Dialogic Reading before Age Two: Developmental Trajectories and Links to Language Skills

This longitudinal study investigated the developmental trajectory of parental dialogic reading (DR) strategies—prompt, evaluate, expand, repeat—before children’s second birthday, and their predictive value for later language outcomes using standardized language assessments. Sixty-six parent-child dyads were followed longitudinally and observed during shared reading at home when children were 6, 12, 18, and 24 months old. A clear developmental progression in DR practices was identified, with distinct patterns for each practice and considerable variability across parents. Prompt appeared as early as 6 months and increased steadily over time, evaluate emerged notably by 12 months, while expand and repeat became prominent from 18 months onward. In addition, repeat at both 12 and 18 months significantly predicted language outcomes measured six months later. Evaluate at 18 months robustly predicted language outcomes at 24 and 36 months. Expand at 18 and 24 months also predicted language skills measured six months later. These findings highlight the feasibility and variability of early DR practices, their role in supporting language development before age two and the importance of assessing baseline DR strategies when designing interventions.