Preschoolers’ engagement with reading behaviours: a statistical discourse analysis of peer buddy‐reading interactions
Abstract
Developing reading behaviours in early childhood is essential for later reading comprehension. This study explored how peer buddy reading could potentially support emergent readers’ engagement with reading behaviours. Across 40 buddy‐reading events, 14 preschoolers (ages 4.0–5.5 years) produced 1,359 conversation turns, which were coded for a variety of reading behaviours including comprehension, thematic vocabulary use and concepts about print. Using statistical discourse analysis, we examined how children's engagement with reading behaviours was related to their buddies’ engagement with reading behaviours in subsequent conversation turns during buddy‐reading events. Findings suggest that some of preschoolers’ reading behaviours, such as literal text representation, inferential text interpretation, character development and comprehension monitoring were related to their buddies’ engagement with reading behaviours; others, such as vocabulary and concepts about print, were not. Implications include that buddy reading can be used to support preschoolers’ engagement with some reading behaviours, such as certain aspects of comprehension.
Number of times cited: 5
- Melinda Martin-Beltrán, Shannon Daniel, Megan Peercy and Rebecca Silverman, Developing a Zone of Relevance: Emergent Bilinguals’ Use of Social, Linguistic, and Cognitive Support in Peer-Led Literacy Discussions, International Multilingual Research Journal, 11, 3, (152), (2017).
- Eurydice Bouchereau Bauer, Vivian Presiado and Soria Colomer, Writing Through Partnership, Journal of Literacy Research, 49, 1, (10), (2017).
- Tanya Christ, X. Christine Wang and Ersoy Erdemir, Young children’s buddy reading with multimodal app books: reading patterns and characteristics of readers, texts, and contexts, Early Child Development and Care, (1), (2016).
- Tanya Christ, X. Christine Wang and Ming Ming Chiu, Emergent Readers’ Social Interaction Styles and Their Comprehension Processes During Buddy Reading, Literacy Research and Instruction, 54, 1, (45), (2015).
- X. Christine Wang, Tanya Christ and Ming Ming Chiu, Exploring a comprehensive model for early childhood vocabulary instruction: a design experiment, Early Child Development and Care, 184, 7, (1075), (2014).
