interactions with their children during the literacy…

Reading specialists, as well as members of the general public, have long sought to understand why so many children in the United States read below grade level and why so many of its adult citizens are illiterate. While problems associated with reading are not unique to the United States, it is noteworthy that some nations do not experience major…

Reviews literature on family influence on children's acquisition of literacy. Discusses the ambivalence regarding family literacy theories and the lack of family literacy theoretical frameworks. Identifies types of family involvement and effective literacy strategies for families. Finds that most studies suggest that family literacy contributes to…

This article reviews the literature on the role of first-hand experiences, language, reading aloud, and scribbling on the preliteracy development of normal and visually impaired children. It describes a specific program developed by the American Printing House for the Blind which includes a handbook and 27 tactile-visual read-aloud story books.…

This overview of intergenerational and family literacy programs in the United States consists of five sections, a bibliography, and four appendices. Section 1 presents background information and expectations for programs and describes the target populations and program designs and administration. Section 2 describes the research base and the…

Discusses current research on how children understand the symbol system and its link to meaning; how they learn to write like authors, including editing and writing for different audiences; how they learn to become literary critics and to discover new worlds in books; and how different classroom contexts can encourage different types of literacy…