Results and Findings

We are delighted to share some of the key outcomes from our Carer-child Bilingual Shared Reading Project.

Child Assessment Outcomes

At the beginning of the study, children in the intervention and control conditions showed similar language abilities. After the 12-week bilingual shared reading programme, children who took part in the intervention demonstrated greater improvements than those in the control group on several vocabulary outcomes.

The strongest improvements were observed for vocabulary encountered in the bilingual storybooks. Children who participated in the intervention made significantly greater gains than those in the control group in storybook-specific expressive vocabulary in both Chinese and English. Stronger gains in broader Chinese expressive vocabulary knowledge beyond the storybook content were also observed among children in the intervention group compared with those in the control group.

Overall, these findings suggest that participating in the bilingual dialogic reading programme helped children make greater progress in expressive vocabulary development than children who did not receive the programme. The largest improvements were observed for vocabulary that children encountered during the shared reading sessions, with evidence that gains in Chinese expressive vocabulary also extended beyond the storybooks.

Parent Feedback

All parents in the intervention group completed a feedback questionnaire and reported positive experiences of participating in the programme.

100% of parents said that the programme encouraged more frequent and meaningful shared reading at home and increased their confidence in supporting their children's bilingual development.
100% believed that the programme benefited their children's Chinese vocabulary and/or expressive language skills.
95.8% felt it also supported their children's English vocabulary and/or storytelling skills development.
91.7% said they planned to continue using dialogic reading strategies when reading other books with their children.
83.3% noticed improvements in their children's interest in reading, vocabulary use, and engagement in conversations about books.

Parents who took part in the focus group also described several benefits of the programme. They valued using both Chinese and English during shared reading, believing that drawing on both languages supported richer communication and strengthened parent-child interactions. Families also reported that reading together became a more enjoyable shared activity at home. Some parents discussed challenges, including encouraging children to respond in their weaker language, balancing the programme with school reading activities, and maintaining children's attention when pausing to ask questions during the story. These experiences provide useful guidance for improving future bilingual shared reading programmes.