Impact of Adult Vocabulary Noneliciting and Eliciting Questions on the Novel Vocabulary Acquisition of Preschoolers Enrolled in Head Start

Abstract

A variety of adult questioning styles may accompany shared storybook reading to help preschoolers' word learning. This experiment utilized a blocked randomized design to investigate the impact of two adult questioning styles—vocabulary noneliciting questions and vocabulary eliciting questions—on the novel vocabulary learning of preschoolers enrolled in Head Start. Results indicate that children who were asked vocabulary noneliciting questions, or questions that included novel words, had significantly higher receptive word knowledge posttest scores than children who were asked questions that elicited the novel words. In addition, vocabulary noneliciting questions facilitated children's initial associations of the novel label and referent during the storybook reading more so than eliciting questions. This study may inform practices for promoting preschoolers' novel vocabulary learning in the context of shared storybook reading. Implications for adults working with children enrolled in Head Start are discussed.

Keywords:

• storybook
• reading
• novel vocabulary
• questioning
• Head Start

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank Melissa Burnham, Ron Fannin, and Claudia Sanchez for their valuable contributions to this work.

This study was partially supported by a Helen M. Robinson dissertation grant of the International Reading Association awarded to Bridget A. Walsh. An earlier version of this work was presented at the annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children in Washington, DC.