Enhancing 3–4-year-old rural Chinese children’s theory of mind: a randomized control trial to evaluate a parent-involved school-based dialogic reading intervention programme

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study examined the effect of dialogic reading intervention on improving the theory of mind of rural Chinese children. A 12-week-randomized controlled trial design with two intervention groups, i.e. school practice intervention (SPI), parent-involved intervention (PII), and one control group with traditional reading intervention (TRI) that provided data at pre-, mid-, post-test, and follow-up tests, was adopted. Seventy-five children participated in the study, with twenty-five participants in each group. Results indicated the gain scores of ToM score from pre to mid-tests and pre- to post-tests of the two intervention groups were higher than the control group. The PII group showed higher gain scores in the mid- and post-test than the SPI group. The intervention effects were well maintained in the SPI and PII groups during the two-month follow-up assessment. The findings indicated school-based dialogic reading can effectively promote ToM development and has a maintenance effect, especially when parents are engaged.KEYWORDS: Dialogic readingtheory of mindparental involvementyoung childrenintervention Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsJie WangJie Wang, a graduate student in Pre-school Education at Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University. Her research direction is child psychological development.Yunpeng WuYunpeng Wu, a PhD of Psychology, a Lecturer at School of Teacher Education, Dezhou University. His areas of interest in study are child mental health, personality and social development. His most recent research focuses on preschoolers' social and emotional development.Jianfen WuJianfen Wu is a professor at the Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, China. She obtained her PhD degree from the East China Normal University in 2006. Her current and previous research interests include children's cognitive development, child bullying, peer communication, theory of mind, mixed-age education, and adolescent development. She is the deputy director and secretary-general of the Professional Committee of Pre-School Family and Social Education of Zhejiang Pre-School Education Research Association.Yu GongYu Gong, a graduate student in Pre-school Education at Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University. She focuses on the cognitive and social development of children in her study.Yali DongYali Dong, a graduate student in Pre-school Education at Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University. She focuses on the cognitive and social development of children in her study.Li LiLi Li, a graduate student in Pre-school Education at Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University. Her research direction is child psychological development.Heyue FangHeyue Fang, a graduate student in Pre-school Education at Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University. Her research direction is child psychological development.