Effects of Dialogic Reading
By Heather Barbour
Dialogic reading is a type of reading that requires the reader to implement questioning
and responding to children while a book is being read. Children are prompted by the
reader with open-ended questions and by encouraging the child to say more about the
story. According to Doyle and Bramwell, 2-6 year olds have had their oral language
development positively affected by dialogic reading (2006, p. 555). Arnold and Colburn
stated that dialogic reading is an influential method in helping children build up their
skills in vocabulary and narratives (2006, p. 50). According to Blom-Hoffman, O’NeilPirozzi, and Cutting, by using the acronym PEER the reader can engage the child in
dialogic reading. PEER stands for Prompt, Evaluate, Expand, and Repeat. The reader
will prompt the child with a question and then evaluate their answer, praising the child if
the answer is correct and correcting the child if the answer is incorrect. Expanding the
answer by adding another detail to it is next in the sequence. Finally, the reader will
repeat the question asked (2006, p. 72).
Previous research has shown it is highly important for
children to be read to at an early age to enhance their preliteracy skills. Young children lacking in emergent literacy
development often enter school at a disadvantage to their
peers. According to Schull, nearly half of all children are
not ready for kindergarten because they have not acquired
the appropriate necessary pre-literacy competencies.
(2006, p. 2339). The enhancement of children’s language
and literacy development continues to be a benefit of
reading to young children (Walsh & Blewitt, 2006).
“Dialogic reading intervention instituted prior to formal
schooling is advantageous for children who are assessed
as being at risk of developing a reading disability”
(Fielding-Barnsley & Purdie, 2003, p.80). Dale and CrainThoreson state that language gains of 6 to 8 months on
standardized tests of receptive and productive vocabulary
were gained in two year olds in the landmark study done
by Grover Whithurst (1996).
According to Roberts, Jurgens, and Burchinal, a frequent method of assessing the
frequency a parent reads to their child at home is a questionnaire. They also reported
that low-income parents read to their children less frequently than middle class parents
with parents reading to their children an average of 4.5-10.5 times per week (2005, p.
346). The amount of time spent reading to a child will greatly affect language and
literacy proficiency. According to the study conducted by Hargrave and Senechal,
“children with limited vocabularies learned new vocabulary from shared book-reading
117 Jones Jaggers Hall 1906 College Heights Blvd #11098 Bowling Green, KY 42101‐1098 Email: ccrr.expert@wku.edu 270‐745‐2216 or 800‐621‐5908 Fax: 270‐745‐7089 Web: http://www.wku.edu/ccrr‐wku/ episodes. Children in the dialogic-reading condition made significantly larger gains in
vocabulary introduced in the books, as well as gains on a standardized expressive
vocabulary test, than did the children in a regular book-reading situation” (2000, p. 75).
References
Arnold, R., & Colburn, N. (2006). Storytime Lessons. School Library Journal, 52(3), 5050. Retrieved Monday, March 12, 2007 from the MasterFILE Premier database.
Blom-Hoffman, J., O'Neil-Pirozzi, T., & Cutting, J. (2006). Reading Together, Talk
Together: The Acceptability of Teaching Parents to Use Dialogic Reading
Strategies via Videotaped Instruction. Psychology in the Schools, 43(1), 71-78.
Retrieved Monday, March 12, 2007 from the PsycINFO database.
Dale, P., Crain-Thoreson, C., Notari-Syverson, A., & Cole, K. (1996). Parent-child book
reading as an intervention technique for young children with language delays.
Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 16, 213-235. Retrieved Monday,
March, 12, 2007 from the Family & Society Studies Worldwide database.
Doyle, B., & Bramwell, W. (2006). Promoting emergent literacy and social--emotional
learning through dialogic reading. Reading Teacher, 59(6), 554-564. Retrieved
Sunday, April 08, 2007 from the MasterFILE Premier database.
Fielding-Barnsley, R., & Purdie, N. (2003). Early intervention in the home for children at
risk of reading failure. Support for Learning, 18(2), 77-82. Retrieved Tuesday,
May 01, 2007 from the PsycINFO database.
Hargrave, A., & Sénéchal, M. (2000). A book reading intervention with preschool
children who have limited vocabularies: The benefits of regular reading and
dialogic reading. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 15(1), 75-90.
Roberts, J., Jurgens, J., & Burchinal, M. (2005). The role of home literacy practices in
preschool children's language and emergent literacy skills. Journal of Speech,
Language & Hearing Research, 48(2), 345-359. Retrieved Saturday, March 31,
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Schull, C. (2006). An assessment of a home-visiting intervention on rural, low-income
children's school readiness.
Walsh, B., & Blewitt, P. (2006). The Effect of Questioning Style During Storybook
Reading on Novel Vocabulary Acquisition of Preschoolers. Early Childhood
Education Journal, 33(4), 273-278.
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