Abstract

Young children have considerable opportunity to participate in shared experiences during the school day to maximize the potential for language and literacy development. They are encouraged to interact socially and to engage in classroom talk and personal conversations as they participate in class experiences. However, the extent of the communicative exchange may be limited by the classroom teacher’s dominance over the communication. This paper reports on an initial study that examined the shared communications five year old children in three pre primary classrooms engaged in during whole group storybook reading sessions. Each teacher used communication categories containing directives, questions, statements and responses. However, differences were noted in emphasis and frequency of use. The children in each classroom engaged in collaborative communication when opportunities were presented to them. Differences identified in the children’s contributions were attributed to the approach taken by the teacher, the children’s’ background knowledge and experiences and the content of the storybook selected by the teacher. Results of this initial study suggest the storybook reading session has the potential for developing reciprocal communication opportunities for both the classroom teacher and young children.