Investigating the Effect of Families' Reading Books to Bilingual Children on the Children's Language Development

Abstract

Aims and objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effect of families' reading books to bilingual children on the children's Turkish-language development.Design/method/approach: The study adopted a quasi-experimental design based on a sample comprising 36 bilingual preschool children, 18 in each of the experimental and control groups. The Turkish Assessment Tool for Bilingual Children (TAT-BC) was used to measure the children's Turkish-language development. Before and after the experimental procedure, the scale was administered to the experimental and control groups as pre- and post-tests. Children in the experimental group were given three books weekly to be read by their families, and this practice continued for 10 weeks.Data and analysis: The data obtained from the research were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, which are nonparametric tests.Findings/conclusions: The results demonstrated that the Turkish language development levels of the children in the experimental group increased after the families' practice of reading books. While the experimental and control groups were equal in terms of Turkish language development level before the experimental procedure, the Turkish language development level of the children in the experimental group improved significantly after the implementation of family book reading when compared to the control group.Originality: There has been an increase in researches related to bilingualism and bilingual children. However, the emphasis is mostly on qualitative studies. Considering the lack of experimental studies on improving bilingual children's language development, this study is one of the few experimental studies focusing on bilingual children in T & uuml;rkiye.Significance/implications: This study will enable effective steps to be taken for children whose mother tongue is different from the language of education. Also, this study will help families raise awareness about the importance of reading books and of making regular reading to their bilingual children a routine.