Adult Behaviors While Reading

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The majority of researchers have concentrated on the human interactions during story reading. From this research, we learn about turn-taking in story reading. Through story reading, very young children are guided into the turn-taking pattern inherent in all conversation: the adult (in this research the adult is usually a parent) talks, then the child talks, then the adult talks, and so forth.

It is within this verbal exchange that the dyad (parent and child) engages in its most significant negotiations: negotiating the meaning of the story. Obviously the adult’s understanding exceeds the child’s understanding of the text. Through scaffolding, the adult gently moves the child toward the adult’s understanding of the text. That is, the adult questions the child about the text’s meaning. The child replies, and this reply gives the adult a cue. Based on the child’s response, the adult adjusts the kind of support (the scaffold) provided. To aid the child’s construction of the meaning, the adult behaves in three ways: (1) as a co-respondent who shares experiences and relates the reading to personal experiences, (2) as an informer who provides information, and (3) as a monitor who questions and sets expectations for the reading session (Roser & Martinez, 1985).

Adults play these roles differently depending on the child’s response and age.

• With a baby or toddler (twelve months or younger), the adult tends to do most of the talking. Mostly adults label the pictures. “Look, Licky, a train! Yup, that’s a train—choo, choo!” Typically adults point as they label.
• Between the ages of twelve and fifteen months, adults tend to ask the child rhetorical questions (e.g., DeLoache, 1984): “And that’s a kite. Isn’t that a kite, Josh?” The questions function to reinforce the picture’s label; the adult does not really expect the child to answer. The adult’s playing of both roles, asking the question and giving the answer, provides the toddler with experience in the question–answer cycle before the child is required to participate verbally in the exchange.
• Beginning around fifteen months, the adult’s expectations shift, and the child is expected to be a more active participant in the story reading. As the child acquires more facility with language, the adult expects the child to answer more of the questions posed. First, the adult asks the child to provide the label for the picture. The adult says things like “Look!” or “What’s that?” or “It’s a what?” If the child hesitates, the adult intervenes and provides the answer. When the child seems to be correct (Joseph says, “Pithee” in response to his father’s query), the adult typically repeats the label or positively reinforces the toddler’s response (Joseph’s father says, “Yeah. These are peaches.”). When the child shows competence at this task, the adult ups the ante, requesting perhaps a description, like asking for information about the color.

Researchers have discovered that this story-reading sequence (adult question, child response, adult feedback) is just like the typical interaction sequence between teacher and student in many classrooms (Mehan, 1979). Hence, these story readings also begin children’s socialization into the response pattern typical of many classrooms.