<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Social perspective taking (SPT) and the coordination of subjective and alternative perspectives are paramount to social behavior. Scholars tend to agree that approaches to conceptualizing SPT relate to interpersonal understanding and to language skills. The aim of this study was to determine whether interrelations exist between children’s SPT and experience in reading because reading requires the reader to take various perspectives. Additionally, receptive vocabulary and reading fluency of 2,105 children were assessed and they completed a questionnaire at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of fifth grade. Results indicated that the students’ SPT was determined by gender and reading experience with books and newspapers. We conclude that this reading experience affects students’ SPT levels positively; that finding can contribute to the development of school-based activities to enhance SPT levels.</p></abstract>

Social perspective taking (SPT) and the coordination of subjective and alternative perspectives are paramount to social behavior. Scholars tend to agree that approaches to conceptualizing SPT relate to interpersonal understanding and to language skills. The aim of this study was to determine whether interrelations exist between children’s SPT and experience in reading because reading requires the reader to take various perspectives. Additionally, receptive vocabulary and reading fluency of 2,105 children were assessed and they completed a questionnaire at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of fifth grade. Results indicated that the students’ SPT was determined by gender and reading experience with books and newspapers. We conclude that this reading experience affects students’ SPT levels positively; that finding can contribute to the development of school-based activities to enhance SPT levels.

Interrelations Between Perspective Taking and Reading Experience: A Longitudinal View on Students in the Fifth Year of School

Psychology of Language and Communication

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Social perspective taking (SPT) and the coordination of subjective and alternative perspectives are paramount to social behavior. Scholars tend to agree that...

Interrelations Between Perspective Taking and Reading Experience: A Longitudinal View on Students in the Fifth Year of School

Published Online: Oct 31, 2018

Page range: 417 - 440

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/plc-2018-0019

Keywords
reading, embodied cognition, social representations, developmental perspectives

© 2018 Anett Wolgast et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Interrelations Between Perspective Taking and Reading Experience: A Longitudinal View on Students in the Fifth Year of School

Published Online: Oct 31, 2018

Page range: 417 - 440

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/plc-2018-0019

Keywordsreading, embodied cognition, social representations, developmental perspectives

© 2018 Anett Wolgast et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
reading, embodied cognition, social representations, developmental perspectives