Extra-textual talk in shared book reading: a focus on questioning

In this study we investigated the frequency and types of questions asked when parents read with their four-year-old children, the relationship between the frequency and types of questions parents and children asked, and the relationship between these and the children's early literacy knowledge. Forty dyads shared two narrative texts and two non-narrative texts. Overall, there were relatively few questions asked during the shared book reading. Parents asked four times as many questions as children and for the most part, questions appear to have low cognitive demand. Genre had little effect on the frequency of questions and the types of questions asked, in contrast with other research that has shown differences in interactions in shared reading of informational versus narrative texts. In terms of gender, there was very little difference in both frequency and type of questions. No significant relationships were found between the questions asked in the shared book readings and measures of children's early literacy knowledge (Test of Early Reading Ability 2 and alphabet knowledge). The study is important in that it contributes to an emerging literature that suggests a more tenuous relationship between shared book reading and children's early literacy knowledge than is sometimes assumed by educators.