Many Prompts, Few Expansions: Preservice Early Childhood Educators’ Implementation of Dialogic Reading

Shared reading sessions utilizing dialogic reading methods have shown promise in supporting children’s language development and comprehension, though variability in implementation among practitioners remains a concern. This study analyzed 33 videotaped, one-on-one dialogic reading sessions implemented by 14 Chilean preservice early childhood educators and children aged 1 to 6. In total, 1289 sequences were examined for adherence to the PEER structure (prompt, evaluate, expand, and repeat), prompt type, and rate and length of children’s answer. Results showed that, on average, PSECEs executed sequences of 1.75 steps, with only 5% of all sequences reaching the final step. Furthermore, the study investigated the types of prompts employed by PSECEs. Notably, 69% of the prompts included questions, with wh-word-initiated questions comprising 46% of the total questions. Within this category, 16% were classified as high-challenge. Merely 7% of all prompts featured high-challenge questions. Children’s response rates were notably higher for prompts containing questions compared to other types of prompts, as well as for those containing wh-questions compared to other question types. Moreover, children’s answers were observed to be longer in response to prompts including high-challenge questions in contrast to other prompt types. Implications of these findings and future lines of research are discussed.