Parent question use during shared reading time: How does training affect question type and frequency?

Abstract

This study was designed to examine whether participation in a shared reading workshop alters the frequency with which parents ask their children questions during book reading sessions, particularly questions designed to strengthen component reading skills that they may not have known about before training. Participants in the reading workshop series (N = 57) were taught strategies for asking questions about story content and word structure to build children's language and literacy skills. Findings suggest that parents may be somewhat familiar with traditional dialogic reading strategies focused on story content and utilize them without instruction, whereas parents may be less knowledgeable about sound or print‐focused skills and do not employ strategies focused on word structure until instructed to do so. It is also notable that parents do not use all story content prompts equally. This information can be used by school psychologists to refine the messages educators share with parents about how to best support their children's reading development.

Links between parent–child conversations about emotions and changes in children's emotion knowledge across early childhood

“…Though children can learn from parent talk across a range of contexts and situations, shared book reading is one context that facilitates both parent and child talk. Shared reading is known to facilitate children's general language development (Zibulsky et al, 2019) and provides opportunities for parents to label, elaborate, and ask their children questions about content (Bus et al, 1997). Parents are also able to dynamically adjust their reading styles, switching from single word labels to more complex sentences and questions based on the child's own zone of proximal development (Farrant & Reese, 2000; Zibulsky et al, 2019).…”

“…Shared reading is known to facilitate children's general language development (Zibulsky et al, 2019) and provides opportunities for parents to label, elaborate, and ask their children questions about content (Bus et al, 1997). Parents are also able to dynamically adjust their reading styles, switching from single word labels to more complex sentences and questions based on the child's own zone of proximal development (Farrant & Reese, 2000; Zibulsky et al, 2019). These dynamic adjustments, including the use of age‐appropriate questions during shared book reading have been shown to increasingly elicit more vocalizations from children (Sénéchal et al, 1995).…”

Immediate effect of dialogic reading on interactive quality of book sharing among Chinese preschool mother–child dyads

“…The frequency of parents’ evaluations, expansions, open-ended questions, and wh- questions also increased. Zibulsky et al (2019) conducted a 6-session dialogic reading intervention with 57 kindergarteners and their parents to examine the changes in parents’ question types. During the intervention, they provided the parents with prompting strategies about story content and word structure.…”