Poster #113 - Mothers’ discourse during shared reading of books that deal with positive and negative emotions

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Language, Communication

Integrative Statement

There is evidence that a book’s genre has an effect on parents’ discourse with their young children during shared book reading. Studies showed that parents converse more and use more complex discourse with their children when sharing a non-narrative book than when sharing a narrative book (e.g., Anderson, Anderson, Lynch & Shapiro, 2004; Bergman-Deitcher, 2017). Also, children’s books often focus on interactions between characters, and as such, "invite" discourse on socio-emotional issues. Indeed, a small number of studies showed that the nature of parent-child discourse during shared book reading contributes to children's socio-emotional development (e.g., Curenton & Craig, 2011).
To deepen the understanding regarding the relations between the books’ characteristics and parents’ discourse with their children, we investigated mothers’ discourse (general and emotional-mental extra-textual utterances) with their children when sharing a narrative trade book (a book that is unequivocal and can be interpreted) and a didactic trade book (where the authors want to teach something clear). The books related to “positive" emotions (e.g., love) and “negative” emotions (e.g., anger).
Participants were 26 preschoolers, aged 5-6 years old, and their mothers. The study took place in the family’s home during two sessions. Each dyad shared two books (a narrative book and a didactic book) dealing with a social situation (one book per session). Twelve dyads received books dealing with “positive” emotions, and 14 dyads received books dealing with “negative” emotions. The four books had the same number of pages and words. The interactions were videotaped and transcribed, and mothers’ extra-textual utterances were analyzed. We counted general utterances (statements and questions that related to character, plot, and illustrations) and emotional-mental utterances (statements and questions that related to socio-emotional aspects of the characters). We also assessed the complexity of mothers’ support during reading.
The primary findings regarding the books’ genre demonstrated that mothers used more complex utterances and more emotional-mental utterances when sharing a didactic book with their children than when they shared a narrative book with them. When comparing the nature of mother-child shared book reading of books dealing with “positive” emotion to those dealing with “negative” emotions, we found that mothers elaborated more in books with “negative” emotions. They turned more to the child, spoke more in general and used more emotional-mental statements.
The study draws the attention to mothers’ natural behavior when sharing books of different genres. Mothers use didactic books for detailed conversations with their children. The fact that mothers related more to the “negative” emotions may indicate that mothers feel they have to explain and teach about these emotions more than the "positive" ones. They may think that it is an opportunity to teach their children how to deal with these situations in life. The study emphasizes the impact of a book’s genre and its content on mother-child discourse during shared reading.

Authors

• Rotem Schapira, Levinsky college of eduction, Tel Aviv university and mofet institute
  Presenting Author

• Dorit Aram, Tel Aviv university
  Non-Presenting Author