ABSTRACT

Research Findings: This study used sequential analysis to investigate teachers’ use of literal and inferential questions and their relation to children’s responses during small-group shared reading in preschool. Participants were 202 dual-language learners (age 3–5 years) and 53 preschool teachers in multiethnic preschool classrooms in Norway. Teacher questions and child responses were coded for their inferential level, ranging from lower-order literal to higher-order inferential levels. Sequential analysis was employed to examine in which ways dual-language learners aligned their responses with the level of the preschool teachers’ questions. We found that teacher questions were highly likely to elicit child responses on the same level, with higher-order inferential questions consistently followed by higher-order inferential child responses. Practice or Policy: The results suggest that preschool teachers can use not only literal but also more challenging inferential questions with dual-language learners and in this way, actively engage them in complex inferential talk during shared reading.

摘要

研究成果：本研究使用序贯分析来调查教师在学前班小组共享阅读中使用文字和推理问题及其与儿童反应的关系。参与者是挪威多民族学前班教室的 202 名双语学习者（3-5 岁）和 53 名学前教师。教师的问题和孩子的回答根据他们的推理水平进行编码，范围从低阶文字到高阶推理水平。采用序贯分析来检查双语学习者如何将他们的回答与学前教师的问题水平相匹配。我们发现，教师的问题很可能引起儿童在同一水平上的反应，高阶推理问题始终跟随高阶推理儿童反应。实践或政策：结果表明，学前班教师不仅可以对双语学习者使用字面的问题，还可以使用更具挑战性的推理问题，这样，在共享阅读期间积极地让他们参与复杂的推理对话。