[originaltext] (18) Teachers and parents normally call attention to the pict

(18) Teachers and parents normally call attention to the pictures when they read storybooks to preschool children. But a study published suggests that calling attention to the words and letters on the page may lead to better readers. The study compared children who read in this way in class with those who did not. (19)Children whose teachers most often discussed the print showed clearly higher skills in reading, spelling and understanding. These results were found one year and even two years later. Shayne Piasta, an assistant professor at Ohio State University, is an author of the study. (19)She says if you get children to pay attention to letters and words, it makes sense that they will do better at word recognition and spelling. But she says the research suggests that very few parents and teachers do this in a systematic way. (20)There are different ways that adults can talk to children about the print. They can point to a letter and discuss it, and even make the shape with a finger. They can discuss the meaning of the print or how the words tell the story. And they can talk about the organization of the print—for instance, showing how words are written left to right in English.
18. What do teachers and parents usually pay attention to when they are telling stories?
19. What is the benefit to kids whose teachers often discussed words and letters?
20. How can teachers and parents talk to kids about the print?