Problem-solving during shared reading at kindergarten

Abstract

This paper reports on a conversation analytic study of problem-solving interactions during shared reading at three kindergartens in the Netherlands. It illustrates how teachers and pupils discuss book characters’ problems that arise in the events in the picture books. A close analysis of the data demonstrates that problem-solving interactions do not only occur when directly asked for by the teacher; more importantly, pupils are found to be oriented to problem-solving without being explicitly invited to do so. Our analyses show that shared reading offers pupils room for hypothesising where teachers and pupils can discuss possible solutions for the problems experienced by the book characters. By using problem-solving to talk and think about problematic book-related events, pupils from 4 to 6 years old practise basic elements of problem-solving that are important from a developmental perspective.

Keywords:

• classroom discourse
• young children
• problem-solving
• shared reading
• conversation analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The picture books and instructions used in this study were respectively selected and developed within the PIcture Books and COncept Development (PICO) project, a co-operation between the Freudenthal Institute Utrecht, the University of Tilburg and the University of Groningen.