3-197 - The Quality of Book Reading in Preschool

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Oral vocabulary, discourse facility, and listening comprehension are critical to reading comprehension. Measures of these skills at the end of preschool are strong predictors of reading comprehension by the end of third grade and beyond (Dickinson, Golinkoff, & Hirsh-Pasek, 2010). Inferential thinking is also predictive of later reading comprehension (Cain & Oakhill, 2012). Research on teacher-child interactions in story reading and other literacy contexts indicates that higher quality instruction (i.e., more conceptual and inferential) is associated with better literacy outcomes in young children (Hamre & Pianta, 2005). Our symposium illuminates child and teacher factors related to the quality of preschool book reading and features of successful interventions that impact instruction and children’s language and inferential abilities.

The first study examines differences in the literal and inferential talk of teachers in two settings and identifies classroom characteristics and teacher credentials that contribute to different amounts and types of talk. The second describes relationships among teachers’ literal and inferential language use and moderating roles of children’s skills and teachers’ classroom organization. The third reports findings from a study that trained teachers to use inferential prompts, offer comprehension asides to deepen understanding, and connect story events to children’s lives and world knowledge. The fourth examines effects on children’s vocabulary learning when teachers are well-trained in delivering robust support for word learning. This symposium delivers cutting-edge knowledge of child and teacher factors related to the quality of preschool book reading and offers compelling evidence for the promise of innovative interventions that improve teacher instruction.

Sub Unit

• Language, Communication

Chair

• David K Dickinson, Vanderbilt University

Individual Presentations

• Teachers’ Literal and Inferential Talk in Early Childhood and Special Education Classrooms - Presenting Author: Sabrina Sembiante, Florida Atlantic University; Jaclyn Dynia, The Ohio State University; Joan Kaderavek, University of Toledo; Laura M. Justice, Ohio State University

• Pre-Kindergarten Shared Book Reading and Children’s Language and Literacy Skills: Classroom Organization as a Moderator - Presenting Author: Sonia Q Cabell, University of Virginia; Tricia A Zucker, University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center; Jamie DeCoster, University of Virginia; Lindsay Forston, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Effects of a Pilot Study to Improve Teachers’ Support for Preschoolers’ Inferential Thinking during Storybook Reading - Presenting Author: Molly Fuller Collins, Vanderbilt University

• Effects of Scalable Teacher-Delivered Book Reading on Preschool Children’s Vocabulary - Presenting Author: Katherine Newman, Vanderbilt University; David K Dickinson, Vanderbilt University; Molly Fuller Collins, Vanderbilt University; Elizabeth Burke Hadley, Vanderbilt Univ, Peabody College; Kimberly Turner Nesbitt, Vanderbilt University; Mae Pierce, Vanderbilt Univ, Peabody College; Bretta L. Rivera; Hande Ilgaz, Bilkent University; Brenna Hassinger-Das, Temple University; Tamara Spiewak Toub, Temple University; Jessica Eye; Ageliki Nicolopoulou, Lehigh University; Roberta M Golinkoff, University of Delaware; Kathryn A Hirsh-Pasek, Temple University