ABSTRACT
Fostering communicative skills in young children is essential for their holistic development. Book-reading activities have been shown to be a valuable tool for supporting communicative exchanges between children and adults, but there is limited research on actual educational practices with children under 3 years old. This experimental study explores teaching practices in Chilean early childhood education with children from 4 to 17 months of age. We focused on children's performance of diverse communicative signs, as well as on the effect of the teacher's mediation (signs and strategies) in a triadic shared-reading interaction (teacher-child-book). The study is part of a larger cross-sectional project. We conducted an experimental study following a pre-test-post-test design with 11 children, who were randomly assigned to either the control or the experimental group. In addition, we conducted a 6-week intervention on shared book reading between the pre- and post-test stages. We observed that children used a wide range of communicative signs when engaging in shared interactions with their teacher and different books. In the experimental group, children performed more communicative signs after participating in the intervention than at the beginning of the study. The reading experience that they gained through the intervention could also explain the larger proportion of uses of the books, as compared to their control counterparts. Additionally, children performed different combinations of vocalizations, words, or repetitions within a single use. The conventional use of a book is not evident for an infant, and as such it requires the systematic and semiotically mediated action of an adult to be consolidated. We conclude that offering preschool teachers a diverse selection of books enables them to better adjust to the particularities of each child. In this scenario educators are able to promote efficient spaces for children's participation, increasing the complexity and variety of their communicative repertoire.
ABSTRACT
A leitura compartilhada de histórias é uma forma eficiente de promover a aprendizagem de vocabulário por crianças, mas os processos básicos envolvidos nessa aprendizagem ainda precisam ser esclarecidos. O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar a influência de dicas sociais na aprendizagem de palavras durante a leitura de livros, e se as novas relações palavras-figuras apresentadas nas histórias sustentariam um desempenho por exclusão posterior, diante de figuras desconhecidas. Duas histórias ilustradas não comerciais, contendo duas pseudopalavras cada, foram lidas com e sem a apresentação de dicas sociais para 12 crianças de 3 anos, em um delineamento de medidas repetidas. Sondas de emparelhamento, exclusão e nomeação avaliaram a aprendizagem dessas pseudopalavras. O desempenho das crianças não diferiu em relação à aprendizagem das pseudopalavras nas duas condições de leitura (com apresentação de dica social e sem dicas), e todas apresentaram desempenho por exclusão nas sondas planejadas. Esses resultados confirmam que a situação de leitura compartilhada promove aprendizagem de novas relações entre palavras e figuras, mas deixam em aberto o papel de dicas sociais nesse processo.
Shared story reading is an effective way to promote the learning of vocabulary for children, however, the basic processes involved in this learning have yet to be clarified. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of social cues on word learning while reading books, and whether the new word-picture relationships presented in the stories sustain subsequent performance by exclusion, given unknown pictures. Two non-commercial illustrated stories, containing two pseudowords each, were read with and without the presentation of social cues for 12 children, 3 years of age, in a repeated measures design. Matching, exclusion and naming probes evaluated the learning of these pseudowords. The performance of the children did not differ in relation to the learning of the pseudowords in both reading conditions (with presentation of social cues and without cues), and all presented performance by exclusion in the planned probes. These results confirm that the shared reading situation promotes the learning of new relationships between words and pictures, however, do not verify the role of social cues in this process.
La lectura compartida de libros es una manera eficaz de promover el aprendizaje de vocabulario de los niños, pero los procesos básicos que intervienen en este aprendizaje todavía necesitan ser aclarado. El objetivo de este estudio fue investigar la influencia de pistas sociales en el aprendizaje de palabras durante la lectura de libros, y se nuevas relaciones nombre-figuras presentado en las historias, mantienen subsecuenteresponder por exclusión, delantenuevas figuras desconocidas. Dos historias ilustradas no comerciales, que contienen dos pseudopalabras cada uno, fueron leídas con y sin la presentación de pistas sociales a 12 niños de 3 años. Pruebas de aprendizaje, exclusión y respuesta verbal evaluaron el aprendizaje de estos pseudopalabras. El desempeño de los niños no difirió en relación al aprendizaje de la pseudopalabra, bajo dos condiciones de la lectura, pero todos mostraron respuesta de exclusión en las pruebas previstas. Estos resultados confirman que la situación lectura compartida promueve el aprendizaje de vocabulario, pero dejan abierta la función de laspistas sociales en este proceso.