Investigation of Preschool Teachers' Preparation Processes Before Reading Books with Children in Their Classes

Abstract

Familiarizing children with picture books from an early age to support their development plays a significant role in their development. For the qualified progress of book reading processes, it is important that adults who will read books with children make various preparations before sharing the books with children. This study aimed to identify pre-reading preparations of teachers working with preschool children. In this research, case study, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was used. Accordingly, the researchers produced a form titled “Identification of Reading Preparation Processes with Children” and emailed the form to 47 preschool teachers. The data obtained from these forms were analyzed by descriptive analysis. In order to deepen the knowledge, focus group interviews were conducted with nine teachers and the data obtained were analyzed by content analysis. The teachers stated that they made preliminary preparations before sharing the books with the children such as having an interesting material about the book, determining the questions to be asked about the story along with the cover, and the points to draw attention in order to carry out the process more effectively. It could be concluded that the teachers were prepared for reading, but they did not produce a reading plan. Moreover, it was found out that teachers could integrate book reading to different types of activities such as science, mathematics and art, and they recommended high-quality books for families to read with their children at home.

Keywords

• Book reading preparation
• preschool teachers
• preschool period
• picture books

Okul Öncesi Öğretmenlerinin Sınıflarındaki Çocuklarla Kitap Okuma Öncesindeki Hazırlık Süreçlerinin İncelenmesi

Abstract

Çocukların gelişimlerini desteklemek amacıyla resimli çocuk kitaplarıyla erken dönemden itibaren tanışmalarını sağlamak gerekmektedir. Kitap okuma süreçlerinin nitelikli ilerlemesi için çocuklarla birlikte kitap okuyacak yetişkinlerin kitapları çocuklarla paylaşmadan önce çeşitli hazırlıklar yapmaları önemlidir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, okul öncesi dönem çocuklarıyla çalışan öğretmenlerin, kitap okuma öncesi hazırlıklarının neler olduğunun belirlenmesidir. Bu çalışma nitel araştırma desenlerinden biri olan durum çalışması kapsamında yürütülmüştür. Araştırmacılar tarafından hazırlanan “Çocuklarla Kitap Okuma Öncesindeki Hazırlık Süreçlerini Belirleme Formu” 47 öğretmene e-posta aracılığıyla iletilmiştir. Bu formlardan elde edilen veriler betimsel analiz ile incelenmiştir. Bilgileri derinleştirmek amacıyla dokuz öğretmen ile odak grup görüşmesi gerçekleştirilmiş ve elde edilen veriler içerik analizi ile incelenmiştir. Öğretmenler kitapları çocuklarla paylaşmadan önce, süreci daha etkili bir şekilde gerçekleştirebilmek için başta kitapla ilgili ilgi çekici bir materyal bulundurma, kapak ya da öykü ile ilgili sorulacak soruları ve dikkat çekilecek noktaları belirleme gibi ön hazırlıklar yaptıklarını belirtmişlerdir. Öğretmenlerin kitap okumaya zihinsel olarak hazırlandıkları ancak kitap okuma planları oluşturmadıkları, kitapları fen, matematik, sanat gibi etkinlik türleriyle bütünleştirebildikleri ve ailelere çocuklarıyla kitap okumaları için nitelikli kitaplar önerdikleri bulunmuştur.

Keywords

• Kitap okumaya hazırlık
• okul öncesi öğretmenleri
• okul öncesi dönem
• resimli çocuk kitapları

References

1. Alatalo, T., & Westlund, B. (2021). Preschool teachers' perceptions about read-alouds as a means to support children's early literacy and language development. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 21(3), 413-435.
2. Bergman Deitcher, D., Aram, D., Khalaily-Shahadi, M., & Dwairy, M. (2021). Promoting preschoolers’ mental-emotional conceptualization and social understanding: A shared book-reading study. Early Education and Development, 32(4), 501-515.
3. Björklund, C., & Palmér, H. (2021). Pre-school teachers' ways of promoting mathematical learning in picture book reading. In S. Dunekacke, A. Jegodtka, T. Koinzer, K. Eilerts & L. Jenben (Eds.), Early childhood teachers' professional competence in mathematics (pp. 187-205) London: Routledge.
4. Büyüköztürk, Ş., Akgün, Ö. E., Demirel, F., Karadeniz, Ş. ve Çakmak, E. K. (2022). Bilimsel araştırma yöntemleri. Ankara: Pegem Akademi Yayıncılık.
5. Cabell, S. Q., Zucker, T. A., DeCoster, J., Melo, C., Forston, L., & Hamre, B. (2019). Prekindergarten interactive book reading quality and children’s language and literacy development: classroom organization as a moderator. Early Education and Development, 30(1), 1-18.
6. Cárdenas, K., Moreno-Núñez, A., & Miranda-Zapata, E. (2020). Shared book-reading in early childhood education: Teachers’ mediation in children’s communicative development. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(2030), 1-21.
7. Carle, E. (2012). Aç tırtıl. (F. Erdoğan, Çev.). İstanbul: Mavi Bulut Yayınları.
8. Collins, M. F. (2016). Supporting inferential thinking in preschoolers: Effects of discussion on children’s story comprehension. Early Education and Development, 27(7), 932-956.

9. Creswell, J. W. (2017). Nitel araştırmacılar için 30 temel beceri. (H. Özcan, Çev.). Ankara: Anı Yayıncılık.
10. Creswell, J. W. (2018). Nitel araştırma yöntemleri. Beş yaklaşıma göre nitel araştırma ve araştırma deseni. (M. Bütün ve S. B. Demir, Çev.). Ankara: Siyasal Kitabevi.
11. Damber, U. (2015). Read-alouds in preschool – a matter of discipline? Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 15(2), 256-280.
12. Demir-Lira, Ö. E., Applebaum, L. R., Goldin-Meadow, S., & Levine, S. C. (2019). Parents’ early book reading to children: Relation to children’s later language and literacy outcomes controlling for other parent language input. Developmental Science, 22(3), 1-16.
13. Deshmukh, R. S., Pentimonti, J. M., Zucker, T. A., & Curry, B. (2022). Teachers’ use of scaffolds within conversations during shared book reading. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 53(1), 150-166.
14. Dickinson, D.K., Collins, M.F., Nesbitt, K., Spiewak Toub, T., Hassinger-Das, B., Burke Hadley, E., Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Michnick Golinkoff, R. (2019). Effects of teacher-delivered book reading and play on vocabulary learning and self- regulation among low-ıncome preschool children, Journal of Cognition and Development, 20(2), 136-164.
15. Dowdall, N., Melendez-Torres, G. J., Murray, L., Gardner, F., Hartford, L., & Cooper, P. J. (2020). Shared picture book reading interventions for child language development: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Child Development, 91(2), 383-399.
16. Hansen J. E., & Broekhuizen M. L. (2020). Quality of the language-learning environment and vocabulary development in early childhood. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 65(2), 302-317.
17. Hartsfield, D. E., & Kimmel, S. C. (2021). Supporting the right to read: Principles for selecting children’s books. The Reading Teacher, 74(4), 419-427.
18. Helbig, S., & Piazza, S. V. (2020). Let's read a story! collaborative meaning making, student engagement, and vocabulary building through the use of ınteractive read-alouds. Michigan Reading Journal, 53(1), 15-24.
19. Hisrich, K. E., & McCaffey, M. (2021). Planning and preparing for read alouds. Illnois Reading Council Journal, 49(2), 12-20.
20. Hoel T, Brekke Stangeland, B., & Schulz-Heidorf, K. (2020). What happens before book reading starts? an analysis of teacher–child behaviours with print and digital books. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(570652), 1-12.
21. Gonzalez, J. E., Pollard-Durodola, S., Simmons, D. C., Taylor, A.B., Davis, M. J., Fogarty, M., & Simmons, L. (2014). Enhancing preschool children’s vocabulary: Effects of teacher talk before, during and after shared reading. Early Childhood Research Quarterly 29(2014), 214-226.
22. Jacobs, G. M. (2016). Dialogic reading aloud to promote extensive reading. Extensive Reading in Japan, 9(1), 10-12.
23. Juel, C. (1988). Learning to read and write: A longitudinal study of 54 children from first through fourth grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(4), 437-447.
24. Justice, L. M., & Kaderavek, J. (2002). Using shared story book reading to promote emergent literacy. Teaching Exceptional Children, 34(4), 8-13.
25. Justice, L. M., Jiang, H., & Strasser, K. (2018). Linguistic environment of preschool classrooms: what dimensions support children’s language growth? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 42(2017), 79-92.
26. Kotaman, H., & Kemal Tekin, A. (2017). Informational and fictional books: Young children's book preferences and teachers' perspectives, Early Child Development and Care, 187(3-4), 600-614.
27. Krippendorff, K. (2018). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
28. Leech, K., Wei, R., Harring, J. R., & Rowe, M. L. (2018). A brief parent-focused intervention to improve preschoolers’ conversational skills and school readiness. Developmental Psychology, 54(1), 15-28.
29. Lepola, J., Kajamies, A., Laakkonen, E., & Niemi, P. (2020). Vocabulary, metacognitive knowledge and task orientation as predictors of narrative picture book comprehension: From preschool to grade 3. Reading and Writing, 33,1351–1373.
30. Lepola, J., Kajamies, A., & Tiilikainen, M. (2022). Opportunities and participation in conversations: The roles of teacher’s approaches to dialogic reading and child’s story comprehension. Journal of Early Childhood Education Research, 11(1), 204-232.
31. Lim, C.T., & Chew, F.P. (2017) Using poems in increasing phonological awareness among children. In the 6th International Congress on Interdisciplinary Behavior and Social Science 2017 (ICBSoS 2017), 22-23 July 2017, The Patra Bali Resort & Villas, Bali, Indonesia.
32. Martini, F., & Sénéchal, M. (2012). Learning literacy skills at home: parent teaching, expectations, and
33. child interest. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science. 44(3), 210-221.
34. Mayring P. (2014). Qualitative content analysis: Theoretical background and procedures. In Bikner-Ahsbahs A., Knipping C., Presmeg N. (Eds.). Approaches to qualitative research in mathematics education advances in mathematics education. (pp. 365-380), Dordrecht: Springer.
35. McCaffrey, M., & Hisrich, K. E. (2017). Read-alouds in the classroom: A pilot study of teachers' self-reporting practices. Reading Improvement, 54(3), 93-100.
36. McGuire, P., Himot, B., Clayton, G., Yoo, M., & Logue, M. E. (2021). Booked on math: Developing math concepts in pre-k classrooms using ınteractive read-alouds. Early Childhood Education Journal, 49(2), 313-323.
37. Milbourne, A., & Riglietti, S. (2011). Gökyüzü ne kadar yüksek? (A. Zülal, Çev.). Ankara: Tübitak Yayınları.
38. Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (2015). Nitel veri analizi. (S. Akbaba Altun ve A. Ersoy, Çev. Ed.). Ankara: Pegem Yayınları.
39. Muhinyi A., Hesketh A., Stewart A. J., & Rowland C. F. (2020). Story choice matters for caregiver extra-textual talk during shared reading with preschoolers. Journal of Child Language. 47(3), 633–654.
40. Neuendorf, K. (2017). Defining content analysis. In K. Neuendorf (Ed.). The content analysis guidebook (pp. 1-35). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.
41. Ng, S. C., & Sun, H. (2021). Promoting social emotional learning through shared book reading: Examining teacher’s strategies and children’s responses in kindergarten classrooms. Early Education and Development, 33(8), 1326-1346.
42. Osei, A. M, Jing Liang, Q., Natalia, I., & Abrampah Stephan, M. (2016). The use of pre-reading activities in reading skills achievement in preschool education. European Journal of Educational Research, 5(1), 35-42.
43. Patton, M. Q. (2018). Nitel araştırma ve değerlendirme yöntemleri. (M. Bütün ve S. B. Deir Çev. Ed.). Ankara: Pegem Akademi.
44. Peter, M. S., Durrant S., Jessop A., Bidgood A., Pine J. M., & Rowland C. F. (2019). Does speed of processing or vocabulary size predict later language growth in toddlers? Cognitive Psychology, 115(101238), 1-25.
45. Piasta, S. B., Park, S., Farley, K. S., Justice, L. M., & O'Connell, A. A. (2020). Early childhood educators' knowledge about language and literacy: Associations with practice and children's learning. Dyslexia, 26(2), 137-152.
46. Schreier, M. (2014). Qualitative content analysis. In U. Flick (Ed.), The Sage handbook of qualitative data analysis (pp. 170–183). London: SAGE.
47. Storch, S. A., & Whitehurst, G. J. (2002). Oral language and code-related precursors to reading: Evidence from a longitudinal structural model. Developmental Psychology 38, 934–947.
48. Sun, H., Toh, W., & Steinkrauss, R. (2020). Instructional strategies and linguistic features of kindergarten teachers’ shared book reading: The case of Singapore. Applied Psycholinguistics, 41(2), 427-456.
49. van der Wilt, F., van der Veen, C., & Michaels, S. (2022). The relation between the questions teachersask and children’s language competence. The Journal of Educational Research, 115(1), 64-74.
50. van der Wilt, F., Boerma, I., van Oers, B., & van der Veen, C. (2019). The effect of three interactive reading approaches on language ability: An exploratory study in early childhood education. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 27(4), 566-580.
51. Wasik, B. A., Hindman, A. H., & Snell, E. K. (2016). Book reading and vocabulary development: A systematic review. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 37(4), 39-57.
52. Weadman, T., Serry, T., & Snow, P. C. (2021). Australian early childhood teachers' training in language and literacy: A nation-wide review of pre-service course content. Australian Journal of Teacher Education (Online), 46(2), 29-56.
53. Whitehurst, G. J., Falco, F. L., Lonigan, C., Fischel, J. E., DeBaryshe, B. D., Valdez-Menchaca, M. C., & Caulfield, M. (1988). Accelerating language development through picture book reading. Developmental Psychology, 24(4), 552-559.
54. Whitehurst, G. J., Arnold, D.S., Epstein, J. N., Angell, A. L., Smith, M., & Fischel, J. E. (1994). A Picture book reading intervention in day care and home for children from low-income families. Developmental Psychology, 30(5), 679-689.
55. Whitehurst, G. J., & Lonigan, C. J. (1998). Child development and emergent literacy, Child Development, 69(3), 848-872.
56. Yang, N., Shi, J., Lu, J., & Huang, Y. (2021). Language development in early childhood: Quality of teacher-child ınteraction and children’s receptive vocabulary competency. Frontiers in Psychology, 12(649680), 1-15.
57. Yeşilbaş Özenç, Y. (2022). Eğitim araştırmalarında durum çalışması deseni nasıl kullanılır? Uluslararası Eğitimde Nitel Araştırmalarda Mükemmellik Arayışı Dergisi, 1(2), 57-67.
58. Yıkılmaz-Baran, B. ve Buldur, A. (2022). Okul öncesi öğretmenlerinin okuma etkinliklerindeki kaynak seçim kriterleri. Sivas Cumhuriyet University Educational Sciences Institute Journal, 1(2), 147-156.
59. Yıldırım, A. ve Şimşek, H. (2008). Sosyal bilimlerde nitel araştırma yöntemleri. Ankara: Seçkin Yayınevi.
60. Zivan, M., & Horowitz-Kraus, T. (2020). Parent–child joint reading is related to an increased fixation time on print during storytelling among preschool children. Brain and Cognition, 143(6), 1-8.