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Story choice matters for caregiver extra-textual talk during shared reading with preschoolers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 December 2019

Amber MUHINYI*
Affiliation:
University of Manchester, UK
Anne HESKETH
Affiliation:
University of Manchester, UK
Andrew J. STEWART
Affiliation:
University of Manchester, UK
Caroline F. ROWLAND
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, University of Liverpool, UK Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Neuroscience at Radboud University, the Netherlands
*
*Corresponding author: University of Manchester, Oxford Road, A3.14 Ellen Wilkinson Building, ManchesterM13 9PLUK. E-mail: Amber.muhinyi@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the influence of the complexity of the story-book on caregiver extra-textual talk (i.e., interactions beyond text reading) during shared reading with preschool-age children. Fifty-three mother–child dyads (3;00–4;11) were video-recorded sharing two ostensibly similar picture-books: a simple story (containing no false belief) and a complex story (containing a false belief central to the plot, which provided content that was more challenging for preschoolers to understand). Book-reading interactions were transcribed and coded. Results showed that the complex stories facilitated more extra-textual talk from mothers, and a higher quality of extra-textual talk (as indexed by linguistic richness and level of abstraction). Although the type of story did not affect the number of questions mothers posed, more elaborative follow-ups on children's responses were provided by mothers when sharing complex stories. Complex stories may facilitate more and linguistically richer caregiver extra-textual talk, having implications for preschoolers’ developing language abilities.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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