The story so far - A systematic review of the dialogic reading literature - 2022

Q: What is dialogic reading and what role does it play in shared book reading?

Dialogic reading promotes children’s active participation in shared reading. Unlike traditional read-aloud styles where children passively listen, it positions the child as the storyteller and the adult as an active listener who facilitates and responds.

Q: How was the systematic review conducted and how was study quality assessed?

The review followed the PRISMA protocol. It identified 46 relevant studies through systematic searches of electronic databases and assessed overall methodological quality using MMAT.

Q: What effects does dialogic reading show for young children’s outcomes?

Findings indicate positive impacts on a broad range of language and literacy skills for children under 5. Evidence also suggests potential benefits for reading enjoyment and motivation, parental–child attachment, parental confidence, and stress.

Sep 14, 2026

Uploaded by Eliana

Dialogic reading (DR) is an evidence-based intervention designed to increase children’s active participation in shared book reading. This systematic review evaluates how DR affects literacy and non-literacy skills for children under 10, addressing the need to capture developments since the intervention’s introduction. Following PRISMA, database searching identified 46 relevant studies, with methodological quality appraised using MMAT. Results synthesize effectiveness by sample, population, country, setting, duration, language and literacy outcomes, and social-emotional or cognitive effects, guiding future research directions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Highlights

Implications for theory, policy or practice

Shared book reading and early literacy development

Journal of Research in Reading, ISSN 0141-0423 DOI:10.1111/1467-9817.12407 Volume 00, Issue 00, 2022, pp 1–16 The story so far: A systematic review of the dialogic reading literature Claire Pillinger Centre for Teachers and Teaching Research, UCL Institute of Education, London, UK Emma J. Vardy Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK Background: Dialogic reading (DR; Whitehurst et al., 1988) is an evidence-based intervention that promotes children’s active participation in shared reading (Towson, 2016; Urbani, 2020; WWC, 2007, 2010) . Since the development of DR, there has been a proliferation of studies evaluating the conditions and populations with which it is effective. However, to date, there has not been a systematic review of the literature focusing speciﬁcally on the impact of DR on the literacy and non-literacy skills of children under 10 years old. As DR research evolves, it is important that a review of the existing literature is undertaken to capture these advances and guide future research. Methods: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol, the aim of this review is to systematically explore, synthesise and critically evaluate the extant literature. A systematic search of electronic databasesidentiﬁed 46 relevant studies, and the overall methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the MMAT. Results: Findings are organised according to sample and population, country of origin and setting, programme duration, language and literacy outcomes, social-emotional and other cognitive outcomes, impact and effect sizes to provide overview and insight into where and with whom DR is most effective. Conclusions: The review ﬁndings suggest DR can positively impact a wide range of language and literacy skills for children under 5 years. There is some evidence that DR can have positive effects on enjoyment of reading, reading motivation, parental–child attachment, parental conﬁdence and stress. However, the extant research is subject to limitations, and more methodologically robust research is needed to enable thorough assessment of the conditions in which DR is most effective. Keywords: Dialogic reading, Early literacy, Shared reading, Family literacy, Literacy practices Highlights What is already known about this topic • Shared reading can have a positive impact on a wide range of language skills for young children. © 2022 UKLA. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA • DR is an easy-to-administer interactive shared book reading intervention for parents and educators. • DR can have positive effects on the language and literacy development of young children. What this paper adds • Previous literature reviews have been somewhat limited in scope, utilising a limited number of search engines, comprising a small number of studies and focusing solely on language outcomes. This is the ﬁrst comprehensive systematic review, focusing on the impact of DR on language and literacy outcomes, social-emotional and other cognitive outcomes for children under 10 years. • Provides a summary of the extant research on DR (based on the Whitehurst et al., 1988 model) . • Provides a quality appraisal of the extant DR literature. Implications for theory, policy or practice • DR can have positive effects on the language, literacy and social-emotional development of young children ( <5 years) • More methodologically robust research is needed to identify the practical and/or theoretical importance of the DR intervention (e.g. calculation of reporting of effect size) and the effects of DR on complex language skills. • DR could be considered a useful intervention for increasing parental engagement in shared book reading. It may be the case that DR’s more structured approach places fewer demands on parents who are less conﬁdent reading with

FAQs

What is dialogic reading and what role does it play in shared book reading?

Dialogic reading promotes children’s active participation in shared reading. Unlike traditional read-aloud styles where children passively listen, it positions the child as the storyteller and the adult as an active listener who facilitates and responds.

How was the systematic review conducted and how was study quality assessed?

The review followed the PRISMA protocol. It identified 46 relevant studies through systematic searches of electronic databases and assessed overall methodological quality using MMAT.

What effects does dialogic reading show for young children’s outcomes?

Findings indicate positive impacts on a broad range of language and literacy skills for children under 5. Evidence also suggests potential benefits for reading enjoyment and motivation, parental–child attachment, parental confidence, and stress.

Sep 14, 2026

Uploaded by Eliana

The story so far - A systematic review of the dialogic reading literature - 2022_Page 1

Open in WPS to view all 16 pages