In our interactive content-enriched shared book reading approach, critical and explicit word and world connections are facilitated through the following practices:1.Accelerating knowledge and vocabulary via thematically and conceptually related book reading content. In a “topic immersion” approach, adults read books organized by relevant high-priority science and social studies themes over an extended Nutlin3a of time (Hirsch, 2006). A topic immersion approach is facilitated with repeated readings of storybooks and informational texts paired by broad universal themes about life, nature, and society. While storybooks allow children to talk about a character and main idea related to the topic, informational texts can be used to extend and build knowledge around specialized words that are essential for accelerating comprehension (Duke & Bennett-Armistead, & Roberts, 2003; Neuman & Roskos, 2007).2.Accelerating knowledge and vocabulary via multiple opportunities to engage in instructional conversations or dialogues that provide a foundation for building complex vocabulary for higher-order cognitive tasks (e.g., making inferences) (Tharp & Gallimore, 1991). These interactive dialogues around challenging content are made possible via language strategies (Sentence stem: Say, “I see a (vine growing around a pole).”) teachers use to push students’; conversational and conceptual thinking abilities beyond what they can accomplish on their own ( August et al., 2014). Appropriate scaffolds for young DLLs in preschool dual language programs include modeling difficult tasks (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2004), using visuals that depict word meanings in different contexts (Silverman, 2007), and adult-child interactions with clarifications to facilitate comprehension (Yes, difference means that something is not the same.) ( Koskinen et al., 2000). These dialogue opportunities allow preschool DLLs to engage in social interactions during academic discussions.
1.5. Overview and study purpose
In a previous design-based experiment (Gonzalez et al., 2011 and Pollard-Durodola et al., 2011), the authors extended prior shared book reading research by examining the effectiveness of the Project Words of Oral Reading and Language Development (WORLD) multi-dimensional approach that integrated (a) high-priority science and social studies background knowledge via content-related visuals, (b) complementary thematic pairings of storybooks and informational texts to provide multiple exposures to conceptually related topics, (c) brief in-context definitions around semantically related words (e.g., liquid, melt, freeze), and (d) ongoing cumulative reviews to reinforce the essential building blocks of information within a content domain (Simmons et al., 2008). This pedagogical approach originated from a three-year collaborative effort of researchers and preschool teachers in high-poverty preschool settings who implemented the intervention in two randomized control trials while providing feedback on the feasibility and usability of the shared book reading instructional components (Pollard-Durodola, Gonzalez, & Simmons, 2014). Curricular modifications were made at the end of each experiment based on teacher recommendations via focus group discussions.
These RCTs were conducted with native English-speaking preschool children who were at risk for comprehension difficulties as indicated by initial receptive vocabulary outcomes (below the 30th percentile on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test [PPVT]) (Gonzalez et al., 2011 and Pollard-Durodola et al., 2011). Specifically, we examined the effectiveness of thematic content instruction (science and social studies) embedded in daily 20-min interactive shared book reading lessons with groups of preschool and Head Start children - predominantly African American and English-proficient Latinos - who required intensive language and knowledge extensions.
In the first experiment (12 weeks in length), treatment students scored significantly higher on researcher-developed receptive and expressive measures than students in the practice-as-usual condition (Pollard-Durodola et al., 2011). However, there were no statistically significant main effects for condition on standardized language measures. We hypothesized the larger grouping size (n = 9-10 students) and short intervention <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
1.5. Overview and study purpose
In a previous design-based experiment (Gonzalez et al., 2011 and Pollard-Durodola et al., 2011), the authors extended prior shared book reading research by examining the effectiveness of the Project Words of Oral Reading and Language Development (WORLD) multi-dimensional approach that integrated (a) high-priority science and social studies background knowledge via content-related visuals, (b) complementary thematic pairings of storybooks and informational texts to provide multiple exposures to conceptually related topics, (c) brief in-context definitions around semantically related words (e.g., liquid, melt, freeze), and (d) ongoing cumulative reviews to reinforce the essential building blocks of information within a content domain (Simmons et al., 2008). This pedagogical approach originated from a three-year collaborative effort of researchers and preschool teachers in high-poverty preschool settings who implemented the intervention in two randomized control trials while providing feedback on the feasibility and usability of the shared book reading instructional components (Pollard-Durodola, Gonzalez, & Simmons, 2014). Curricular modifications were made at the end of each experiment based on teacher recommendations via focus group discussions.
These RCTs were conducted with native English-speaking preschool children who were at risk for comprehension difficulties as indicated by initial receptive vocabulary outcomes (below the 30th percentile on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test [PPVT]) (Gonzalez et al., 2011 and Pollard-Durodola et al., 2011). Specifically, we examined the effectiveness of thematic content instruction (science and social studies) embedded in daily 20-min interactive shared book reading lessons with groups of preschool and Head Start children - predominantly African American and English-proficient Latinos - who required intensive language and knowledge extensions.
In the first experiment (12 weeks in length), treatment students scored significantly higher on researcher-developed receptive and expressive measures than students in the practice-as-usual condition (Pollard-Durodola et al., 2011). However, there were no statistically significant main effects for condition on standardized language measures. We hypothesized the larger grouping size (n = 9-10 students) and short intervention <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wi