Influences on preschoolers' visual attention to print

描述(由申请者提供)：许多理论家目前推测，学龄前儿童在成人-儿童共享的故事书阅读环境中获得了新出现的识字知识的关键要素，特别是对书面语言的意识。应用研究人员已经表明，共享阅读环境特别适合进行干预，加速学龄前儿童在各种领域的新兴识字知识，其中一个突出的策略是成年人使用参考文献来印刷。这项拟议研究的目的是通过描述4岁儿童在成人-儿童共享故事书阅读过程中对印刷文字的视觉注意的性质及其影响，向这些领域的理论和实践提供信息。本研究将使用眼睛凝视分析来解决以下具体目标：(A)确定学龄前儿童在成人-儿童故事书阅读过程中对印刷的视觉注意程度，(B)比较成人语言图片线索和印刷线索对学龄前儿童印刷视觉注意的相对影响，以及(C)比较两种不同类型的印刷支架--语言印刷线索和非语言印刷线索--对学龄前儿童印刷视觉注意的相对影响。60名4岁的儿童将参与其中；受试者内部的设计将作为框架。每个孩子将参与四种不同的成人-儿童故事书阅读条件，在此过程中，将使用眼睛-凝视反应界面计算机辅助(ERICA)来分析眼睛凝视模式。这四个条件包括逐字阅读(成人逐字阅读故事书)、口头图片聚焦(成人嵌入关于图片的问题和评论)、言语印刷聚焦(成人嵌入关于印刷的问题和评论)和非语言印刷聚焦(成人指向印刷并跟踪印刷)。对于每种情况，Erica将被用来计算打印的视觉注视次数以及观看打印的时间。这两个因变量(注视印刷的次数、停留在印刷区的时间)将针对每个儿童的四个条件进行分析，以表征儿童在分享故事书阅读过程中对印刷的视觉关注程度，以及在这种早期识字背景下，各种成人支架策略(即关于图片和印刷的问题和评论、语言和非语言印刷线索)对儿童对印刷的视觉注意的相对影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Many theorists currently surmise that preschool children gain key elements of emergent literacy knowledge within the adult-child shared storybook reading context, specifically an awareness of written language. Applied researchers have showed that the shared reading context is particularly amenable to conducting interventions that accelerate preschoolers' emergent literacy knowledge across a variety of domains, with a salient strategy being the adults' use of references to print. The objective of the proposed study is to inform these areas of theory and practice by characterizing the nature of and influences upon 4-year-old children's visual attention to print during adult-child shared storybook reading. The study will use eye-gaze analysis to address the following specific aims: (a) To determine the extent to which preschool children visually attend to print during adult-child storybook reading, (b) To compare the relative influence of adult verbal picture cues versus print cues upon preschool children's visual attention to print, and (c) To compare the relative influence of two different types of print scaffolds, verbal print cues and nonverbal print cues, upon preschool children's visual attention to print. Sixty 4-year-old children will participate; a within-subjects design will serve as the framework. Each child will participate in four different conditions of adult-child storybook reading, during which eye-gaze patterns will be analyzed using the Eye-Gaze Response Interface Computer Aid (ERICA). The four conditions include verbatim (adult reads storybook verbatim), verbal picture focus (adult embeds questions and comments about pictures), verbal print focus (adult embeds questions and comments about print), and nonverbal print focus (adult points to print and tracks the print). For each condition, ERICA will be used to calculate the number of visual fixations on print as well as the time spent looking at print. These two dependent variables (number of print fixations, time spent in print zones) will be analyzed across the four conditions for each child to characterize the extent to which children visually attend to print during shared storybook reading, as well as the relative influence of various adult scaffolding strategies (i.e., questions and comments about pictures versus print, verbal versus nonverbal print cues) upon children's visual attention to print in this early literacy context.