Young Children's Limited and Narrow Exposure to Informational Text

Abstract

Despite arguments for more fully including informational text in early childhood classrooms, research suggests that young children's exposure to the genre is quite limited. This article focuses on the informational books that children do encounter, specifically through read-alouds, and describes the narrow focus of those books. Informational read-alouds are overwhelmingly on topics of life science. The authors advocate for both increasing and broadening the informational books read aloud to young children and provide recommendations for ensuring productive read-aloud experiences.