Maternal Reading and Teaching

Reading Research Quarterly
Vol. 41, No. 1

January/February/March 2006
2006 International Reading Association
(pp. 6889)
doi:10.1598/RRQ.41.1.3
Maternal reading and teaching

patterns: Associations with
school readiness in low-income
African American families
PIA REBELLO BRITTO
Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
JEANNE BROOKS-GUNN
Teachers College and College of Physicians and Surgeons,
Columbia University, New York, USA
TERRI M. GRIFFIN
Manhattanville College, Purchase, New York, USA
earning begins at birth, and parents have been called childrens first teachers
(Bornstein, 1995; Brazelton & Greenspan, 2000; Collins, Maccoby, Steinberg,
Hetherington, & Bornstein, 2000). Adults play a significant role in guiding the
cognitive and linguistic development of a young child (Vygotsky, 1934/1978, p.
84). Vygotsky considered the roots of learning to be social, mediated by language
and then internalized. Parents often act as the more knowledgeable other, supporting and extending the childs learning to read, write, and solve problems.
Scholars have studied a variety of behaviors that capture this aspect of parenting,
including reading books, talking with children, encouraging communication, and
engaging in problem solving. Research on parent and child verbal interactions has
been studied via audiotaped conversations in the home (Dickinson & Beals, 1994;
Hart & Risley, 1995). Another set of studies has focused on parent and child book
reading as a critical aspect of parent teaching behaviors (Britto & Brooks-Gunn,
2001) with the caveat that some of this work has only examined frequency of
68
ABSTRACTS
THIS STUDY explored the congruence in reading and teaching patterns of low-income, young African American
mothers while interacting with their preschool-age children in their homes (N=126). Survey and standardized test
data were collected on maternal education and language ability, and videotape data were collected, transcribed,
and coded on shared book-reading and puzzle-solving sessions, using validated coding procedures. Two reading patterns (Story-Readers and Story-Tellers) and three teaching patterns (Low Support and Low Teaching; Support
and Low Teaching; and Support and Teaching) were identified based on maternal verbal and nonverbal interactions
during these sessions. Children whose mothers were identified as Story-Tellers and the Support and Teaching group
of mothers had better language skills than children whose mothers were not in these groups, controlling for maternal education and verbal skills.
Maternal reading
and teaching
patterns:
Associations with
school readiness
in low-income,
African American
families
ESTE ESTUDIO explor la congruencia entre los patrones de lectura y enseanza en jvenes madres afro-americanas de bajos recursos durante la interaccin, en el hogar, con sus hijos en edad preescolar (N=126). Se recolectaron
datos sobre la educacin y habilidad lingstica de las madres mediante informes y tests estandarizados. Se recogieron
datos videograbados que se transcribieron y codificaron en sesiones de lecturas compartidas y resolucin de problemas, usando procedimientos de codificacin validados. Dos patrones de lectura (Lectoras de Cuentos y Narradoras
de Cuentos) y tres patrones de enseanza (Poco Apoyo y Poca Enseanza, Apoyo y Poca Enseanza y Apoyo y
Enseanza) se identificaron sobre la base de las interacciones verbales y no verbales de las madres durante estas sesiones. Los nios cuyas madres fueron identificadas como Narradoras de Cuentos y pertenecientes al grupo de
Apoyo y Enseanza mostraron mejores habilidades lingsticas que los nios cuyas madres no pertenecan a estos
grupos, aun controlando la educacin y habilidades lingsticas de las madres.
Lectura materna
y patrones de
enseanza:
Asociaciones con
la preparacin
para la escuela
en familias afroamericanas de
bajos recursos
DIESE STUDIE untersuchte die bereinstimmung in Lese- und Unterrichtsmustern von jungen afro-amerikanischen Mttern mit niedrigem Einkommen im Umgang mit ihren vorschulaltrigen Kindern zu Hause (N=126).
Die Untersuchungsergebnisse und vereinheitlichten Testdaten wurden ber die mtterliche Ausbildung und
deren Sprachtalent gesammelt; Video-Kassettendaten wurden gesammelt, bertragen und kodiert bezglich dem
gemeinsamen Bcherlesen und der Zusammenknfte zum Lsen von Problemen unter Anwendung festgelegter
Kodierungsverfahren.
Zwei Lesemodelle (von Geschichten-Lesern und Geschichten-Erzhlern) und drei Unterrichtsmuster (mit wenig
Untersttzung und geringfgigem Unterricht; mit Untersttzung und bei geringem Unterricht; und mit
Untersttzung und Vollunterricht) wurden festgelegt, basierend auf die mtterlichen mndlichen und nichtmndlichen Beeinflussungen whrend dieser Treffen. Kinder, deren Mtter als Geschichtenerzhler erkannt wurden und solche aus der Untersttzungs- und Unterrichtsgruppierung von Mttern hatten bessere Sprachfertigkeiten
als jene Kinder deren Mtter nicht in diesen Gruppierungen waren, kontrolliert zwecks mtterlicher Erziehung und
sprachlicher Leistungen.
Mtterliche Leseund
Unterrichtsmuster:
Beziehungen
mittels
Schuluntersttzung
in afroamerikanischen
Familien mit
niedrigem
Einkommen
69
ABSTRACTS
Lecture
maternelle et
structures
pdagogiques :
associations
avec la maturit
pour la vie
scolaire dans des
familles afroamricaines
bas revenus
CETTE TUDE a explor la congruence entre lecture et structures denseignement de jeunes mres afro-amricaines bas revenus pendant quelles interagissaient avec leurs enfants dge prscolaire la maison (N= 126). On
a recueilli des donnes denqute et de tests standardiss sur lducation familiale et la matrise du langage parl ;
on a galement effectu des vidos, qui ont t transcrites et codes, lors de sances de lecture partage et de sessions de rsolution de problmes, en utilisant des procdures de codage valides. Deux patrons de lecture (Lecteurs
dhistoire et Raconteurs dhistoire) et trois patrons pdagogiques (Faible soutien et faible enseignement ; Soutien
et faible enseignement ; Soutien et enseignement) ont t identifis sur la base des interactions verbales et non verbales pendant ces sessions. Les enfants dont les mres avaient t identifies comme Raconteurs dhistoire et le
groupe des mres Soutien et enseignement ont prsent de meilleurs niveaux de langage que les enfants dont les
mres ntaient pas dans ces groupes, lducation maternelle et le niveau de langage tant contrls.
70
Maternal reading and teaching patterns
shared book-reading interactions (Raikes et al.,

2005). A third line of research has looked at the
teaching of specific skills (such as buttoning a shirt,
tying a shoelace, eating with a spoon), as illustrated
by the Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Training
(NCAST), an evidence-based assessment system of
parent teaching behaviors (Barnard, 1997; Barnard
& Kelly, 1990; Barnard & Sumner, 2002). Yet a
fourth line of research has focused on maternal behaviors during puzzle solving and free play types of
activities (Hoff-Ginsburg & Tardiff, 1995).
Each of these four lines of research provides a
unique understanding of parental teaching strategies
with young children and has demonstrated (to a
greater or lesser degree) Vygotskian notions of guided teaching and participation, and in some cases
scaffolding. However, little is known about how
parental teaching varies across situations (e.g., talking with children, shared book reading, puzzle solving). It is likely that some congruence exists across
situations, that is, that parents who promote child
engagement in learning situations might also encourage greater child verbal interactions during book
reading. At the same time, variability in teaching
patterns across situations might exist (for example,
some parents who do not engage in extended verbal
conversations during book reading might demonstrate proficiency at teaching in a problem-solving
situation). However, our knowledge of how much,
how often, and in what situations teaching is consistent is very limited. The present study was designed
to examine the congruence in two situations, book
reading and puzzle solving, in a sample of preschool
children and their mothers.
Why study parent teaching? A large body of
literature indicates that parentchild interactions in
the home are associated with school readiness
(Collins et al., 2000; Dickinson & Tabors, 2001;
Hart & Risley, 1999). For instance, children exposed to a richer verbal environment in the home
demonstrate better vocabulary skills in early childhood (Hart & Risley, 1995). Parent and child
shared book reading is associated with language
skills, reading ability, and school achievement (Bus,
van IJzendoorn, & Pellegrini, 1995; Ewers &
Brownson, 1999; Saracho, 1997; Senechal &
LeFevre, 2001; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998;
Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998). Interactions around
problem solving and playing with toys also are associated with school readiness (Britto & BrooksGunn, 2001; Crain-Thoreson, Dahlin, Powell,
2001; Maccoby & Martin, 1983; Spiker, Ferguson,
& Brooks-Gunn, 1993). However, we do not know
if such associations are stronger for some teaching
71
situations than others. The present study was designed to see if the associations between maternal
teaching interactions in a book reading and puzzle
task would be similar with regard to school readiness indicators.
Parental teaching varies by social class (Britto,
Fuligni, & Brooks-Gunn, 2002; Brooks-Gunn &
Markman, 2005; Hoff, 2003, Vernon-Feagans,
Hammer, Miccio, & Manlove, 2001). Several reasons have been put forth to explain these differences
(Boyd, Brock, & Rozendal, 2004; Gadsden, 1995;
Ogbu, 1981). Similar effects are also seen when
comparing black and white children in the United
States, in large part due to the fact that a disproportionate percentage of ethnic minority children are
poor and have mothers with low levels of education
(Brooks-Gunn & Markman; Duncan & BrooksGunn, 1997; Duncan, Brooks-Gunn, & Klebanov,
1994; Luthar, 1999). Because maternal teaching is
linked with school readiness, it is not surprising that
gaps in school readiness exist between economic
classes of children and between black and white
children. A few studies have been able to estimate
how much these gaps are due to differences in parenting. Based on some estimates, parental language
use in the home and teaching strategies could account for 25% to 60% of the gap (Brooks-Gunn,
Klebanov, & Duncan, 1996; Brooks-Gunn &
Markman; Jencks & Phillips, 1998; Phillips,
Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, Klebanov, & Jencks, 1998).
In this study we focus on a group of children with
low levels of school readinessthose whose mothers
are young, poor, and African American. Our hypothesis is that the differences we observe in maternal reading and teaching patterns will be associated
with childrens school readiness outcomes.
The present study addresses three sets of questions. First, what patterns of maternal reading and
teaching can be identified? Second, how much congruence is there between maternal reading and
teaching patterns? Third, what are the associations
between maternal reading and teaching patterns and
their childrens school readiness? The intent of the
study is to contribute to an understanding of the
ways in which poor, urban, minority children are exposed to literacy and learning practicesvia
parentchild interactions, variability in this exposure, and links to child outcomes.

Patterns of reading that have been studied suggest variability in practice, ranging from simple
reading of the text to discussions of events related to
72
the book (Bus, 2001; Dickinson & Tabors, 2001;

Hammer, 2001; Hammett, van Kleeck, & Huberty,
2003; Sonnenschein & Munsterman, 2002).
Studied behaviors include language use, functionality of talk, and timing of conversation. Language use
focuses on maternal use of decontextualized language (defined as an ability to talk about absent objects with little reliance on the shared physical
context; Snow, 1991), which is strongly associated
with later developing literacy skills (Dickinson, De
Temple, & Hirschler, 1992). Functionality of talk
has primarily been studied in terms of the nature of
parents questions during the book-reading activity
(ranging from simple requests for labeling and
pointing to more complex comprehension-based
questions, inferences, and predictions; Haden,
Reese, & Fivush, 1996). Maternal decontextualized
language use and labeling questions are examined in
the present study.
A third behavior involves the timing of conversation (Reese & Cox, 1999). It is not known if it
is most beneficial for a parent to interject with questions and comments before beginning to read the
book, during reading the book, after reading the
book, or some combination of all three. The placement of maternal comments and questions are examined in this study. We hypothesize that maternal
comments and questions interspersed not only
throughout the reading of the text but also before
and after the reading of the text will be associated
with decontextualized language use.
With the use of these three behaviors (language use, functionality, and timing), three patterns
of book reading are expected to emerge from the
cluster analyses: (1) encouraging child participation
in the book-reading activity by asking questions; (2)
extending the conversation around the book to the
childs real life by using decontextualized forms of
language; and (3) engaging in a straight reading of
the text, without much verbal interaction, that is,
little use of comments or questions.
Two broad dimensions of teaching patterns
have been identified in problem-solving and puzzle
tasks: (1) affect, responsivity, and support; and (2)
direct teaching and instruction (Barnard & Kelly,
1990; Maccoby & Martin, 1983; Spiker et al.,
1993). The latter dimension refers to teaching
behaviors such as guided participation, which
involves the provision of verbal cues and instruction. Four teaching patterns are expected: (1) support and teaching, (2) no support and no teaching,
(3) support and no teaching, and (4) no support
and teaching.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY/MARCH 2006
41/1
Congruence between maternal reading

and teaching patterns
Little work has examined the congruence between teaching behaviors across tasks (Bauer, 2000;
Crain-Thoreson et al., 2001). The present study addresses this issue. In addition we are interested in
identifying correlates of these patterns. Variability in
maternal reading has been linked to maternal language ability and educational achievement
(Bornstein, Hahn, Suwalsky, & Haynes, 2003;
Haveman & Wolfe, 1995). Puzzle-solving interactions have been linked to maternal mental health
(Bornstein, 1995; Bradley, 1995). We examine the
possible links between these correlates and teaching
patterns.
Association between maternal teaching

and childrens school readiness
The presence of decontextualized language in
book-reading interactions has been linked with higher kindergarten achievement test scores. In other
parentchild interactions, maternal sensitivity, support, and encouragement have been linked with childrens language skills, cognitive growth, engagement,
and competence (Landry, Smith, Miller-Loncar, &
Swank, 1997; NICHD Early Child Care Research
Network, 2001; Senechal, Thomas, & Monker,
1995). In the present study, we examine linguistic,
emotionally supportive, and instructional characteristics of maternal reading and teaching patterns, expecting that children whose mothers are both
supportive and also provide teaching guidance to the
children during the book reading and puzzle solving
will have higher school readiness and language scores
than children whose mothers focus their attention
either on teaching or on supportiveness.
Method
Design
The sample in this study included participants
from the Newark Young Family Study (NYFS), an
observational study embedded within the Teenage
Parent Demonstration Program (TPD). The Teenage
Parent Demonstration Program, begun in 1986, was
designed to test the feasibility and explore the implications of making welfare eligibility contingent upon
teenage mothers participation in self-sufficiency activities, school, work, and job training. This program
used an experimental design in which 6,000 first-
time, welfare-eligible adolescent mothers from three

sites (Chicago, Illinois, and Camden and Newark,
New Jersey) were enrolled and then randomly assigned to one of two groupsintervention or control. For the intervention group, the mothers Aid to
Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) support was contingent upon their participation in selfsufficiency activities. Mothers who did not
participate in self-sufficiency activities had part of
their AFDC stipend sanctioned (reduced). At the
same time, the intervention mothers received special
services such as case management, workshops, education, training and employment-related services,
and other support services, such as assistance in
making child-care arrangements and financial subsidies for child care to facilitate their compliance with
program requirements (Kisker, Rangarajan, & Boller,
1998). The workshops covered a range of topics including motivation and employment preparation,
life skills, parenting, and family planning. Control
mothers received financial and other forms of assistance already provided under the regular AFDC program. Participation in the intervention had no
significant effects on parenting behaviors (Reichman
& McLanahan, 2001).
The evaluation of the Teenage Parent
Demonstration Program was primarily conducted
with survey instruments including interviews and
self-report questionnaires during two time periods
24 months apart (Maynard, 1995). The embedded
observational study examined interactions within the
families and developmental processes (Aber, BrooksGunn, & Maynard, 1995). Families were seen in
their homes approximately 40 months after initial
intake into the TPD study. Whether or not mothers
participated in this evaluation study did not affect
their eligibility for services.
Procedure
The families were seen three times: at baseline
(Time 1); at a 24-month follow-up (Time 2), and at
a 40-month follow-up (Time 3). Mothers were interviewed at all three points, and they were assessed for
reading level (Times 1 and 2) and receptive vocabulary (Time 3). At Time 3, assessments of the home
environment, shared book reading, puzzle solving,
and child school readiness were conducted during a
three and a half hour visit with two trained field staff
workers (Aber et al., 1995; Sprachman, Carcagno, &
Goodman, 1994). One worker was assigned the interviewer coordinator role and the other staff member
the associate role. All field staff came from Newark
and at least one of the two was African American.
73
Training for the coordinator involved a five-day session, and training for the associate involved a threeday session, during which all data collection
procedures were demonstrated, videotapes shown,
and practice sessions observed. Once the training was
completed, the field staff had to undergo a stringent
certification process. The field staff were eligible for
data collection only after they were certified. In addition, during the course of the study, the videotapes of
the field staff were randomly checked (about 20% of
the tapes) to ensure fidelity to the protocol. Field staff
were not necessarily the same over the three time periods, given the fact that such field work is part-time
and often temporary in large-scale studies conducted
by research firms, such as Mathematica Policy
Research, Abt Associates, Research Triangle Institute,
Manpower Development Research Corporation, and
Weststat. While the pool of field staff varied over the
three time periods, all engaged in systematic training
sessions and received feedback during data collection
(Sprachman et al., 1994).
During the shared book-reading session, each
mother was asked to read the book Sounds I Hear
(Gelbart, 1983) to her child. Mothers were told, All
readers have their own way of reading books.... So
feel comfortable doing it your own way. The Home
Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY; Baker, Piotrkowski, & Brooks-Gunn, 1999) produced the book in 1983 as part of their curriculum
for children 3 to 4 years of age. It is a concept book
with 15 pages of illustrations and text (47 independent clauses), which focus on sounds made by animals, objects, and vehicles found in both urban and
rural settings. The book-reading session lasted approximately seven minutes.
For the puzzle-solving activity, the mother and
child were given two puzzles, and the mother was instructed to allow the child to try the puzzles alone
and then to give whatever help you think he/she
needs to do it him/herself (Chase-Lansdale &
Brooks-Gunn, 1994). The first puzzle was relatively
simple for the child to complete, and the second was
relatively difficult for the children to complete without the help of the mother. Puzzles were chosen for
difficulty based on previous research with African
American mothers and their young children (ChaseLansdale & Brooks-Gunn) and on pilot testing. For
the children 312 years or less, the first (easy) puzzle
was a boat, and the second (difficult) one was Grover
(a character from Sesame Street). The older children
completed puzzles of a kite and Cookie Monster (another character from Sesame Street). It took 2 minutes longer to complete the hard puzzle (M = 5.80
minutes; SD = 1.60) compared with the easy puzzle
74
(M = 3.85 minutes; SD = 1.71). On average the puzzle task took 9 minutes.
Participants
The 126 participants are a representative subsample of African American mothers from the
Newark site (N = 276), whose children were 25
months or younger at baseline (Time 1). Of the 276
mothers, 15 were ineligible to participate (11 had
moved; 4 were no longer living with target child). Of
the remaining 261 eligible participants, 189 consented to participate in the study. The retention rates for
the sample were very high (72%; Kisker et al., 1998).
Nonresponse analysis comparing the 189 respondents
with the 72 nonrespondents on baseline sociodemographic characteristics indicated significant differences on 2 variables. The nonrespondents were on
average a bit older and were less likely to have been
living with a parent (Sprachman et al., 1994). Of the
189 respondents, complete data, including book
reading and puzzle solving, were collected and codeable on 126 participants (7 Hispanic mother-andchild dyads were not included due to primary
language issues). The 126 mothers included in this
study did not differ from the 56 mothers excluded
from the analyses in terms of sociodemographic characteristics of age, educational attainment, household
membership, marital status, child age, and child gender. The sample was equally divided between the intervention (48%) and control (52%) groups.
At entrance into the study (Time 1), the participants were all teenage mothers between 14 and
20 years of age (M = 17.47, SD = 1.13). At the follow-up or Time 2 (about two years after baseline),
the mothers on average were 20 (SD = 1.10) years of
age. At the time of the observation or Time 3 (about
40 months after baseline), the mean age of the
mothers was 21 (SD = 1.25) years.
At Time 1, the children ranged in age from
two weeks to 25 months (M = 7 months, SD = 5.07
months), and 54% were girls. At Time 2, the children were, on average 30 (SD = 6.21) months of age,
and at Time 3, the mean age of the children was 48
(SD = 7.36) months.
In terms of maternal education, at Time 1, no
mother had completed high school or received a
General Equivalency Diploma certificate, whereas by
Time 2, 20% of the mothers had completed high
school. At Time 1, the average reading grade level, as
measured by the Test of Adult Basic Education, was
at the 7th grade. Only 16% of the mothers were
reading at or above the 10th-grade level. By Time 2,
the average reading grade level had gone up by one
41/1
grade; the mothers were now reading at an 8th-grade

level. A quarter of the mothers were reading at a
10th-grade level or higher. At Time 3, mothers average receptive language ability as indexed by their
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVTR) score
was very low (74.63; SD = 16.21), similar to the low
reading ability. This standardized receptive language
score was more than one standard deviation below
the normative mean for the test (M = 100, SD = 15
for the PPVTR). Even though only 25% of the
mothers had scores above 85 or within the average
range for this test, these receptive vocabulary scores
observed in this study are in accordance with other
studies of teenage urban single mothers (BrooksGunn & Chase-Lansdale, 1995; Pope, Casey,
Bradley, & Brooks-Gunn, 1993; Quint, Bos, & Polit,
1997).
In terms of family composition and marital status, at Time 1, most mothers had never been married
(98%) and a majority (65%) lived with one or both
of their parents. At Time 2, a majority of the mothers
were still unmarried (93%) and about half (54%)
lived with their parents or grandparents. The other
half lived either alone with their child(ren), with other relatives, or with a partner or husband. In addition, one third of the mothers had borne a second
child and approximately 10% had three children.
Measures
Maternal reading pattern
Maternal reading pattern was identified by the
following characteristics: language use, cognitive demand placed on the child, timing of conversation, and
positive feedback. All these aspects have been associated with child language and literacy outcomes. Training
in transcription and coding was conducted under the
supervision of the developer of the system (De Temple,
1993; the procedure is described in Appendix A.)
The Home School Coding System (De Temple,
1993), used to code the transcripts, is an individual
utterance coding system organized around two main
themes: functionality and nature of talk.
Functionality distinguishes requests for a response
from giving a response or from making a spontaneous comment (i.e., asking a question versus making a comment). Nature distinguishes talk that is
immediate or contextual (i.e., which uses information that is readily available from the illustrations or
the text) from talk that is nonimmediate or decontextual (i.e., which requires going beyond the text or
the illustrations to make predictions, draw inferences, analyze or make connections to the real world,
75
TABLE 1
DESCRIPTION OF THE VERBAL INTERACTIONS CODED DURING THE SHARED BOOK
READING ACTIVITY
Label and description
Example
Intercoder reliability
Descriptive information
Timing of maternal talk. When did

maternal conversation occur in relation to the reading of the text? Did the
mothers talk about the book only during their reading of the text, did they
talk to their children about the book
before they began reading the text, or
did they discuss the book after finishing the text?
Before
*Mother: Would you like to turn the pages?
*Mother: Sounds I Hear
During
*Mother: Sounds I Hear
*Mother: This is the title of the book.
After
*Mother: The end.
*Mother: Did you like the book?
100%
During 31% (N = 39)

Before & During 27% (N = 33)
During & After 19% (N = 23)
Before, During, & After 23%
(N = 29)
Decontextual language use. Going beyond the text or the illustrations to

make predictions, make inferences, or
establish a link between the child and
the text
Inference:
*Child: Why is she cryin(g) ?
Text-reader link:
*Mother: Remember when we went in
gran(d)mas car? (while showing the child the
picture of the car in the book)
80%
M = 2.38; SD = 4.70; range

015.
Expressive language use. Diversity of utterances (represents a range in the

content and function of the utterances)
*Mother: What is that?

*Mother: Good!
*Mother: Point to the picture.
*Mother: This is the dogs nose.
M = 11.34; SD = 6.82; range

132
Labeling questions. Utterances in

which the mother requests information that requires the child to name,
label, or point to a picture or word in
the book
*Mother: What is that?
100%
M = 5.4; SD = 6.7; range 042
Positive feedback. Given by mothers,

including an approving reaction to a
previous utterance made by the child
*Mother: Good.
98%
M = 3.54; SD = 5.10; range

048.
Note. a This measure was estimated by running a frequency analysis in the Computerized Language Analysis program (CLAN; MacWhinney,
2000). This program is designed to specifically analyze data that is transcribed in the Codes for Human Analysis Transcripts system.
give meanings for words, provide explanations, and

so forth). Text words read aloud were not coded.
Codes relevant to the present study are described in
detail in Table 1.
Maternal teaching with puzzles

A previously developed coding system was used
(Chase-Lansdale & Brooks-Gunn, 1994; Spiker et
al., 1993), with the following six behaviors each coded on a three-point scale: verbal stimulation, clarity
of hints, flexibility in changing directions, anticipating the childs needs, encouragement, and motivation. Higher scores on the scales indicate a higher
frequency or intensity of maternal behavior characterized by that scale. The intercoder agreement with-
in one point for the scales was 100%. Training for

coding the data followed a structured training protocol conducted over a four-week period in which
coders observed training tapes and became reliable
with a gold standard coder. One fifth of each coders
tapes was reviewed during coding to ensure that
coders remained reliable. Definitions and examples
of the six behaviors are described in Appendix B.
Maternal mental health

Poor parental mental health has been associated with fewer learning experiences in the home and
poor parentchild interactions (Bornstein, 1995;
Bradley, 1995; Klebanov, Brooks-Gunn, & Duncan,
1994). In the present study, maternal mental health
76
was measured at Time 3 with the Center for

Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (20 items
and four-point Likert scale; CES-D; Radloff, 1977).
The CES-D is an extensively used, highly internally
consistent, epidemiologic measure of the presence
and severity of depressive symptoms (higher scores
indicate more depression). The average score for this
scale was 15.9 (SD = 10.3; range 154). The CES-D
scores were not associated with maternal reading or
teaching or with child outcomes.
Home environment
The Home Observation for Measurement of
the Environment (HOME) Inventory measures stimulation and support available to a child, via a semistructured interview and direct observation. The 55
items of the measure are binary coded (present = 1 or
absent = 0), with higher scores indicating more items
passed for a particular scale (Bradley, 1994; Linver,
Brooks-Gunn, & Cabrera, 2004). Training was conducted with videotapes prepared by the developer of
the test, which included practice and feedback conducted over a three-day period. The three subscales
used in the present study are: Academic Stimulation;
Warmth; and Presence of Learning Materials.
The Academic Stimulation Scale consists of seven items focusing on parental teaching of school
readiness skills (i.e., child is encouraged to learn colors, rhymes, words, numbers; = 0.71). Most
mothers indicated that they were teaching schoolreadiness skills, as the average score was 6.71
(SD=1.54: range 07). The Warmth Scale also consists of seven items, such as mother converses with
child at least once during the visit, uses a term of
endearment, hugs or cuddles the child ( = 0.72).
The average rating on this scale was high (5.65; SD =
.50; range 18). The Presence of Learning Materials
Scale has 12 items, which include child has at least
one toy that teaches color and one toy that teaches
numbers ( = 0.73). The average rating on this scale
was 7.22 (SD = 2.78; range 012).
Child language and school readiness

The three child outcomes selected for the study
were expressive language use, receptive vocabulary,
and school readiness. All three are recognized as part
of a continuum of skills that have been defined as
precursors to conventional forms of reading and
writing (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998).
Expressive language use is a measure of the diversity in child utterances during the shared bookreading session at Time 3. The expressive language
41/1
score was obtained by running the FREQ analyses

from the CLAN program (MacWhinney, 1991,
2000; M = 10, SD = 5.88; range 030). Past research
on child language has focused primarily on total
number of words spoken as opposed to the total
number of different types of words spoken during
the book-reading activity. In our sample the average
number of total words spoken by the children was
30 (min = 0; max = 149) similar to other work with
low-income young mothers and preschool-age children, where the average was 32.32 (min = 0; max =
154; De Temple & Tabors, 1994).
Receptive vocabulary was assessed by the Peabody
Picture Vocabulary TestRevised (PPVTR) at Time
3. The test requires the child to correctly identify one
of four pictures that matches the stimulus word. This
standardized test has a mean of 100 and a standard
deviation of 15, with higher scores indicating a larger
receptive vocabulary (M = 82.69, SD = 12.85; range
56121). These scores are similar to those from studies of poor young children in primarily single-parent
families (Burchinal, Campbell, Bryant, Wasik, &
Ramey, 1997; Lee, Brooks-Gunn, Schnur, & Liaw,
1990; Pellegrini, Galda, Jones, & Perlmutter, 1995).
The correlation between receptive vocabulary and expressive language was 0.13 (ns). Eleven children who
scored below 55 were omitted from the analyses because we could not get an adequate baseline on them.
It was not clear if they were just being uncooperative
or had weak verbal comprehension and were therefore
severely developmentally delayed. Because the goal of
the study was to examine links between shared book
reading and language in a sample of children without
severe handicapping conditions, we decided to omit
these children from the analyses.
School readiness was assessed by the Caldwell
Preschool InventoryRevised, which includes 48
items in a yes or no format and taps childrens knowledge of colors, shapes, and general information. The
average score for the children was 28.49 (SD = 8.72;
range 1045; 2 children with anomalous scores were
omitted from the analyses, and data on 27 children
were missing from the original data set), similar to
other studies (i.e., M = 28.72 in a sample of poor
preschool children in three inner-city communities;
Schnur, Brooks-Gunn, & Shipman, 1992). School
readiness was correlated with receptive vocabulary (r
= 0.22; p < .05) but not expressive language use.
Analytic strategy
To address the first question about reading and
teaching patterns, hierarchical cluster analyses were
used. For book reading, timing of maternal talk, ex-
77
pressive language use, number of decontextualized

utterances, number of labeling questions, and positive feedback given by the mothers were entered as
the variables of interest. Using Wards method of hierarchical cluster analysis, we determined the number of clusters to be identified with the Average
Linkage Method and Euclidean distance. The number of clusters was determined by examining the
dendogram and the value of the fusion coefficients
(which is the value at which various cases merge to
form a cluster; per this procedure, the jumps in the
fusion coefficients are examined). A significant jump
implies that two dissimilar clusters have been merged
and suggests that the number of clusters prior to the
merge is the appropriate number of clusters for the
data (Aldernderfer & Blashfield, 1984). The same
procedure was used to identify teaching patterns,
with the six parent behaviors described in Appendix
B entered into the hierarchical cluster. Post-hoc internal and external validation was conducted, as recommended for cluster analyses.
The second question, congruence between reading and teaching patterns, was assessed via chi-square
analyses. Using the Discriminant Function Analytical
technique, we tested the validity of the groupings. The
third question, whether reading and teaching patterns
are associated with child outcomes, was tested via separate hierarchical Ordinary Least Squares regression
models. Child age, mothers age at the birth of the
child, treatment status, and number of children in the
home were entered as controls for all the models followed by either the maternal reading pattern variable
or the maternal teaching pattern variable, depending
on the research questions. Maternal educational characteristicshigh school completion and receptive vocabulary (PPVTR scores)were entered in the final
model.
Results
Wards Cluster Analytic technique was used to
distinguish patterns of book reading. Examining the
jumps of the fusion coefficient from the current
cluster analyses indicated a big jump at the third cluster, implying a two-cluster solution would be the most
probable solution. Ninety mothers were classified into
the first cluster (Story-readers), and 27 mothers were
classified in the second cluster (Story-tellers). Of the 7
mothers who did not fit into either cluster, 2 had no
extratextual comments. Internal validation was conducted by examining the mean scores for the two
groups on the five reading behaviors. Story-readers,
compared to Story-tellers, did not talk much to their
children during the book-reading activity with most
of their comments occurring during reading the book
and a few comments before they began reading the
book. The mothers in the Story-teller group used
TABLE 2
DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATION ON THE COMPONENT VARIABLES FOR THE BOOK-READING
CLUSTERS AND MATERNAL EDUCATION
Variables
When comments occurred
During
Before & During
After & During
Before, After, & During
Number of decontextualized commentsa
Number of different wordsb
Labeling questions (What, show me)c
Positive feedbackd
Maternal education
Receptive language
Notes. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001
a M = 2.38 (SD = 4.70)
b M = 11.34 (SD = 6.82)
c M = 5.46 (SD = 6.70)
d M = 3.54 (SD = 5.10)
Story-readers (N = 90)
M (SD)/ %
40
30
13.3
15.6
Story-tellers (N = 27)
M (SD)/ %
F / 2 Statistics
15
18.5
18.5
48
15.04**
0.67 (1.27)
8.2 (4.01)
2.4 (2.4)
1.14 (1.94)
4.0 (4.19)
17.9 (5.21)
12.11 (4.18)
7.40 (3.54)
6.62***
10.25***
14.93***
11.33***
73.45 (14.67)
81.04 (20.80)
4.27*
78
more decontextualized language, asked more labeling

questions, gave their children more positive feedback,
and demonstrated greater expressive language use
compared to the Story-readers (Table 2). The two
groups of mothers were also compared on an external
variable of interest, maternal receptive vocabulary
(Aldenderfer & Blashfield, 1984). The mothers identified as Story-tellers scored significantly higher than
the mothers identified as Story-readers (Table 2).
For discerning teaching patterns, using the
same cluster analytical technique, the largest jump
of the fusion coefficient was found at the fourth
cluster, suggesting a three-cluster solution. Thirtyfive mothers fell into the first cluster (Low Support
and Low Teaching), 51 mothers were classified in the
second cluster (Support and Low Teaching); and 30
mothers fell into the third cluster (Support and
Teaching; 8 mothers are missing from the final cluster solution, due to missing data). When the scores
for the six parenting behaviors were compared across
the three clusters, mothers in the Low Support and
Low Teaching group did not provide their children
with much assistance, support, or direct teaching
during the problem-solving task. Mothers in the

Support and Low Teaching group did not provide
their children with much direct teaching or guided
assistance but gave them support and encouragement to solve the puzzle, while mothers in the
Support and Teaching group gave their children support and encouragement and guided their efforts to
solve the puzzle with verbal cues, and guided assistance (Table 3). Results of the external validation
analyses indicate that mothers identified in the Low
Support and Low Teaching group had lower receptive language and grade equivalency scores than the
Support and Teaching group. The Support and Low
Teaching group of mothers had lower receptive language and were less likely to have graduated from
high school than the Support and Teaching groups
of mothers (Table 3).
Congruence between maternal reading

and teaching patterns
Given the two identified reading patterns and
three teaching patterns, six combinations of reading
TABLE 3
DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATION ON COMPONENT VARIABLES IN THE TEACHING PATTERN
CLUSTERS AND MATERNAL EDUCATION
Teaching patterns
Low Support & Low Teaching
N = 35
M (SD)
41/1
Support & Low Teaching

N = 51
M (SD)
Support and Teaching

N = 30
M (SD)
Clarity of hintsd
Flexibilitye
Verbal stimulationf
Anticipating child needsg
Encouragementh
Motivationi
1.25 (0.43)ac
1.33 (0.48)ac
1.11 (0.32)ac
1.8 (0.67)ac
1.11 (0.31)ac
1.05 (0.23)ac
1.60 (0.5)ab
1.68 (0.55)ab
1.82 (0.38)ab
2.3 (0.5)ab
2.37 (0.46)ab
2.0 (0.20)ab
2.8 (0.37)bc
2.6 (0.49)bc
2.9 (0.3)bc
2.7 (0.43)bc
2.5 (0.57)bc
2.3 (0.46)bc
Maternal education
Receptive language
Total grade levell
High school completionm
70.20 (15.87)j
6.89 (2.35)j
17.9
71.60 (15.02)k
7.75 (2.90)
13.7k
86.10 (11.04)kj
8.54 (2.81)j
30k
Notes. a ANOVA comparisons between Low Support and Low Teaching and Support and Low Teaching Patterns significant, p < .05
b ANOVA comparisons between Support and Low Teaching and Support and Teaching Patterns significant, p < .05
c ANOVA comparisons between Low Support and Low Teaching and Support and Teaching Patterns significant, p < .05
d M = 1.78 (SD = 0.76)
e M = 1.79 (SD = 0.70)
f M = 1.89 (SD = 0.76)
g M = 2.26 (SD = 0.65)
h M = 1.98 (SD = 0.77)
i M = 1.79 (SD = 0.66)
k ANOVA/2 comparisons between Support and Low Teaching and Support and Teaching patterns significant, p<.1
j ANOVA/2 comparisons between Low Support and Low Teaching and Support and Teaching patterns significant, p< .1
l TABE scores at Time 2
m at Time 2
and teaching patterns were possible: Storyreaders/Low Support and Low Teaching (30%; N =
32); Story-readers/Support and Low Teaching (30%;
N = 32); Story-readers/Support and Teaching (16%;
N = 17); Story-tellers/Low Support and Low
Teaching (3%; N = 3); Story-tellers/Support and
Low Teaching (12%; N = 13); and Storytellers/Support and Teaching group (9%; N = 10).
The Story-tellers/Low Support and Low Teaching
group of mothers are not included in further analyses, as there were too few mothers in that cell.
In order to test the validity of the groupings,
Discriminant Function Analysis was used to distinguish statistically between the five groups of mothers. The discriminating variables entered in the
analyses were selected based on the theoretical underpinnings of the reading and teaching patterns:
Support (Warmth Scale from HOME and depressive
affect from CES-D) and teaching (maternal receptive vocabulary from PPVTR, presence of learning
materials from HOME, and academic stimulation
from HOME.
Results of the Discriminant Function Analyses
show that four functions were derived from the 5
variables (the Wilkss after the fourth function derived was 0.68, p<.05; Klecka, 1980). An examination of the discriminant function coefficients of the
independent variables (>.50) on each function indicates that maternal receptive vocabulary and the
presence of materials in the home (0.82 and 0.55, respectively) contributed positively to the first function Verbal Stimulation, if other variables were held
constant. For the second function, Mental Health,
maternal depressive affect (0.66) was the only contributor. Warmth in the home (0.84) contributed
positively to the third function, Affect. The final
function, Exposure to Learning opportunities, was
79
characterized by academic stimulation in the home

(0.96). The five groups can be distinguished by two
out of the four functions: Verbal Stimulation and
Affect, the two identifying dimensions of the reading
and teaching patterns.
Table 4 presents the group means for the five
groups on the two discriminating functionsVerbal
Stimulation and Affect. The Story-tellers/Support
and Teaching mothers and Story-readers/Support
and Teaching mothers were highest on Verbal
Stimulation. The Story-tellers/Support and Low
Teaching mothers were highest on Affect and low on
all the other functions. The results indicate that the
discriminating aspect of the Support and Teaching
patternin combination with both the reading patternsis Verbal Stimulation, and the discriminating
function of the Support and Low Teaching patternin combination with the Story-telling patternis Affect.
Associations between maternal patterns

and their childrens school readiness
The average expressive language score for the
children of the Story-readers was M = 7.41 (SD =
3.90) and for the children of the Story-tellers was M
= 13.81 (SD = 5.29); F(1) 6.75; p < .0001, thus indicating that the children of the Story-tellers spoke
more words during book reading than the children
of the Story-readers.
The OLS regression model testing the association between maternal reading pattern and childrens
expressive language use was significant, F (5,98) =
7.08; p < 0001. Children of Story-tellers demonstrated higher expressive language use skills compared to the children of Story-readers ( = 0.45; p <
.0001; d = 1.49), even after controlling for child age,
TABLE 4
SIGNIFICANT DISCRIMINANT FUNCTIONS FOR THE FIVE GROUPS OF MOTHERS BASED ON
READING AND TEACHING PATTERNS
Functions
Verbal stimulation
Affect
-.50
-.24
.84
-.003
1.26
-.10
.001
.001
.31
-.12
Reading and teaching patterns

Story-readers/Low Support & Low Teaching
Story-readers/Support & Low Teaching
Story-readers/Support & Teaching
Story-tellers/Support & Low Teaching
Story-tellers/Support & Teaching
80
mothers age at birth of child, treatment status, and

number of children in the home. The unusually
strong effect size indicates large differences in the expressive language use of children of the two groups
of mothers (Cohen, 1988).
No mean differences were found between maternal reading patterns and childrens school readiness scores in the bivariate or multivariate analyses.
Similarly for childrens receptive vocabulary, no significant results were obtained either in the bivariate
or multivariate analyses.
With regard to teaching patterns, analysis of
variance (ANOVA) techniques were used to examine
differences between the children of the three groups
of mothers for the three child outcomes: expressive
language use, receptive vocabulary, and school readiness. Pair-wise multiple comparisons and post-hoc
tests were used to determine which means differed.
Bivariate analyses indicated differences in childrens expressive language use and receptive vocabulary for the three groups of mothers identified in the
puzzle task. The average expressive language use
score for the children of the Low Support and Low
Teaching mothers, M = 7.05; SD = 4.62, was significantly lower than for the children of the Support and
Low Teaching mothers, M = 10.78; SD = 6.39; F(1)
= 8.74; p < .01. This difference was also noted between the Support and Teaching group, M = 11.46;
SD = 5.43, and Low Support and Low Teaching
group, F(1) 12.49; p < .001. The multivariate OLS
regression model testing the association between maternal teaching patterns and childrens expressive language use approached significance, F(6,98) = 2.07; p
= .06. Children of the Support and Teaching group
of mothers demonstrated higher expressive language
use compared to the children of Support and Low
Teaching group of mothers, = 0.30; p < .01; d =
0.11. Even after the addition of maternal educational
characteristics in the final model, maternal teaching
pattern remained a significant correlate, at a trend
level, of childrens expressive language use. No other
variables were significant.
Based on bivariate analyses, childrens receptive
vocabulary scores of the Support and Low Teaching
group of mothers, M = 80.76; SD = 10.51, was significantly lower than those of the children of the Support
and Teaching group of mothers (M = 87.92; SD =
14.38; F(1) = 4.21; p < .05. However, no significant
differences were obtained in the multivariate analyses.
No mean differences for school readiness scores based
on maternal teaching patterns were obtained either in
the bivariate or in the multivariate analyses.
Separate hierarchical OLS regression models
were conducted in order to examine the association
41/1
between the combined maternal reading and teaching patterns and childrens school readiness. Parallel
to the prior analyses, a similar set of controls was entered for all the models. Dummy codes were used to
compare the five patterns of reading and teaching
(the Story-readers/Low Support and Low Teaching
group was the omitted group and the Story
tellers/Low Support and Low Teaching mothers were
not included in these analyses because of the small
cell size). Separate models were run for childrens receptive vocabulary, school readiness, and expressive
language use. Significant findings emerged for childrens expressive language skills and school readiness.
The model testing the association between maternal teaching and reading patterns and childrens
expressive language use was significant, F (8,85) =
4.82; p < .0001. Children of Story-tellers/Support
and Teaching group, = 0.43; p < .0001, and Storytellers/Support and Low Teaching group, = 0.39; p
< .0001, demonstrated greater expressive language
use compared with the children of the other groups
of mothers. The model testing the association between maternal teaching and reading patterns and
childrens school readiness was also significant,
F(8,65) = 6.19; p < .0001). The children of the
Story-readers/Support and Teaching group had higher school readiness skills, = 0.23; p <. 05, compared with children of the other groups of mothers.
No significant results were obtained for childrens receptive vocabulary.
Discussion
A major theme of Vygotskys theory
(1934/1978) is that the social interactions between
adults and children lay the foundation for young
childrens development and learning. Parentchild
interactions in the home have typically been studied
around a single activity, such as shared book reading,
verbal engagement, or problem solving. Yet even
though links have been established between some of
these interactions and childrens school readiness
outcomes, what remains unknown is the degree of
congruence in parental teaching patterns across these
interactions.
In terms of reading patterns, contrary to our
expectations, only two distinct groups emerged,
based on language use and timing of maternal conversation. Of the three groups hypothesized, the
group that focused on supporting and encouraging
childrens participation in the book reading was not
found. The two-pattern result could be an artifact of
the structure of the coding system, which does not
have a major emphasis on supportive reading behaviors. In other work where the affective quality of the
interaction was coded in addition to the nature of
maternal talk, results demonstrated an association
between the affective quality of reading and child
outcomes (Sonnenschein & Munsterman, 2002).
The other two aspects of the reading patterns, language use and timing of conversation, parallel findings from prior work with samples with a similar
demographic profile (Beals, De Temple, &
Dickinson, 1994; Hammer, 2001). In the present
study, not only did the Story-readers talk less and use
fewer forms of decontextualized language, but they
also focused most of their conversation during the
reading of the text. In contrast, the Story-tellers
demonstrated a more interactive pattern, interspersing their discussion around the book, before, during,
and after reading the text. The timing of conversation is a relatively nascent aspect of book-reading interactions. This finding is important in that it
suggests taking timing of maternal conversation into
consideration in how mothers construct the bookreading activity as an important characteristic of
their reading pattern. Mothers who treated the bookreading interaction as an opportunity to engage in
conversation with their children beyond the pages of
the book tended to use language and extend their
childs participation in the activity, compared to
mothers who construed the activity as limited to the
pages of the book.
For teaching behaviors, three groups of mothers emerged based on the amount of teaching and
support they provided their children during the puzzle solvingthose who demonstrated a Low Support
and Low Teaching pattern, a Support and Low
Teaching pattern, and a Support and Teaching pattern. The fourth hypothesized group, characterized
by teaching with low support, was not found, despite the comprehension coding system used.
An innovative aspect of the study was an examination of the concordance in maternal interactional
patterns across activities. The Support and Teaching
and Support and Low Teaching mothers were the
most likely to be Story-tellers (using an interactive
discussion-oriented pattern of reading) compared to
the Low Support and Low Teaching group of mothers. A larger proportion of the latter group, on the
other hand, was classified as Story-readers.
Childrens vocabulary appears to be associated
with a more interactive maternal book-reading pattern (encouraging the child to participate in the activity, asking more questions, and extending
childrens knowledge beyond the pages of the book)
and with a teaching pattern that combines both sup-
81
port and instruction. Merely providing support with

low teaching did not appear to be linked with child
outcomes. Salient aspects of maternal teaching appear to be guided assistance, flexibility in giving instructions to match the childs need, and clear verbal
cues that the child understands, while at the same
time providing information to help the child learn
and solve the task.
When the results from the combined reading
and teaching patterns are examined, as indicated in
Table 5, verbal guidance and language use emerge as
salient aspects of maternal interaction strongly
linked with child outcomes. The results suggest that
preschoolers whose mothers provided them with
high levels of support and guided participation
demonstrated greater school readiness and expressive
language use when compared with children who received low levels of maternal engagement in the
studied activities.
Limitations
Notwithstanding the consistency of findings
obtained in the study, two areas of limitations are
noted. The first limitation was in the choice of the
book for the shared book-reading interaction and the
second was the ecological validity of specific measurement aspects of the study.
Sounds I Hear is a concept book developed by
the HIPPY program (Baker et al., 1999) as part of its
preschool curriculum. Narrative texts or storybooks
have been most commonly used in exploratory and
intervention research on emergent literacy (Payne,
Whitehurst, & Angell, 1994; Reese & Cox, 1999).
The concept book genre is not so commonly used in
research, as it may not afford the opportunity for
parents and children to engage in verbal interactions,
such as predictions, bridging and recalling of text,
discussion around a story line, and decontextualized
forms of language use. This could be a reason why
we observed such low levels of decontextualized talk.
However, in the New Chance Study of mother and
child book-reading interactions (Reichman &
McLanahan, 2001), even though a book with more
elements characteristic of narrative texts was used
(The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle), similar
low levels of decontextual language use were noted.
A related area of limitation of this study is that we
do not have data regarding the childrens concepts
about print (Clay, 1993). Information regarding
childrens concepts about book orientation, directionality, letters, and words would have offered more
information related to school readiness.
82
41/1
TABLE 5
SUMMARY OF RESULTS: MEAN SCORES FOR CHILD OUTCOMES BY MATERNAL READING
AND TEACHING PATTERNS
Child Outcomes
Mean (SD)
Estimated meana
Expressive language use
Receptive vocabulary
School readiness
7.41 (3.9)
7.54
82.24 (12.82)
82.59
28.41 (8.62)
29.18
13.81 (5.29)
12.66
85.75 (13.45)
81.01
28.83 (9.65)
28.88
7.05 (4.62)
7.23
82.37 (13.44)
82.06
27.29 (8.92)
28.39
Support & Low Teaching
10.78 (6.39)
10.37
80.76 (10.51)
80.61
28.33 (8.81)
28.43
Support & Teaching
11.46 (5.43)
10.81
87.92 (12.75)
85.14
31.56 (7.92)
31.84
6.81 (4.25)
6.92
82.84 (13.47)
83.10
26.96 (9.02)
28.01
Story-readers/Support & Low Teaching
7.87 (4.03)
7.85
80.48 (10.83)
81.23
28.64 (8.86)
27.72
Story-readers/Support & Teaching
8.29 (2.95)
8.55
86.93 (13.94)
86.89
32.02 (7.45)
33.07
Story-tellers/Low Support & Low Teaching
9.66 (8.50)
9.51
78.33 (15.30)
73.77
31.38 (9.20)
31.04
Story-tellers/Support & Low Teaching
13.46 (5.14)
12.29
83.25 (10.08)
82.24
28.83 (9.48)
30.43
Story-tellers/Support & Teaching
15.50 (4.55)
14.47
91.55 (15.93)
82.96
30.14 (10.05)
30.05
Reading patterns
Story-readers
Story-tellers
Teaching patterns
Low Support & Low Teaching
Combined reading and teaching patterns

Story-readers/Low Support & Low Teaching
Note. a Estimated means controlling for child age, maternal age at birth of child, maternal language ability, and high school graduation. No standard
deviations reported with estimated means.
The second area of limitation is related to the

ecological validity of some of the methods and measures used in the study. The ratings of mothers reading patterns were based on a one-time (albeit long)
observation in the home. The data collection strategy used in this study is in keeping with the tradition
of large-scale and national evaluations of preschool
interventions (Brooks-Gunn, Berlin, & Fuligni,
2000; Brooks-Gunn, Fuligni, & Berlin, 2004),
which is among one several traditions used to explore and understand the home environment. Other
traditions include intensive repeated observations of
literacy interactions between parents and children,
most often occurring in the home (Hart & Risley,

1995; Heath, 1983, 1986; Purcell-Gates, 1996), or
primary reliance on maternal interview or survey
data (Britto et al., 2002). There are merits to each of
these different methodological traditions. Clearly the
tradition of intensive repeated observations is the
most ecologically valid and perhaps the best for designing coding systems and refining hypotheses. The
tradition adhered to in the present study typically
follows from the more intensive approach, using information from that tradition and applying it in
studies such as the present one, which are large-scale
and often multisite initiatives.
Nonetheless, large-scale evaluations suffer from

ecological limitations in that the sample of the behavior observed may not be representative of the daily behavioral patterns of interaction. At the same
time, these one-time behavior samples, including
videotaped observations of maternal behavior, have
been associated with later child outcomes, even after
controlling for sociodemographic factors (Berlin,
Brady-Smith, & Brooks-Gunn, 2002; Collins et al.,
2000; Leventhal, Selner-OHagan, Brooks-Gunn,
Bingenheimer, & Earls, 2004; Maccoby & Martin,
1983). As with any single assessment of parent and
child interactions, the findings obtained in this study
should be interpreted with caution.
Related to the issue of ecological validity of
data collection traditions is the issue of the relevance
of measures for population subgroups, especially in
terms of socioeconomic and racial and ethnic diversity. In the present study, we used a combination of
several naturalistic and structured observational measures. Some of these measures, such as the problemsolving coding system, were developed for use with a
similar sociodemographic population in Baltimore,
namely young, economically disadvantaged, primarily African American mothers (Brooks-Gunn &
Chase-Lansdale, 1995). However other measures,
such as the HOME inventory, were developed with a
different sample. Analyses of the relevance and applicability of the HOME inventory across racial and
ethnic groups indicate a similar scale structure for
black and white families, with lower levels noted for
black than white families (Bradley, 2004; Bradley,
Casey, & Caldwell, 1997; Bradley, Mundform,
Whiteside, Casey, & Barrett, 1994; Brooks-Gunn &
Markman, 2005; Sugland et al., 1995). For instance,
for the parental Warmth subscale, racial/ethnic differences were observed with African American parents obtaining lower ratings than European
American parents (Bingenheimer, Leventhal,
Raudenbush, & Brooks-Gunn, in press).
The relevance of another measure used in the
present study, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test
(PPVTR), has been questioned when used with
specific population subgroups (Washington & Craig,
1992). In particular, the PPVTR has been associated with disproportionately lower scores for African
American children. In the present study, the children
on average scored one standard deviation below the
normative mean of this test. Even though the receptive vocabulary scores are in accordance with other
samples of young low-income children, they still
cluster around the lower end of the distribution. It is
possible that maternal reading and teaching patterns
were not associated with childrens receptive vocabu-
83
lary due to the truncated scores on this test.

Therefore, it is possible that the speculated limited
applicability of the measure for the present study
sample could be implicated in the lack of association
noted between maternal reading and teaching patterns and child outcomes.
Strengths
Even though the literature is replete with studies implicating storybook reading in childrens academic achievement, most studies have relied on
frequency counts to establish these links
(Scarborough & Dobrich, 1994). More nuanced
analyses of specific aspects of language use are rarer, as
is an examination of maternal interaction patterns in
general. In the present study, we attempted to fill the
gap in the literature by examining maternal and child
interactions across two commonly occurring activities
in the home. Book reading is considered a fairly common activity based on two sets of criteria, availability
of printed matter in the home and frequency of daily
reading. National data sets indicate that a majority of
preschool-age children have access to 10 or more
books in the home, in addition to a newspaper or
magazine subscription (Leventhal, Martin, &
Brooks-Gunn, 2004). In the present study, based on
the HOME inventory, 52% of families had more
than 10 childrens books, and 48% had more than 10
adult books in the home. Indicators of frequency of
shared book reading from national data suggest that
just short of 50% of low-income, or single-parent, or
black families report daily book reading to their 3- to
5-year-old children (Britto et al., 2002).
Most work on parent and child book reading
thus far has been conducted with small sample sizes
(e.g., Reese & Cox, 1999). In the present study, we
observed, transcribed, and coded book-reading interactions between 126 mother-and-child dyads, which
is one of the largest sample sizes in the present literature. Additionally, all of these findings are particularly strong given that maternal verbal ability was
controlled for in the regression models. Previous
work has not done so, even though language use and
ability have strong links. By not controlling for maternal language ability, prior work could be susceptible to problems of selection bias.
Implications for research and practice

We do not know much about why parents
choose the reading and teaching strategies that they
use. For example, it has been noted that mothers with
higher educational expectations for their children
84
tend to use more conversational styles and decontextualized language during book reading. Research on
the influence of parental attitudes and beliefs on literacy is needed to gain a better understanding of the
reasons for maternal reading and teaching patterns.
Second, we do know that educational interventions
can alter low-income mothers interactions with their
preschool-age children (Brooks-Gunn et al., 2000;
Brooks-Gunn & Markman, 2005). We believe that
educational intervention programs should focus not
just on book-reading types of interactions, but also
on other types of teaching situations. As indicated in
the results, child school readiness outcomes were
linked with a maternal supportive teaching style in
the puzzle-solving activity. Programs could focus on a
range of parent and child interactions that would be
beneficial for childrens transition to school and academic outcomes.
PIA REBELLO BRITTO is an associate research scientist at Yale
Universitys Child Study Center. Her research interests focus on
exploring literacy and language development in low-income and
minority populations, evaluation of early intervention programs, and
international policy and child development. She can be contacted at
the Child Study Center, Yale University, PO Box 207900, 230 South
Frontage Road, New Haven, CT 06520, USA, or by e-mail at
pia.britto@yale.edu.
JEANNE BROOKS-GUNN is the Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor
of Child Development and Education at Teachers College and the
College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. She
codirects the National Center for Children and Families at Columbia
Universitys Teachers College and the Institute for Child and Family
Policy. Her specialty is policy-oriented research focusing on family and
community influences upon the development of children and youth.
She also designs and evaluates interventions aimed at enhancing the
well-being of children living in poverty and associated conditions. She
can be contacted at Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 West
120th Street, Box 39, New York, NY 10027, USA, or by e-mail at
jb224@columbia.edu.
TERRI M. GRIFFIN is an assistant professor at Manhattanville College
and serves as chair of the Literacy Department. She teaches
undergraduate and graduate courses in language development and
literacy teaching methods. Her research interests include projects that
explore relationships between oral and written language development
and interventions that support the development of oral and written
language proficiency in classroom settings. She can be contacted at
Manhattanville College, 2900 Purchase St., Purchase, NY 10577,
USA, or by e-mail at griffint@mville.edu.
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AUTHORS NOTES
This study is based on a demonstration program and evaluation funded by the Administration for Children, Youth and Families, and the
Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department for
Health and Human Services (DHHS). The primary evaluation was conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., under the direction of
Rebecca Maynard. Supplementary data collection and analyses were funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Foundation for Child Development
(conducted in collaboration with Columbia University and Mathematica
Policy Research Inc.), The Spencer Foundation, and the Marx Family
Foundation. We would like to acknowledge the central role played by
J.L. Aber and George Carcagno. We would also like to thank the
National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Research Network on Child and Family Well-Being for their advice and
assistance on this study. We would like to acknowledge the tremendous efforts of Sue Hee Chung and So-Yun Lee, who painstakingly helped in
transcribing and coding the mother and child verbal interactions. We
would also like to thank Jeanne De Temple for sharing her expertise and
training us in the transcription and coding systems. Finally, we would
like to acknowledge Susan Recchias invaluable comments.
Received May 16, 2003
Final revision received February 14, 2005
Accepted February 18, 2005
APPENDIX A
PROCEDURE FOR TRANSCRIPTION AND CODING OF MATERNAL
AND CHILD VERBAL INTERACTIONS
Step 1. Transcription: The verbal interaction between each mother-and-child dyad was
transcribed using the Codes for Human Analysis of Transcripts (CHAT) transcription
system (MacWhinney, 1991; 2000) from the videotaped observations. The CHAT
system provides a standardized format for producing computerized transcripts of
face-to-face conversational interactions (MacWhinney, 2000). Transcribers were
trained to reliability by trainers of the system (J. De Temple and T. Griffin, personal
communication, February 10, 1994).
Step 2. Verification of the spoken word: All transcripts after being created were verified
by an independent transcriber who viewed the videotape while checking the transcript to ensure 100% accuracy of the spoken word.
Step 3. Verification of the transcribing conventions: A third independent transcriber
then checked the transcripts to ensure that they had been formatted as per the transcribing conventions of the CHAT system.
Step 4. Coding the transcripts: Maternal reading patterns are derived from the following set of five codes (see Table 1): timing of maternal talk; decontextualized language
use; expressive language use; labeling questions; and positive feedback using the
Home-School Coding System (De Temple, 1993; Snow, 1991). Two independent
coders were trained to reliability with the developer of the coding system (J. De
Temple, personal communication, October 15, 1994). Each coder coded all the transcripts.
Step 5. Reliability for coding: The coders then compared each transcript and resolved
all disagreements. The final set of codes for each transcript is based on a 100% agreement between both coders.
87
APPENDIX B
DESCRIPTION OF MATERNAL TEACHING BEHAVIORS
Verbal stimulation measures the quality and amount of verbal guidance and cueing the
mother gave to the child. It also measures the variety and complexity of maternal vocabulary during puzzle solving (M = 1.88; SD = 0.76).
Example:
Minimal (1 point): Pointing to a puzzle piece, the mother says, Put it there.
Extremely verbal (3 points): Mother says, Are these pieces in backward? You need to convert
them.
Clarity of hints measures the degree to which the mother gave understandable hints in a
sensible manner. The mothers hints had to be simple, age appropriate, and structured
in a succinct manner so the child could follow easily (M = 1.78; SD = 0.75).
Example:
Minimal (1 point): Mother does not break down the task, just says, Fix it.
Extremely (3 points): Mother breaks down the task into small steps in the context of the
hints.
Flexibility in changing directions measures the degree to which the mother was able to
be flexible in her approach in aiding her child to solve the puzzle task. The mothers
were coded on their sensitivity to the childs ability to understand and their own ability
to adjust and change their assistance technique (M = 1.79; SD = 0.69).
Example:
Few instances (1 point): Mother does not adjust her problem-solving strategy to child level;
keeps giving the same direction, Put it there.
Extremely (3 points): Mother combines verbal hints with demonstration depending on childs
level of understanding, Try it this way then turns the piece and gives it to child and asks child
to place it in correct position.
Anticipating the childs needs includes the mothers ability to determine when the child
loses interest in the task, becomes frustrated, or needs assistance. The mother then
should have been able to redirect the child immediately and effectively in regenerating
interest in the task by turning the childs attention to a more profitable action (M =
2.25; SD = 0.64).
Example:
Virtually absent (1 point): Mother lets child work for a long time on nonproductive aspects
of the puzzle, like just looking at the puzzle pieces, without redirecting the child to more constructive aspects, like putting the pieces together.
Constantly (3 points): Mother allows child enough time to manipulate the pieces without
getting frustrated or disinterested.
Encouragement measures the degree to which the mother encourages the child throughout the task to participate and to be involved in the solution process. To receive points
on this scale the mother should verbally praise the child, make positive comments, and
give positive feedback (M = 1.97; SD = 0.70).
88
APPENDIX B
DESCRIPTION OF MATERNAL TEACHING BEHAVIORS (CONTINUED)
Example:
Virtually absent (1 point): Mother offers virtually no praise or encouragement.
Constantly (3 points): There are at least 5 or more encouraging statements such as You did
it! I know you can do it, go ahead.
Motivation measures the degree to which the mother positively motivates the child to
complete the task. This involves focusing the childs attention on the task in an interesting and enthusiastic manner and creating an active role for the child (M = 1.79; SD
= 0.60).
Example:
Virtually no enthusiasm (1 point): Mother focuses on external factors, such as [Data collector] wants you to do this puzzle.
Extremely (3 points): Mother sets the mood, interested and excited, Lets finish the puzzle
so we can see what it is!
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Reading Research Quarterly

Vol. 41, No. 1