It is widely recognized that there is a relationship between vocabulary development
and children's reading ability. This article will focus on the strategies
employed by 24 adults (12 mothers and 12 qualified preschool teachers) when
introducing new and unusual vocabulary to four-year-old children during shared
reading. The mothers differed in terms of educational achievement; half the mothers
had left school by the age of 16, and half the mothers were tertiary educated. All
the adult–child dyads read the same two picture books (one narrative and
one informational) and the surrounding talk was analysed to determine what kinds of
supportive strategies were used by the adults to introduce and explain unfamiliar
vocabulary items. There were differences between the two groups of mothers in terms
of the frequency and manner in which technical vocabulary was introduced and
defined. The preschool teachers differed from both types of mothers. The
implications of these findings for young children's emergent literacy are discussed.
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