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,

1
Let's read a book! Reading aloud in
preschool to support children's language
developmentAn evaluation of a development
project in a Swedish municipalityKarin
Renblad and Jane BrodinSchool of Education and
Communication (HLK), PreschoolResearch,
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

2
The project Lets read a book

• is part of a three year long cooperation between
  a municipality in Jönköpings 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

3
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

4
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

5
Cont preschool

• A majority of all children (1-5 yrs) attend
  preschool and preschool thus plays a key role in
  childrens 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

6
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)

7
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)

8
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)

9
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.

10
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

11
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

12
Lets 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

13
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

14
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

15
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

16
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

17
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)

18
Childrens influence on the choice of books

• The childrens 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

19
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

20
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)

21
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)

22
Conclusion - The staffs 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.

23
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 childrens concentration ability

24
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

25
Lets read a book project

• Many preschools are working with reading aloud
  and storytelling BUT they dont follow up,
  reflect on and discuss the most important the
  content
• This study is one out of a number of sub-studies
  conducted in order to develop and improve the
  systematic quality work in preschool in a Swedish
  municipality

26
For further information please contact

• Karin.renblad_at_hlk.hj.se
• Jane.brodin_at_hlk.hj.se