A Read-Aloud Storybook Selection System for Prereaders at the Preschool Language Level: A Pilot Study
Publication: Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
Volume 58, Number 4
Pages 1273-1291
Abstract
Purpose
Many well-accepted systems for determining difficulty level exist for books children read independently, but few are available for determining the wide range of difficulty levels of storybooks read aloud to preschoolers. Also, the available tools list book characteristics only on the basis of parents' or authors' opinions. We created an empirically derived difficulty-level system on the basis of 22 speech-language pathologists' (SLPs) judgments of specific storybooks used in preschooler read-alouds.
Method
SLPs sorted 11 storybooks into ranked stacks on the basis of how difficult they thought the storybooks would be for preschoolers to understand when read aloud. SLPs described each stack globally as well as why they assigned each storybook to a particular stack. From transcriptions of the explanations, we derived a glossary of book characteristics using content analysis. We created a difficulty-level scale using a multivariate analysis technique that simultaneously analyzed book sorts and glossary terms.
Results
The book selection system includes a glossary of book characteristics, a 4-level difficulty scale, and exemplar books for each level.
Conclusion
This empirically derived difficulty-level system created for storybooks read aloud to preschoolers represents a step toward filling a gap in the read-aloud literature.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
Volume 58 • Number 4 • August 2015
Pages: 1273-1291
PubMed: 26089030
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
History
- Received: Feb 7, 2015
- Revised: May 27, 2015
- Accepted: May 28, 2015
- Published in issue: Aug 1, 2015
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- Yagmur Seven, John Ferron, Howard Goldstein, Effects of Embedding Decontextualized Language Through Book-Sharing Delivered by Mothers and Fathers in Coparenting Environments, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00206, 63, 12, (4062-4081), (2020).
- Susan Hendler Lederer, Toni A. Abruzzino, We Are in a Book: Using Metafictive Picture Books to Facilitate Emergent Literacy Goals, Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 10.1044/2020_PERSP-20-00074, 5, 5, (1120-1130), (2020).
- Amy Louise Schwarz, Meagan Jurica, Charlsa Matson, Rachel Stiller, Taylor Webb-Culver, Hervé Abdi, Storybook selection criteria used by teachers of d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing prereaders communicating in English, Deafness & Education International, 10.1080/14643154.2019.1572284, 22, 3, (176-211), (2019).
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