Dialogic Reading Research Articles

“Let’s Read Together”: A Parent-Focused Intervention on Dialogic Book Reading to Improve Early Language and Literacy Skills in Preschool Children

Many children are at risk for reading difficulties because of inadequate emergent literacy skills. It is widely accepted that development of emergent literacy skills is strictly related to children’s early literacy experiences at home and school. Dialogic reading is an evidence-based intervention to promote the language skills of preschool children. This study examined the feasibility and efficacy of a parent-focused dialogic book reading intervention that aimed to foster the early language and literacy skills of pre-school children. A sample of 40 Italian preschoolers (Mage = 62.9 months, SD = 6.3) and their parents were divided into three groups: treatment group (n = 12); information group (n = 12) and control group (n = 16). The efficacy of the intervention for oral language skills was examined by analyzing the improvements from pre- to post-intervention in children’s oral language outcomes, through ad hoc and standardized tasks; specifically, by measuring proximal and distal abilities. Additionally, we analyzed the intervention effects on parent–child interaction and dialogic behaviors during shared book reading. Results suggest that a relatively brief intervention (6 weeks) using dialogic book reading strategies can lead to sustained improvements in early language and literacy skills in preschoolers (both proximal and distal) and in parent dialogic behaviors during shared book reading.

The story so far: A systematic review of the dialogic reading literature

BackgroundDialogic reading (DR; Whitehurst et al., 1988) is an evidence‐based intervention that promotes children's active participation in shared reading (Towson, 2016; Urbani, 2020; WWC, 2007, 2010). Since the development of DR, there has been a proliferation of studies evaluating the conditions and populations with which it is effective. However, to date, there has not been a systematic review of the literature focusing specifically on the impact of DR on the literacy and non‐literacy skills of children under 10 years old. As DR research evolves, it is important that a review of the existing literature is undertaken to capture these advances and guide future research.MethodsFollowing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses protocol, the aim of this review is to systematically explore, synthesise and critically evaluate the extant literature. A systematic search of electronic databases identified 46 relevant studies, and the overall methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the MMAT.ResultsFindings are organised according to sample and population, country of origin and setting, programme duration, language and literacy outcomes, social‐emotional and other cognitive outcomes, impact and effect sizes to provide overview and insight into where and with whom DR is most effective.ConclusionsThe review findings suggest DR can positively impact a wide range of language and literacy skills for children under 5 years. There is some evidence that DR can have positive effects on enjoyment of reading, reading motivation, parental–child attachment, parental confidence and stress. However, the extant research is subject to limitations, and more methodologically robust research is needed to enable thorough assessment of the conditions in which DR is most effective.

Reading Portfolio and Video-mediated Reflection Tasks: University Studentsʼ Engagement in Dialogic Reading

Reading Portfolio and Video-mediated Reflection Tasks: University Studentsʼ Engagement in Dialogic Reading

Reading the Old Norse–Icelandic “Maríu saga” in Its Manuscript Contexts

Reading the Old Norse–Icelandic “Maríu saga” in Its Manuscript Contexts

The Jewish Anthological Imagination in the Holocaust, 1940−1945

In this paper the author analyzes five anthologies published in Yiddish, Hebrew and English. They represent individual and collective Jewish responses to the Holocaust both inside and outside the occupied war zone. When we read synoptically, each of them can be perceived as different national, transnational or communal Jewish response to the catastrophe. When we read dialogically, however, each anthology betrays a dissonant or discordant voice, and it is precisely the anomalous utterance that calls out the Holocaust’s screaming contradictions. By “listening anthologically,” combining a synoptic and dialogical reading, the Jewish anthological imagination in wartime becomes audible in all its tragic complexity

Onto/Epistemic Violence and Dialogicality in Translanguaging Practices Across Multilingual Mathematics Classrooms

Background: The focus on translanguaging practices in multilingual classrooms can be seen, by and large, as responding to risks of violence entailed in diverse contexts of language use, including the teaching and learning of mathematics. However, the practice of translanguaging alone cannot counteract the hegemonic authority of our relation to language curricula being present through interactions among teachers, students, and researchers, as well as material resources. Purpose: Drawing on Bakhtin’s philosophy of language, we discuss dialogicality as a critical and democratic organizing principle for the pervasive polyphony that characterizes every utterance constituting heteroglossia. Dialogicality reconstitutes our relation to language through the “other” and the need to see any utterance as a nonteleological process among subjects and objects. As such, the aim is to explore how acts of dialogicality may address the potential risks of onto/epistemic violence in translanguaging practices. Focusing on either emergent or orchestrated translanguaging in three European states: Greece, Catalonia and Sweden, we discuss how dialogicality allows for alternative accounts of language use in complex classroom events. Method: Methodologically, we start by encountering the sociopolitical context of monolingual and monologic curricula in Europe, where the three cases we theorize take place, along with our considerations for dialogicality in the realm of translanguaging. Our theorizing-in-practice unfolds a double effort in reading. First, what can we read today as risks of onto/epistemic violence in each of these cases? And second, what is the potential of dialogic translanguaging across the cases and within the boundaries of state monolingual policy and monologic discursive culture of school mathematics? Findings: The present article contributes by discussing dialogicality as a relational onto/epistemology toward addressing translanguaging practices. Concerning the first question, our theorizing-in-practice shares evidence of the inevitable presence of onto/epistemic violence in every utterance. The limited scope of a crude mathematisation process through language appears continuously in mathematics classrooms, serving to place either the object or the subject into fixed narratives. Regarding the second question, our dialogical reading of translanguaging denotes the importance of the importance of minor responding(s) to such moments of violent risk. We understand them as “cracks” in the authoritative status of monolingual and monologic mathematics curricula; we argue that such minor, yet crucial, cracks are of great significance for creating acts of dialogicality from “below,” disrupting the hegemonic authority of an assumed neutral mathematical language. Conclusions/Recommendations: The risk of onto/epistemic violence is inevitable in any discursive and embodied encounter in multilingual mathematics classrooms, including the translanguaging practices. The study suggests that acts of dialogicality become minor responses to violence in ways that both counteract oppressive monologic discourse and open toward a relational onto/epistemology with mathematics, children, teachers, material resources, and researchers. Remembering how Bakhtin insisted that “language is never unitary” and “dialogue” is not a panacea, we emphasize the need for a continuous focus on creating acts of dialogicality with language and discourse.

Children's discussions about texts: Integrating and evaluating practices

This paper examines how primary school students discuss deeper comprehension and evaluation of text, while involved in dialogic reading in the context of inquiry learning. It takes a conversation analytic perspective on reading for understanding and critical reading. Analysis of the conversational details of peer talk, revealed how students collaboratively construct deeper meaning of text and take a more critical stance toward the text by means of integrating and evaluating actions. We found that how students understand and interpret the text, is reflected in different types of integrating practices they use: comparing text components with previous knowledge, giving additional information, applying information from the text to the present interactional situation. Evaluating practices, on the other hand, are also based on integrating actions, but they display an explicit critical stance to the text as well

Effectiveness of a Multicomponent Parenting Intervention for Promoting Social-Emotional School Readiness Among Children From Low-Income Families in Hong Kong

Most parenting programs target parents of children with severe behavioral problems. There is limited evidence on the effectiveness of universal parenting programs, especially for families with low income. To evaluate the effectiveness of the KeySteps@JC Parent-Child Interaction Program for low-income families in Hong Kong. A parallel, unblinded, cluster, randomized clinical trial was conducted from September 2018 to June 2019. Eight participating preschools in Hong Kong were randomly assigned (1:1) using an online randomization plan generator into intervention (immediate) and waiting list control (delayed) groups. Intervention participants included the parents of children in kindergarten grade 1. The results were processed by an intention-to-treat analysis. KeySteps@JC Parent-Child Interaction program. The primary outcome was child behavioral problems, which were assessed using the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire. Secondary outcomes were parental emotion coaching, involvement in child reading and play, and parent stress levels, which were assessed using Chinese-validated versions of the Parent Reading Belief Inventory, the Chinese Parent-Child Interaction Scale, the Emotion-Related Parenting Styles, and the Parental Stress Scale questionnaires. Parents in the intervention group participated in a training program consisting of 20 weekly 1.5-hour sessions on child behavior management, emotion coaching, dialogic reading, and interactive play. The primary hypothesis was that child behavior problems would be reduced after the intervention. The main analysis was a mixed-method regression with group status as the independent variable. A total of 267 parents (mean age, intervention group: 33.8 years; 95% CI, 32.9-34.7 years; waiting list group: 35.7 years; 95% CI, 34.5-36.9 years) participated in the program. The intervention group included 153 participants (57.3%), and the waiting list group included 114 participants (42.7%). Among the target children (mean age, intervention group: 3.5 years; 95% CI, 3.4-3.5 years; waiting list group: 3.4 years; 95% CI, 3.4-3.5 years), there were 88 boys (57.5%) in the intervention group and 59 boys (51.8%) in the waiting list group. At postintervention, the intervention group reported a statistically significant improvement in children's behavior (Cohen d, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.04-0.53); parents' use of emotion-coaching strategies, including feelings of uncertainty or ineffectiveness in emotion socialization (Cohen d, 0.26; 95% CI, 0.01-0.50) and parental rejection of negative emotion (Cohen d, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.08-0.57); and involvement in child reading (Cohen d, 0.17; 95% CI, -0.07 to 0.41). The results of this randomized clinical trial provide promising evidence on the effectiveness of a multicomponent parenting intervention in preparing children from low-income families to be more socially and emotionally ready for school. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03615937.

Reduced mother-child brain-to-brain synchrony during joint storytelling interaction interrupted by a media usage

ABSTRACT Parent–child synchrony is related to the quality of parent and child interactions and child development. One very emotionally and cognitively beneficial interaction in early childhood is Dialogic Reading (DR). Screen exposure was previously related to decreased parent-child interaction. Using a hyperscanning Electroencephalogram (EEG) method, the current study examined the neurobiological correlates for mother–child DR vs. mobile phone-interrupted DR in twenty-four white toddlers (24–42 months old, 8 girls) and their mothers. The DR-interrupted condition was related to decreased mother-child neural synchrony between the mother’s language-related brain regions (left hemisphere) and the child’s comprehension-related regions (right hemisphere) compared to the uninterrupted DR. This is the first neural evidence of the negative effect of parental smartphone use on parent-child interaction quality.

Translating Enhanced Conversational Recast to a Telepractice Setting.

This investigation adapted a well-studied language treatment method, Enhanced Conversational Recast, paired with auditory bombardment to a teletherapy format. The study used a single case series approach (n = 7) to determine the feasibility of teletherapy with children ages 5 and 6 years of age. Treatment targeted grammatical errors in the context of dialogic reading and craft activities. Clinicians administered 24 doses in the form of focused conversational recasting, followed by 12 doses consisting of simple sentences containing the grammatical forms targeted for remediation. Children were treated for up to 26 sessions, with four children treated on consecutive weekdays and three treated twice a week. Treatment progress was operationalized as generalization of target grammatical forms to untreated linguistic contexts, as well as spontaneous use of the treated form. To control for nontreatment effects, generalization of an untreated form was also tracked throughout the treatment period. Six of the seven children showed clinically meaningful gains in the use of the grammatical forms targeted for treatment within the treatment period. This was true for children enrolled in both treatment schedules. Learning for treated forms was retained after treatment was discontinued. In comparison, no change was seen for untreated forms for six of the seven children. The results suggest that this treatment method is feasible in a telepractice format, even with young children. The range of individual results is generally comparable to previous face-to-face versions of this treatment.

Practices for comprehension strategy instruction: Helping kindergarteners improve their listening comprehension

Helping young children improve their listening comprehension throughout the preschool years is significant for their literacy and academic achievement in the subsequent school years. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the impact of a comprehesnion strategy intervention program on kindergarteners’ listening comprehension skills improvement. The sample consisted of 14 children aged 4 to 6 years enrolled in a classroom of a public kindergarten school located in a rural area of Crete. The children participated in appropriate practices to develop strategies which are significant for listening comprehension. For that purpose, the classroom teacher was trained to: (a) implement dialogic reading with an emphasis in applying direct instruction techniques which foster vocabulary learning and text comprehension and (b) conduct post reading activities which aimed at helping young children improve their questioning skills and retelling abilities as well as their knowledge of the story structure elements. Children’s parents were also trained to read the selected stories by using appropriate materials to guide children in the text comprehension process. Story reading sessions were recorded, transcribed and analyzed through content analysis to describe any possible development in their comprehenasion skills. The results provide indications about children’s response to the implemented program regarding as well as the difficulties they faced in deriving text meaning and improving the targeted comprehension skills.

THE USE OF DIALOGIC READING IN READING ACTIVITY BY IMPLEMENTING CHARACTER BUILDING USING LOCAL BASED LITERATURE

Reading is considered as one of the most important skill in learning foreign language since it is used in all language skills. However, teaching reading is quite challenging. In Permata group, young learners seem not motivated in reading activity. Pre observation showed that learners were bored during the shared reading activity. Moreover there were no interaction during the activity. Therefore, it takes teacher’s creativity and innovation to teach reading. This situation led the teacher to a new way of teaching reading, the teacher implemented a new approach in teaching reading by using dialogic reading. Moreover, the literature used by the teacher was a local based short story with the theme “Save Mahakam”. This study is a qualitative study in which the data was collected by observation and questionnaire. The study found that the dialogic reading and the short story did not only make the reading activity more interesting but they also helped the teachers to shape young learners’ characters. It found that there were some characters developed through the process of reading activity, such as 1) young learners have courage to speak, 2) young learners are friendly and sociable, 3) young learners are responsible with the environment, 4) young learners love reading, 5) young learners work in a team, 6) young learners think critically.

The development and psychometric properties of a shared book reading observational tool: The Emergent Literacy and Language Early Childhood Checklist for Teachers (ELLECCT)

Shared book reading in preschool settings plays an influential role in supporting children’s oral language and emergent literacy skills. Early childhood teachers can provide high-quality shared book reading experiences using extratextual utterances (reading beyond the story text) to maximise these learning outcomes. We report on the development and psychometric properties of the ‘Emergent Literacy and Language Early Childhood Checklist for Teachers’ (ELLECCT) tool, a comprehensive observational checklist designed to document early childhood teachers’ extratextual oral language and emergent literacy strategies during shared book reading. The ELLECCT measures teachers’ dialogic reading prompts, vocabulary promotion strategies, responsive statements, print knowledge and phonological awareness. The ELLECCT also contains a rating scale examining paralinguistic and nonverbal strategies used by early childhood teachers to support engagement during shared book reading interactions. The psychometric properties of the ELLECCT were measured in a four-phase process. Content validity was tested using the Content Validity Index and a three-round Delphi process was used to measure face validity. Both intra-rater and inter-rater reliability were evaluated from a sample of 32 shared book reading observations. The study findings provide preliminary evidence for the psychometric properties of the ELLECCT, such that it is judged as suitable for evaluation of early childhood teachers’ use of extratextual and paralinguistic strategies while engaged in shared book reading. We describe the ELLECCT’s potential application in both classroom coaching and training, and as a research tool, to support early childhood teachers’ skill-development during shared book reading.

Does talking about emotions impact young Turkish children's emotion recognition, word learning, and story comprehension?

ABSTRACT In this study, we tested the effect of emotion-supported dialogic reading on word learning, story comprehension, and emotion recognition skills of 3–4 years old children. We conducted a within-subject design with a group where the children participated only in dialogic reading sessions (control) and a group where children participated emotion-supported dialogic reading sessions (experimental). 20 Turkish children (11 girls and 9 boys) from low socioeconomic status families participated in the study. Before the intervention, we measured children's basic emotion recognition skills. Eight storybook readings carried out the intervention. Next, we tested children's retelling, word learning, and emotion recognition. The results showed that children did significantly better recognising basic emotions. In addition, children in Emotion-Supported Dialogic Reading understand the stories better than Only Dialogic Reading. However, children's receptive and expressive vocabulary learning did not differ significantly.

Sociálne aspekty čitateľskej gramotnosti s akcentom na dieťa zo sociálne znevýhodňujúceho prostredia na Slovensku

Reading literacy as functional literacy, i.e. the ability to understand and use written text, is alarming for students from disadvantaged backgrounds in Slovakia. In relation to children from less favourable backgrounds, the Slovak education system has long been unable to adequately compensate for educational inequalities determined by social origin. The most important stimuli affect children before they enter primary school. The study presents selected research on supporting child readers within the context of the family, based mainly on foreign sources, where this research has a rich tradition. Factors in the so-called home literacy environment, especially reading together or so-called dialogic reading of a parent with a child, as well as the size of the family library, were identified as particularly important. At the end of the paper, the possibilities of socio-pedagogical intervention are outlined.

Dialogue with a conversational agent promotes children's story comprehension via enhancing engagement.

Dialogic reading, when children are read a storybook and engaged in relevant conversation, is a powerful strategy for fostering language development. With the development of artificial intelligence, conversational agents can engage children in elements of dialogic reading. This study examined whether a conversational agent can improve children's story comprehension and engagement, as compared to an adult reading partner. Using a 2 (dialogic reading or non‐dialogic reading) × 2 (agent or human) factorial design, a total of 117 three‐ to six‐year‐olds (50% Female, 37% White, 31% Asian, 21% multi‐ethnic) were randomly assigned into one of the four conditions. Results revealed that a conversational agent can replicate the benefits of dialogic reading with a human partner by enhancing children's narrative‐relevant vocalizations, reducing irrelevant vocalizations, and improving story comprehension.

Reception through Polemics: The Internalization of Theological Otherness in Jerome’s Heresiology

Abstract Early Christian heresiology is, like polemics in general, a genre that has commonly been negatively perceived in scholarship. There is an idea of heresiological texts as not only historically unreliable, but also unproductive, in contrast to the creative thinking that can be found in theological treatises. Considering the understanding of heresiology as reactive and exclusive, it is not surprising that heresiological works have seldom been examined in reception studies. The present article wants to challenge the idea of heresiological work as merely rejecting heresies in the defence of a pre-existing orthodoxy, by applying a dialogical reading to the work Adversus Iovinianum by Jerome of Stridon, a treatise in which he defended the superiority of virginity over marriage against Jovinian’s idea of the equality of all the baptized. Building on the understanding of dialogue expressed by Mikhail Bakhtin, as well as his concept of hybridity, the article analyses how Jerome, instead of simply rejecting core elements of Jovinian’s ideas, such as the goodness of marriage and the natural condition of human beings, rather reappropriates them and integrates them into his making of orthodoxy. The result is a hybrid construction in which anti-ascetic arguments are integrated in a rhetoric of asceticism.

Effects of Dialogic Reading on the Vocabulary Knowledge of Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ABSTRACT Reading comprehension difficulties have been associated with poor vocabulary knowledge of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Research has shown that Dialogic Reading (DR) interventions may remediate these deficits. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two DR intervention protocols on the vocabulary knowledge of four preschoolers with ASD and four age-matched typically developing children. The first was RECALL (Reading to Engage Children with Autism in Language and Learning), which combines DR with evidence-based instructional support to enhance the learning of children with ASD. The second was Adapted Shared Reading (ASR), which consisted of DR question prompts and no additional support. Using a randomised ABAB phase-order within series design, eight participants were exposed to at least four RECALL and four ASR treatment phases. This design allows the comparison of two different conditions (A [ASR] and B [RECALL]). Despite both treatments being successful at teaching vocabulary to the eight participants, greater vocabulary gains were identified in the RECALL condition. Adaptations of shared reading and the use of RECALL in inclusive preschool scenarios are further discussed.

Vocabulary in dialogic reading: implications for AAC

Shared reading is an important context for the development of communication, language, and literacy skills in young children. Research conducted with children who require augmentative and alternative communication has indicated that dialogic reading techniques utilized in shared reading can aid in the development of communication skills. One area that has not been investigated is which words children should have access to when engaging in these types of activities. This study reports the results of an investigation focused on the words 5-year-old children without disabilities said during a dialogic reading procedure that occurred with two books, Corduroy and Whistle for Willie. When reading Corduroy and Whistle for Willie, 59 common words said when reading each book accounted for 62.45% and 64.83% of the total words said, respectively. Many of these words were similar to those identified in studies of core vocabulary across a variety of contexts. For Corduroy and Whistle for Willie, 13 and 11 of these 59 words were directly related to the book, respectively. This accounted for approximately 10% of the most commonly used words for each book. The implications of this finding are discussed relative to vocabulary selection for children with complex communication needs during shared reading experiences.

Early Lessons Learned in Designing an Adaptive Shared Reading Intervention for Preschoolers With Autism

Project START (Students and Teachers Actively Reading Together) is an adaptive shared reading intervention designed to address the varied learning needs of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This report summarizes procedures and results of the developmental year of the project, which focused primarily on evaluating implementation fidelity and social validity of the intervention. The final sample consisted of four classrooms with 10 students with ASD ( Mage = 4.32 years) and their teachers ( N = 4). Classrooms were randomized to either a 4- or an 8-week first-stage small-group dialogic reading condition. Children who were early responders continued with the initial intervention; those who were slower to respond were randomized to one of two intensified reading conditions. Results indicate that teachers perceived the intervention as feasible and child outcomes as acceptable. Implementation fidelity was low during initial weeks (33%–50%), improving to 67% to 83% by the last weeks of the study. Neither children’s engagement nor vocabulary growth differed between treatment levels or conditions. We discuss lessons learned from the study’s developmental year and changes that will be made in subsequent years to improve implementation and feasibility.