| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立屏東教育大學 === 英語學系 === 97 === The purpose of this study is to explore parent-child interactions in shared Chinese picture book reading and to compare the differences in English reading. This study further examines the tendency of parents’ and children’s verbal interactions and the regulation of their interactions in shared reading. There were seven parent-child pairs in this study and they read a total of three Chinese and three English picture books. The interactions of the seven pairs in forty-two reading sessions were videotaped and analyzed. The data were also collected from observations, audio recordings, fieldnotes, and semi-structured interviews. The coding system of parent-child verbal interactions was adapted from Baker et al.’s (2001), Dickinson et al.’s (1992), Kertoy’s (1994), and Chiu’s (2002) classifications.
The findings showed that parent-child frequently attributed the reasons of book selection to the front cover, and most parents let their children choose favorite books. Parents and children put different foci on the reasons for book selection. Some reasons were favored by parents, such as the front cover in Chinese reading; children tended to choose a book because of the front cover or reading experiences. In selecting English books, parents preferred to give suggestions, while children chose books because of personal interests. When parent-child talked about the front cover, parents frequently talked about the title and word learning in Chinese reading, while children tended to read the title and describe the pictures of the front covers. In discussing the front cover in English reading, parents talked more about the title and picture description, but children preferred to talk about picture description and word learning. The majority of verbal interactions were from parents in Chinese and English reading. Parents read Chinese texts through verbatim reading, paraphrase, picture and text reading, and simplification, while they read English texts through translation and verbatim reading. Parents would ask their children to read or children sometimes read for parents. When children couldn’t read smoothly, parents chimed reading with them.
The discussion within the text revealed that parents and children employed various ways to discuss the story. Parent-child frequently talked about pictures and rarely talked about word meanings/learning in Chinese reading. In English discussion, however, parent-child preferred to talk more about pictures and word meaning/learning. The majority of discussions within the text were from parents, especially in explanation, paraphrase, and elaboration in Chinese reading, and word meanings/learning and paraphrase in English reading. Although children were able to construct meanings with parents, they relied on parents’ guidance. In regard to discussion beyond the text, parent-child preferred to discuss life experiences and comments in both Chinese and English reading. It is found that life experiences and comments facilitated conversational turn-taking. Compared with their English reading, parents and children had fewer talks on pictorial texts in Chinese reading, especially in interpreting pictures. Parent-child’s language level significantly affected their verbal interactions in Chinese and English reading.
Based on the results, the researcher offered two suggestions to parents and children. First, those families who are interested in shared reading can refer to parent-child interaction patterns in this study to undertake shared Chinese and English reading. Second, parents can combine with various verbal interactions according to children’s ability and interests to create pleasurable reading experiences.
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