Silke Vanparys
PhD student at the research group 'Language, learning, innovation', within the Department of Educational Sciences, Ghent University.
silke.vanparys@ugent.be | +32 (0) 9 264 86 74| +32 (0)9 264 86 64 (secretariat) | Office 120.100
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Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Gent
Interactive book reading
Primary education
Language development
Vocabulary development
Interactive book reading can be defined as prompting children’s responses in book reading activities by asking open-ended questions or making comments to support children’s enthusiasm and learning opportunities by providing positive reinforcement or relating the text to their real-life experiences. It has been proven to be one of the most promising reading activities to foster children’s general language development and vocabulary development in particular.
Notwithstanding the proven effectiveness, the implementation of this stimulating literacy activity in educational practice as well as the scientific interest for the topic decreases radically when children make the transition from kindergarten to primary school. Therefore, my research aims at providing an integrated view on interactive book reading (IBR) in primary education.
This by (1) uncovering the IBR microstructure to study and clarify the interrelationship between teacher and children’s interaction processes and (2) evaluating the differential effects of IBR on (a) children’s receptive and expressive vocabulary development, (b) depending on the interaction’s abstraction level, and (c) for different groups of children.