Developing the Emergent Literacy Skills of English Language Learners Through Dialogic Reading: A Systematic Review

The development of emergent literacy skills at an early age sets learners on a positive trajectory for later literacy skills and overall academic success. Although the development of emergent literacy skills is a major focus of preschool programmes internationally, English language learners (ELLs) often display difficulties with emergent literacy skills upon entry to primary school, in comparison to their peers whose first language is English. Consequently, the identification of effective emergent literacy interventions for ELL is of paramount importance. To date, however, a comprehensive review of the effectiveness of dialogic reading interventions for developing the emergent literacy skills of ELLs has not been conducted. Following PRISMA procedures, a systematic review was undertaken and 6 studies were found to meet the inclusion criteria. Gough’s (2007) Weight of Evidence framework was used to evaluate the methodological quality, methodological relevance and relevance of the evidence to the research question presented. Findings demonstrated that dialogic reading interventions are effective for developing the emergent oral language skills of ELLs but may not be effective for developing the emergent reading or writing skills of these learners. The implications of the findings for practice and research are discussed.