Narrative Styles of Turkish Mothers During a Shared Book Reading Activity: A Middle-SES and Low-SES Comparison

• In Event: Conditions of social vulnerability and language development

Abstract

Mother-child book reading interactions support children’s language development, narrative skills, and learning about the world. Research has shown differences in mothers’ book reading styles across different cultures (Ochs & Capps, 2001; Melzi & Caspe, 2005) and socioeconomic statuses (SES) (Hoff & Tian, 2005; Levya et al., 2006). Evidence suggests that mother-child dyads in low-SES homes engage in book reading interactions less frequently, have shorter and less complex conversations than mother-child dyads in middle-SES homes (e.g., Raikes et al. 2006; Rodrigez & Tamis-LeMonda, 2011; Teale, 1986). However, research examining SES differences in a variety of sociocultural contexts is limited. The current study contributes to this area of research by examining the narrative styles of 70 Turkish mothers from two SES groups (35 low-SES) who read Wacky Wednesday, a wordless picture book depicting extraordinary events (e.g., a shoe on the ceiling, a mouse chasing a cat) to their 3- to 5-year-olds. We analyzed mothers’ narrations by coding the use of questions and statements about: 1) labels referring to the objects or people in the pictures; 2) descriptions of activities or behaviors in the pictures; 3) explanations or speculations connecting information in the pictures; 4) information that goes beyond the pictures, and connects the events in the story to real life examples. First, to identify maternal narrative styles, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis on the frequencies of the discourse categories listed above, collapsing across the SES groups. Three distinct narrative styles emerged from this analysis: 1) story describers, 2) story tellers and 3) story builders (see Figure 1). Second, we examined SES differences, and found a significant association between mothers’ narrative styles and SES backgrounds, χ2(2) = 29.8, p < .001. Mothers in the low-SES sample engaged in picture descriptions more frequently (89%) than mothers in the middle-SES sample, whereas mothers in the middle-SES sample engaged in story building more frequently (81%) than mothers in the low-SES sample (see Table 1). Mothers from both SES groups engaged in storytelling style equally often. These findings corroborate previous ones about differences in mother-child book reading interactions across SES groups, but not cultural styles. Implications for supporting children’s narrative and literacy development across different SES backgrounds will be discussed.

Authors

• Burcu Unlutabak, Yeditepe University
  Presenting Author

• Ageliki Nicolopoulou, Lehigh University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ayhan Aksu-Koc, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi (BOUN)
  Non-Presenting Author