The Role of Question Formulation During the Shared Reading of Books in Childhood Education

Abstract: The shared reading of books is one of the activities that most contributes to the development of young children's language (JUSTICE; SOFKA, 2010; SÉNÉCHAL, 2015; EVANS; SAINT-AUBIN, 2005; SÉNÉCHAL; LEFEVRE, 2002) and has effects in the acquisition of the written language registers (BUS et al., 1995). However, the effects of this contribution depend on how the adult interacts with and encourages the child's participation in the discussion and reflection beyond the text. Young children who actively participate in adult-led shared reading of books, which interact with them through questions, word-labeling, and referents, have greater gains in vocabulary than children who passively hear the book reading (SÉNÉCHAL et al., 1995). In addition, the use of questions plays a key role in directing attention and maintaining the child's participation in the activity of shared reading. The purpose of this study is to (1) determine how often preschool teachers ask questions during shared reading of books with their students, and (2) identify the types of questions that teachers asked related to basic vs. complex questions. A total of nine teachers and their students aged 3 to 5 years, from a city in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, participated in the study. Two shared reading sessions of each teacher (n = 18) were recorded on video, transcribed and coded using an adapted version of the Systematic Assessment of Book Reading-Transcript Coding Version 2.1 (ZUCKER et al., 2017). The results show that during the eighteen shared reading sessions, teachers compiled a total of 329 questions, classified into two categories: basic questions and complex questions. From the total, the basic ones had a higher frequency (n = 285) and complex questions were formulated less frequently (n = 44). The results of this research are in line with other studies (PENTIMONTI et al., 2018; BECK; MCKEOWN, 2001; GIROLAMETTO et al., 2000) that show that teachers usually ask basic questions more frequently when compared to complex questions. Therefore, we emphasize the importance of calling teachers attention to the value of shared reading, mediated by an interaction that favors the formulation of questions, seeking to expand the proportion of complex questions, given the influence that this type of activity has on the cognitive and linguistic development of children.

摘要：绘本共读是最有助于幼儿语言发展的活动之一（JUSTICE与SOFKA，2010；SÉNÉCHAL，2015；EVANS与SAINT-AUBIN，2005；SÉNÉCHAL与LEFEVRE，2002），且对书面语言语域的习得具有促进作用（BUS等，1995）。然而，此类促进效果取决于成人如何与幼儿互动，并鼓励其参与文本之外的讨论与反思。相较于被动聆听绘本朗读的幼儿，那些积极参与成人主导的绘本共读活动、并通过提问、词汇标注与指认等方式与幼儿互动的幼儿，其词汇量提升更为显著（SÉNÉCHAL等，1995）。此外，提问在引导幼儿注意力、维持其参与共读活动方面发挥着关键作用。本研究旨在达成两个目标：（1）探究学前教师在与学生开展绘本共读活动时的提问频率；（2）区分教师所提问题的类型，即基础问题与复杂问题。本研究共招募了巴西南里奥格兰德州内陆某城市的9名教师及其3至5岁的学生参与。每位教师开展的2次共读活动（共18次）均通过视频录制，并采用改编版的《绘本阅读系统评估-转录编码手册2.1版》（Systematic Assessment of Book Reading-Transcript Coding Version 2.1，ZUCKER等，2017）进行转录与编码。结果显示，在18次共读活动中，教师共提出329个问题，可分为基础问题与复杂问题两大类。其中基础问题占比更高（n=285），复杂问题的提出频率则相对较低（n=44）。本研究结果与其他相关研究（PENTIMONTI等，2018；BECK与MCKEOWN，2001；GIROLAMETTO等，2000）的结论一致，即教师通常更倾向于提出基础问题而非复杂问题。鉴于此类活动对幼儿认知与语言发展的重要影响，本研究强调需引导教师重视绘本共读活动的教育价值，通过优化互动方式以鼓励更多复杂问题的提出，进而提升复杂问题在共读活动中的占比。