Abstract

This paper reviews research on adult-child interaction during picture-book reading in relation to language development. In the first part, two main directions of research focused, respectively, on the adult role and adult-child mutual influence in the interaction during joint reading are examined to highlight basic theoretical assumptions, main results, and open issues. In the second part, recent studies on joint reading with children with language delays or impairments are presented to document a new attention on the relationship between adult's interaction style and child's characteristics and language skills. On the basis of recent research results, the necessity for abandoning the idea of one best style of reading to young children and, rather, investigating the effects of different adult book-reading styles on young children's individual skill levels in different areas of language development is suggested.