On language, children and books / Sobre lenguaje, infancia y libros

Abstract

Understanding how children learn requires three levels of evidence: observations, correlations and experiments. Observations are necessary to allow one to describe patterns of behaviours, while correlational research is necessary to establish that the observed patterns are not due to chance and therefore suggests that they may also exist in the population. A critical integration of the accumulated evidence is necessary to establish testable models of how children learn. Then, interventions, using experimental paradigms, are necessary to assess whether the models established from the two previous steps actually account for child learning. Herein, I described the research that my colleagues and I conducted on reading books to young children — research that addressed the three levels of evidence described above. I also reviewed findings on how digital books can potentially be used to promote language and comprehension skills. Prior to doing so, however, I described the path that led me to study how children learn language from shared reading experiences. The conclusion provides avenues for future research.