An Exploratory Study of Literacy-Focused vs. Literacy Plus Social-Emotional-Focused Shared Book Reading on Young Learners’ Early Literacy and Affective Knowledge

Abstract

Early literacy and social competencies are critical skills for preschool-aged children. This exploratory study examined whether young low-income Black children enrolled in Head Start showed differences in early literacy and affective knowledge after participating in either a literacy-focused (LF) shared book reading (SBR) intervention or a literacy plus social-emotional learning (LF+SEL) SBR intervention. Participants included 54 children (M = 4.5 years) from urban Head Start classrooms who were assigned to the LF or LF+SEL group, with a control group (n = 21) included for post-only comparisons. Literacy outcomes were assessed using the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening – Pre-Kindergarten (PALS-PreK), and affective knowledge was assessed using the Affective Knowledge Test (AKT). One-way ANOVAs showed the LF+SEL group outperformed the control group at posttest on Alphabet Recognition and Rhyme Awareness when pre-intervention scores were not controlled. However, ANCOVA results indicated no significant differences between the LF and LF+SEL groups after controlling for children’s pre-test performance. Pre-intervention skills were the strongest predictor of posttest outcomes. No significant differences were found in post-only comparisons of the LF, LF+SEL, and control groups in affective knowledge scores. Power analysis indicated insufficient power to detect small effect size differences for the post-only ANOVA analyses, suggesting the study may have lacked sensitivity to identify meaningful group effects. Findings suggest SEL integration in SBR is potentially feasible and does not hinder literacy development. Future research with larger samples and longer interventions (beyond the 4-week duration in the current study) is needed to determine whether embedding SEL in SBR yields measurable gains in literacy and social-emotional development for low-income preschoolers.