Let's read a book!
Reading aloud in preschool to support children's
language development
An evaluation of a development project in a Swedish municipality
Karin Renblad and Jane Brodin
School of Education and Communication (HLK), Preschool
Research, Jönköping University, Sweden
Paper presented at the 18th European Conference on Reading, Swedish
Council of International Reading Association (SCIRA), August 6-9th,
2013, at Jönköping University, Sweden
1
The project ”Let’s read a book”
is part of a three year long cooperation
between a municipality in Jönköping’s
county and Jönköping University, School
of Education and Communication (HLK)
The target group is eleven municipal
preschools, serving 573 children between
one and five years of age, and divided into
23 child units
2
National curriculum for preschool for
giving all children equal opportunities
In 1998 Sweden got its first National
Curriculum for Preschool (Lpfö 98). It was
revised in 2010 and implemented on July
1st, 2011
The curriculum is part of the general
education system and the Ministry of
Education and Science is responsible for
preschool education
3
Swedish preschool and language
development
The mission of the Swedish preschool is to
stimulate children's learning and
development in a holistic way (Lpfö98/10)
and preschool forms the basis of lifelong
learning
 The goal areas in preschool are language
and communication, mathematics, nature
science and technology
4
Cont preschool
A majority of all children (1-5 yrs) attend
preschool and preschool thus plays a key
role in children’s language development
There is no other period in child
development that contains that much
learning as the first five years in life
Children need support in preschool to
develop their communication, identity and
creativity
5
Goals for language learning and development
according to the curriculum (Lpfö 98/10)
acquire and be able to differentiate shades
of meaning in concepts, see
interconnections and discover new ways
of understanding the surrounding world
develop their ability to listen, reflect and
express their own views and try to
understand the perspectives of others
(p 10)
6
Cont. Goals
To develop their use of spoken language,
vocabulary and concepts as well as the
ability to play with words, relate
something, express their thoughts, put
questions, and put forward their
arguments and communicate with others
develop an interest in the written language
and an understanding of symbols, and
their communicative functions (p 10)
7
Cont. goals
develop an interest in pictures, texts and
different media, as well as the ability to
make use of, interpret and talk about them
develop their creative abilities and the
ability to convey impressions, thoughts
and experiences in many different forms of
expression, such as play, pictures, song
and music, dance and drama (p 10)
8
Background to the reading aloud project
The starting point was a municipal
language development project based on
reoccuring reports from the preschool staff
and special pedagogues who experienced
that a huge number of preschool children
had a poorer language development than
earlier age groups. The need for
improvements was therefore obvious.
9
The purpose of the municipal project
(March 2012 - June 2013)
The main purpose was to raise awareness
of the importance of communication,
reading aloud and storytelling
The purpose was also to stress the impact
these efforts have on children's language
development both among staff and
parents and to promote the development
of the physical environment in preschool
10
Activities conducted in the municipal project
 The staff studied a variety of material about
reading aloud and factors stimulating
language development
 Lectures on reading aloud, story telling and
the importance of the physical environment
was carried out for the staff
 A lecture on reading aloud was carried out for
the parents
11
Let’s read a book – an evaluation of
reading aloud and storytelling
The aim of the study was to evaluate if and
how the project on language development
influenced reading aloud, storytelling and
the physical environment according to the
preschool staff
12
Method
The data collection consists of a
websurvey covering background
information and 15 different questions with
sub-items including space for comments
The survey was distributed before the
project started and followed up when the
project was finished. The same questions
were asked at both occasions
The survey was answered on team-level
by each unit
13
Results - Reading aloud and storytelling
The eleven preschools report that they
read aloud every day and that a majority
(21 units) read several times a day, which
is an increase
Reading aloud in the large group and for
each individual child has increased and
also takes place spontaneously
14
The main time during the day for reading
aloud
When the children sit together during the
morning assembly
During play – when a child turns up with a
book – they are in principle always
recognized
At the end of the day when the children
want to relax
The staff also tell stories or read aloud
when the children are resting
15
What do they read?
Story books
Rhymes and jingles
Factual study books
Song books
Stories based on reality
Picture books
The interests of the children influence what
books are read but the staff try to vary the
selection of books
16
Accessibility of books
Some books belong to the child group and
are always available (19/23)
Books are available on the mother
language of each child (15/18)
Books representative for different ethnical
origin are available (5/12)
The staff introduce new books for the
children (15/20)
17
Children’s influence on the choice of
books
The children’s interests are analyzed
before purchase or library loan (20/23)
The pedagogues select the books (22/22)
The children select the books (19/18)
All preschool units (23) discuss the books
after reading, they talk about the pictures
and reflect about what they have read or
been told
18
How do the children process the
content of the books?
Primarily in play
Forms for processing their impressions:
- drama play
- puppet theatre
- music
- drawing pictures
- theme deepening work
- reading and writing
19
Storytelling
The staff use flannelboards (19/20)
The children use the flannelboards (6/8)
The staff make up stories and tell the
children (8/19)
The children make up stories and tell each
other (6/17)
20
Cooperation – home -preschool
The preschool cooperates with the home
about reading aloud and storytelling (8/18)
The preschool cooperates with the library
about reading aloud and storytelling (8/7)
21
Conclusion - The staff’s experiences
All children appreciate reading aloud and
storytelling
Their interests in signs, symbols, pictures
and letters have increased
The children have improved their
vocabulary, their understanding of
language, and their fonological
consciousness.
22
Concl.
 From the comments of the staff appear that the
children are today better prepared for reading
and writing and have developed their fantasy
 A majority of the units have routines for reading
aloud and storytelling
 A minority of the staff still talks about training of
the children’s concentration ability
23
Physical environment – facilitators
The book corner
 Easy accessible books
 The number of books
 The textual environment
 Accessibility of computers and other
media
 Home and shopping environment
24
Let’s read a book project
Many preschools are working with reading
aloud and storytelling BUT they don’t
follow up, reflect on and discuss the most
important – the content
This study is one out of a number of substudies conducted in order to develop and
improve the systematic quality work in
preschool in a Swedish municipality
For further information please contact
Karin.renblad@hlk.hj.se
Jane.brodin@hlk.hj.se