Poster #22 - Interactive Read-Alouds and Kindergarteners’ Vocabulary Development: Text Genre as a Moderator

• In Event: Poster Session 20

Abstract

Evidence shows that strong oral language skills acquired during the early years support later reading comprehension (Jiang & Logan, 2019; Kendeou et al., 2009). The use of extratextual talk during interactive read-alouds provides teachers with a key opportunity to teach children vocabulary through active participation in teacher-led conversations. (Dickinson & Porche, 2011; Piasta et al., 2012). Studies have shown the positive effects of extratextual talk during interactive read-alouds on children’s vocabulary during preschool (e.g., Zucker et al., 2013). The importance of extratextual talk in preschool has been well established (Pentimonti et al., 2021). Therefore, it is important to study if similar effects occur in early elementary grades. We hypothesize that because interactive book reading has demonstrated gains in preschoolers’ language outcomes (Zucker et al., 2013), similar gains would be made in kindergarteners exposed to extratextual talk during interactive read-alouds.

Research has demonstrated that adults’ extratextual talk while reading narrative and informational texts differ in important ways (Price et al., 2012). When adults read aloud informational text, they tend to have longer periods of extratextual talk and ask more cognitively demanding questions (e.g., Deitcher, 2014), which helps foster oral language development in children. Additionally, exposure to informational texts helps children learn specialized vocabulary related to the social and natural environment (i.e., science and social studies knowledge) through stimulating cognitively challenging dialogue (Anderson et al., 2012, Price et al., 2012). We hypothesize that the relation between teachers’ extratextual talk and children’s vocabulary development depends on text genre. This study will address the following questions: 1) Are the features of teachers’ extratextual talk associated with gains in vocabulary in kindergarten children? 2) Is this relation moderated by: (a) the use of informational text during the observed read-aloud session, and (b) by the frequency of children’s exposure to informational text read-alouds during the academic year?

Participants were 314 children in 12 schools in a Southern urban district, drawn from a larger study's control group using business-as-usual reading practices. More than half of the students identified non-White. Toward the end of the school year, teachers conducted a read-aloud as they normally would with a book of their own choosing. Teachers’ extratextual talk was coded using the Systematic Assessment of Book Reading (Pentimonti et al., 2021). We coded the genre of the read-aloud book selected by teachers in the video using a protocol used in Pentimonti et al. (2018). Additionally, teacher reading logs were used to obtain information on the frequency of exposure to informational text during the academic year. Children were assessed on their receptive and expressive vocabulary at the beginning and end of the kindergarten year. With children nested within classrooms, we will use Hierarchical Linear Modeling (with FIML) to analyze the association between teachers’ extratextual talk and children’s vocabulary gains, and the potential moderating effects of genre. We will use raw scores in analyses and covary the pre-test score to investigate the residualized gains in vocabulary outcomes.

Authors

• Deborah Slik, Florida State University
  Presenting Author

• Sonia Q Cabell, Florida State Univeristy

• Sen Wang, Florida State Univeristy

• Qian Zhang, Florida State University