Child and maternal contributions to shared reading: Effects on language and literacy development Deborah F. Deckner ⁎ , Lauren B. Adamson, Roger Bakeman Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, United States Available online 18 January 2006 Abstract Fifty-five children and their mothers were studied longitudinally from 18 to 42 months to determine the effects of home literacy practices, children's interest in reading, and mothers' metalingual utterances during reading on children's expressive and receptive language development, letter knowledge, and knowledge of print concepts. At 27 months, children's interest and the rate of mothers' metalingual utterances during shared reading were assessed observationally, and mothers reported their home literacy practices. Children's language development was assessed at 30 and 42 months, and their letter knowledge and knowledge of print concepts were assessed at 42 months. Children's interest was strongly associated with the rate of mothers' metalingual utterances. Home literacy practices, children's interest, and the rate of mothers' metalingual utterances all predicted expressive language development. Home literacy practices predicted receptive language development, and children's interest predicted letter knowledge. The relative contributions of children and mothers to shared reading are discussed. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Shared reading; Language development; Emergent literacy; Children's interest 1. Introduction Shared book reading is a common event for many young children and their caregivers, and many parents as well as numerous professionals associate shared book reading with favorable child developmental outcomes. Interest in preschool literacy exposure in general, and shared book reading in particular, is understandable as it seemingly provides a rich context for language learning (Ninio & Bruner, 1978). Elements of adult speech generally thought to foster children's linguistic development–such as the frequent use of open-ended questions, the provision of familiar linguistic routines in which children can become progressively more active agents, and the elaboration of the child's current focus (Akhtar, Dunham, & Dunham, 1991; Snow & Goldfield, 1983; Tomasello & Farrar, 1986; Whitehurst et al., 1988)–occur at an accelerated rate during shared reading between young children and their caregivers (Hoff- Ginsberg, 1991; Jones & Adamson, 1987). For these reasons, children's preschool literacy exposure has been explored as a potential source of differences in early language development (Ninio, 1980), with numerous studies reporting positive associations between preschool literacy experience and later language and literacy development (Bus, van IJzendoorn, & Pellegrini, 1995; Scarborough & Dobrich, 1994). Applied Developmental Psychology 27 (2006) 31 – 41 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: ddeckner@gsu.edu (D.F. Deckner). 0193-3973/$ - see front matter © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2005.12.001