Book Read-alouds Research Articles

Engaging Pre-Service Teachers in Interactive Social Justice-Themed Read-Alouds

This qualitative case study explored how pre-service teachers responded to social justice-themed picture book read-alouds in an undergraduate literacy course. Data were collected from personal observations, semi-structured focus group interviews, and student work, and were analyzed using inductive analysis. Findings indicate how reading multicultural literature aloud plays an important role in post-secondary students’ content understanding and preparation for a career in teaching. This case study may inspire teacher educators to incorporate multicultural read-alouds into higher education coursework.

Bildeboken "Fy katte!" – en utforskningsarena for emosjonell literacy? Litterære samtaler på førstetrinn

Artikkelen ser nærmere på hvordan høytlesing og felles utforskning av en bildebok på førstetrinn kan bidra til elevenes emosjonelle literacy. Artikkelforfatterne har observert og analysert to høytlesingsøkter med bildeboken Fy Katte! av Viermyr og Granhaug. Boken tematiserer følelser og relasjoner, valg og verdier, og har et komplekst samspill mellom tekst og bilder som inviterer til fortolkning. Vi undersøker elevenes responser og hvordan lærer leder den litterære samtalen. Funnene ses i lys av teori om hvordan bildebøker i særlig grad kan bidra til emosjonell literacy, samt teori om klassesamtalen generelt og den litterære samtalen spesielt. Vi finner at bildeboken kan være en god utforskningsarena for både grunnleggende og sosiale følelser, men at lærers rolle som samtaleleder er avgjørende.

Upprepningar och glada utrop – pedagogers och barns agenda under tre bokstunder i språkbad

Denna artikel undersöker pedagogers och barns agenda under tre bokstunder med högläsning av bilderböcker i en språkbads-förskolegrupp. Samtliga barn har en finskspråkig bakgrund och lär sig svenska i förskolan. Analyser av de videofilmade bokstunderna har gjorts med en sociokulturell och diskursanalytisk infallsvinkel. Resultaten visar att pedagogerna fokuserar på barnens språkförståelse och språkutveckling, medan barnen på eget initiativ och genom estetiska förhållningssätt riktar sin uppmärksamhet mot den egna upplevelsen av bokens innehåll. Barnens handlingar visar också att det är centralt för dem att uppfylla vissa förväntningar på hur bokstunder ska gå till. De bidrar därmed till att upprätthålla bokstunden på ett bestämt sätt. Pedagogernas koncentration på språk kan ses som naturlig eftersom språkstödjande handlingar främjar barnens förståelse av boken. Däremot får barnen knapphändigt stöd för sin läslust och få utmaningar när det gäller att utgående från sina egna tankar, föreställningar eller tolkningar förhålla sig till bokens innehåll.

Trends

Trends

“The Mouse Looks Like a Boy”: Young Children’s Talk About Gender Across Human and Nonhuman Characters in Picture Books

Recent study on gender representation in children’s literature has focused on the representations themselves, while there is less research regarding how children talk about these depictions in texts. Our work, a qualitative study of how kindergarten-aged children discuss gender during picture book read-alouds, examined how children drew on the social binary of boy/girl as they made sense of the human and non-human characters’ identities. The study looked at how children responded to questions about gender across both ambiguously-gendered characters and texts where gender norms were deliberately questioned. The findings expressed in this paper provide insight into how students’ previous experiences, along with classroom norms and text choice, influence student response. Specifically, we found that children drew on similar social norms and gendered expectations across all character types, demonstrating the importance of these societal categories on their comprehension of texts and on their sense-making of their lives and classrooms. The paper ends with implications for early childhood educators in allowing for more diverse representations when selecting texts and deliberate listening to student conversations to recognize how young learners perceive gender and identity.

“You Can’t be Rich Only Doing Good Deeds”: Bilingual Kindergarteners’ Discussions About Poverty and Wealth

This interdisciplinary study explores the intersection of economic equality, bilingual discussion, and early literacy instruction by examining Korean kindergarteners’ discussions about poverty and wealth during read-alouds. As part of a larger qualitative study, the current study was conducted in a kindergarten classroom at the Korean Language School, in the midwest of the United States. The study focused on Korean–English bilingual children’s read-alouds of picture books that dealt with poverty and wealth issues. The data were collected across four months through multiple sources, including audio/video recordings, open-ended interviews, children’s artifacts, and observational field notes. The findings suggest that bilingual discussions about children’s books on poverty and human equality in early-childhood classrooms are a medium to help children develop critical perspectives about poverty, wealth, and economic equality from an early age.

The (Untold) Drama of the Turning Page: The Role of Page Breaks in Understanding Picture Books

While scholars have recognized the importance of page breaks in both the construction and comprehension of narrative within picture books, there has previously been limited research that focused directly on how children discuss and make sense of these spaces in the text. Yet, because of their nature as dramatic gaps in the narrative, page breaks offer unique and exciting opportunities to understand how children make meaning of picture books (Sipe in Storytime: young children’s literary understanding in the classroom, Teachers College Press, New York, 2008). This study explores how explicitly inviting young children to discuss page breaks offers insights into how these spaces function within the children’s readings. Drawing on transcribed audio-recordings of a series of read-aloud sessions held with a group of children ages five to eight, the analysis focused on coding themes within the children’s talk around page breaks in picture books. Specifically, the children referenced the role of page breaks as aesthetic choices; the utilization of page breaks to comprehend word/picture relationships; and the negotiation of these gaps in the story as they worked construct a cohesive understanding of the narrative. Overall, the data represents the rich possibilities for educators to include explicit talk around page breaks during picture book read-alouds as a pathway toward better understanding children’s sense-making of these texts.

How science texts and hands-on explorations facilitate meaning making: Learning from Latina/o third graders

In this study, we examined opportunities for reasoning and meaning making that read-alouds of children's literature science information books and related hands-on explorations offered to young Latina/o students in an urban public school. Using a qualitative, interpretative framework, we analyzed classroom discourse and children's writing and drawing in a 3rd grade class during five instructional days that focused on the same science topic (earthworms and their features, behaviors, habitat, etc.) and included read-aloud sessions of print and digital books on earthworms along with observations and experiments with real earthworms. We identified ways in which dialogically shared read-alouds of children's literature science books on earthworms became tools for children's meaning making that involved a variety of types of reasoning (causal, teleological, comparative, analogical) in the form of questions, statements, or mini-stories, and how the teacher mediated the children's engagement in reasoning. We also identified unique opportunities that hands-on explorations offered children to extend their ideas about earthworms, sprinkle their reasoning with playfulness, imbue affect in their meaning making, exhibit sensitivity to suffering and personal connections, and consider ethical treatment of animals. The study findings highlight the synergistic relationship between informational texts and hands-on explorations and point to the significance and usefulness of incorporating both in science instruction so that we maximize the richness of children's learning experiences by offering them multiple access points and pathways via the assets they bring to the classroom and the ones they co-construct with their teacher and peers. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 51: 1246–1274, 2014.

Strengthening vocabulary for literacy: an analysis of the use of explicit instruction techniques to improve word learning from story book read-alouds

Vocabulary knowledge is an important predictor of literacy and broader academic outcomes, and children's literature is a rich source of sophisticated vocabulary. This study investigated the effect of providing instruction in word meanings as an adjunct to story-book read-aloud sessions in Grade One classrooms. The main intervention programme ran for 18 weeks over three terms in low socio-economic status (SES) schools. Two intervention models incorporating explicit instruction components were compared with existing classroom practice. Teaching a greater number of word meanings more briefly was contrasted with teaching fewer words in greater depth. Pre- and post-instruction vocabulary knowledge was assessed using curriculum-based assessments. Both explicit approaches were more effective in improving word learning than a traditional constructivist approach. Increased intensity of instruction resulted in better learning for individual words. There was no discernible carryover to scores on standardised vocabulary tests.

It's All Fun and Games in <i>Tiny's Diner</i>

This article describes the challenges of creating educational programs for guided groups that teach about healthy eating, strengthen school readiness skills, include picture book read-alouds, and keep young children engaged, while in exhibit spaces that were meant for free play.

It's All Fun and Games in Tiny's Diner

This article describes the challenges of creating educational programs for guided groups that teach about healthy eating, strengthen school readiness skills, include picture book read-alouds, and keep young children engaged, while in exhibit spaces that were meant for free play.

Visual Representations in Second Graders' Information Book Compositions

AbstractThis paper describes the visuals second grade students included in their own information book compositions during a science unit on weather during which multimodal science trade books on the topic of weather were read aloud. First, the multimodal nature of the information books used in the unit are described. Second, the teacher's talk about visual representations during read alouds of books on weather is presented. And third, the children's own information books about weather topics are examined for inclusion of labeled pictorial illustrations with accompanying captions and graphical representations. These analyses reveal that 1) information book authors vary in their use of visual information, 2) some graphics may be more salient for children, and 3) children's use of pictorial illustrations and graphical representations in their own compositions seems to be impacted by both teacher attention to particular types of visual representations and immersion in information book graphics.

Resistance, Engagement, and Understanding: A Profile of a Struggling Emergent Reader Responding to Read-Alouds in a Kindergarten Classroom

Although an abundance of research exists regarding reading achievement gaps with minority students, and it is widely accepted that experiences in the early grades can be foundational to future success, there is a need for more research on what constitutes effective literacy practices for struggling African American emergent readers. The purpose of this article is to describe the complexity of an African American kindergarten student's responses to interactive read-alouds. Drawing on data from a 9-month research project in an urban public kindergarten classroom, this case study describes how an emergent reader, who was identified by his teacher as struggling with both literacy development and motivation, was highly engaged during the daily interactive read-alouds. The researcher used qualitative research methods, and data analysis occurred in 3 phases: (a) descriptive analysis of the classroom context, (b) analysis of emergent themes, and (c) categorical analysis of comprehension levels. Overall, the findings show that classroom read-alouds of children's picture books are a positive aspect of reading instruction because the discussion that occurs can influence and affect children's development of comprehension strategies as well as their self-perceptions as readers.

A comparison of preschool teachers’ talk during storybook and information book read-alouds

Storybooks are the most frequently chosen genre for read alouds in preschool classrooms. However, growing evidence suggests that genre may influence the quantity and quality of talk produced outside of the text. The current study compared twenty preschool teachers’ extratextual talk across read-aloud sessions with a storybook and an information book. Results revealed that teachers used significantly greater numbers of extratextual utterances during the information book read-aloud compared to the storybook read-aloud after accounting for differences in duration. Teachers’ extratextual utterances also were coded for content, including behavior management, feedback, print and book conventions, and four levels of cognitive demand (with Levels 1 and 2 being concrete and Levels 3 and 4 being cognitively demanding). Rates did not differ across genre in the categories of behavior management, feedback, print, and Level 4; however, rates did differ significantly in the content categories of Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 on the continuum of cognitive demand, with the rates always being significantly higher in the information book read-aloud compared to the storybook. Teachers also reported less favorable perceptions toward reading information books aloud compared to reading storybooks aloud. This may be attributable to differences in how teachers read information books compared to storybooks. Teachers’ level of education and the age of the children in the classroom in some cases were related to the teachers’ talk during the read aloud.

Discourse and Reflection Competencies Developed by Student Teachers through Repeated Children’s Book Read Alouds: A Multiple Case Study

This paper describes the development of discourse and reflection competencies by three early-age student teachers through repeated children’s book reading (RCBR) in small, heterogeneous groups. The students were enrolled in a four-track, early-education preparation program at Levinsky College of Education in Israel. Research based on a multiple-case-study methodology, focused on an analysis of the students’ interpretation of and reflections on the transcripts of the discourse throughout the three years of their fieldwork. Findings indicate that, over the three years, all three students relaxed their control of the discourse, allowing for more continuous literary discourse among the children. Differences in the developmental trajectories of the three students were manifested in the extent to which literary understanding and distinctive interpretations by the children were emphasized. Over the three years, all three students also developed a genuine concern for the children’s well-being and participation in the group. Analysis of the students’ protocols yielded a tentative formulation of milestones in the development of discourse and reflection competencies through teaching preparation studies.

Global Perspectives for Young Readers Easy Readers and Picture Book Read-Alouds from around the World

Global Perspectives for Young Readers Easy Readers and Picture Book Read-Alouds from around the World

The Contexts of Comprehension: The Information Book Read Aloud, Comprehension Acquisition, and Comprehension Instruction in a First-Grade Classroom

In this article we embed a case study of 1 teacher and her first graders' interactions around information book read alouds within a discussion of the research on reading comprehension instruction and language acquisition. The case study revealed that the comprehension strategies the teacher modeled within the context of the read alouds reflected the same categories as those suggested by more systematic but decontextualized research. We suggest that there may be a developmentally appropriate time to begin formal comprehension instruction and that prior to that an interactive use of informational texts may support a stage to be thought of as comprehension acquisition, which would foster conceptual development, comprehension strategy formation, and text structure familiarity.

The Role of Knowledge in Early Literacy

Book reviewed in this article:Beating the Odds in Teaching All Children to Read. By Barbara Taylor, P. David Pearson, Kathleen Clark, and Sharon Walpole. September 30, 1999.The Contexts of Comprehension: Information Book Read Alouds and Comprehension Acquisition. By Laura Smolkin and Carol Donovan. June 30, 2000.The Interplay of Firsthand and Text‐Based Investigations in Science Education. By Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar and Shirley Magnusson. March 31, 2000.The Scarcity of Informational Text in First Grade. By Nell Duke. August 31, 1999.

Intertextual Connections in Read-Alouds of Information Books

Intertextual Connections in Read-Alouds of Information Books

Sharing authority: Student initiations during teacher-led read-alouds of information books

This study focuses on students' initiations during teacher-led read-alouds of information books in a U.S. urban first grade classroom. The teacher's use of interactive read-alouds challenges deficit constructions of poor, non-mainstream children and offers them multiple opportunities to direct the work and the talk of the classroom. By seeing the range of student initiations over the course of a school year, this study offers evidence of the ways these children shared authority with the teacher and thus were able to speak and act as experts. Providing students with multiple opportunities to speak and act as experts is essential if children are to be encouraged to become producers, not just consumers of knowledge. Information books and interactive read-alouds encourage such expert talk and action from students in classrooms.