READING TO PRESCHOOLERS EXPOSED - IS THE EMPEROR REALLY NAKED

Although it is clear that a significant amount of well-designed resear ch is needed before an understanding of how and how much reading to pr eschoolers can affect literacy is achieved, this paper argues that the re is reason to be more optimistic concerning the effects of reading t o preschoolers than suggested by Scarborough and Dobrich's (this volum e) review. First, methodological problems in many of the studies indic ate that they should be interpreted with caution. Effects are likely t o be underestimated by equally weighting good and poor studies. Second , extant studies indicate that there are direct and indirect links bet ween reading to preschoolers and reading achievement. Simultaneous con sideration of these different paths yields larger estimates of the eff ect. Third, even initially small effects of reading to preschoolers ar e likely to have larger long-term consequences on children's reading a bilities. Issues concerning a focus on alternative models are also dis cussed. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.