Teachers use of directives and nondirectives during book reading Sara Reid Advisors: Nancy Creaghead

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Teachers use of directives and non-directives
during book readingSara Reid Advisors
Nancy Creaghead, Ph.D., CCC-SLP and Linda
Sickman, Ph.D., CCC-SLPUniversity of
CincinnatiCollege of Allied Health
SciencesDepartment of Communication Sciences and
Disorders
There was also significantly greater use of
non-directives during the follow-up taping than
at baseline. The teachers use of directives
increased from a mean of 5.33 instances to 18.17
after the book reading program. Overall, each
subtype of non-directives increased from baseline
to follow-up comments went from 11 to 44,
expansions went from 9 to 34, and imitations went
from 12 to 31. See Figure 1 for chart. See
Appendix A for detailed results. DISCUSSION The
results of the study revealed that overall there
was in increase in the use of both directives and
non-directives during book reading. Our analysis
indicated that there was an increase in the total
amount of language used by teachers during book
reading at follow-up. The book reading program
targeted the use of open-ended questions possibly
explaining the large increase in the total number
of questions from baseline. There was also a
significant increase in the teachers use of
non-directives several teachers increased their
use of non-directives from zero in baseline one
teacher went from zero comments in baseline to 29
at follow-up. Specific literacy behaviors
appeared to influence teachers use of directives
and non-directives during book reading.
APPENDIX A
PURPOSE The goal of this research was to examine
teachers use of directives and non-directives
during book reading. RESEARCH QUESTION Is
there a change in the total number of directives
and non-directives, number of directives, number
of non-directives used by teachers during book
reading prior to and following a 10 week program
of modeling behaviors by an SLP? METHODS This
study is part of a larger study, which examined
teacher change in use of literacy enhancement
strategies following modeling by an SLP during an
ongoing, in-classroom book reading program.
Participants Three lead and three assistant
teachers participated in this study.
Procedures Prior to beginning the book reading
program, three lead and three assistant teachers
were videotaped while reading to their children.
The teachers were then videotaped approximately 6
weeks post book reading program. Their use of
directives (questions, elicitations,
instructions, evaluations) and non-directives
(comments, expansions, imitations) were coded and
counted from the videotapes. Directives are acts
that direct the child to do something or require
a response from the child. Directives in this
study were coded into four subtypes including (1)
questions (i.e., yes/no questions, wh-
questions), (2) elicitations (i.e., prompts,
fill-ins), (3) instructions (i.e., direction,
command) and (4) evaluations (i.e., correction,
reward). Non-directives are acts that reproduce,
comment on, or expand the childs actions or
statements. Non-directives in this study were
coded into three subtypes including (1) comments
(i.e., self-talk, parallel talk), (2) expansions
(i.e., adding language to the childs utterance)
and (3) imitation (i.e., repeating what the child
says). RESULTS The t-test for repeated
measures was used to examine the effects of the
book reading program on teachers use of
directives and non-directives during book
reading. There was significantly greater use of
both directives and non-directives during the
follow-up taping than at baseline. The teachers
use of both increased from a mean of 22.67
instances to 61 after the book reading program.
The teachers post-intervention total
communication, including instances in both
directives and non-directives, more than doubled
when compared to baseline (136 to 366). There
was also significantly greater use of directives
during the follow-up taping than at baseline.
The teachers use of directives increased from a
mean of 17.33 instances to 42.83 after the book
reading program. Seventy six percent (76) of
teachers pre-intervention communication was
directives. After the book reading program,
seventy percent (70) of the teachers
communication was directives. These directives
were overwhelmingly found to be in the form of
questions however, all directive types were
observed. All lead and assistant teachers used
questions during baseline and follow-up.
INTRODUCTION The goal of the Head Start program
is to prepare at-risk children to take maximal
advantage of their elementary school education.
It is well known that there is a positive
relationship between preschool skills and future
academic success (Snow, Tabors Dickinson, 2001
Whitehurst Lonigan, 2002). In other words, the
better childrens academic skills when they
emerge from preschool, the more likely they are
to do well in elementary and later school years.
Therefore, the role of the Head Start teacher
with regard to supporting language and literacy
skills is crucial to the children in the
classroom. Children learn the required complex
language skills by exposure to a variety of
language experiences, which may come from verbal
interactions, in addition to the rich language
examples found in books (Zevenbergen
Whitehurst, 2003). Preliteracy and literacy
activities are particularly important in the
preschool years because they foster language and
reading skills simultaneously. Thus, the quality
of teacher-child language and literacy activities
are vital to Head Start children.
Research suggests that language gains
preschoolers obtain from reading is related to
the particular way in which they are read to.
When children are given opportunities to become
active participants in the reading experience by
teachers using certain techniques during the
reading, they show greater language gains than
when teachers simply read the book to the child
(McGee Richgels, 2003). For example, it is
helpful when children are asked questions about
the story so they become more involved in the
reading experience. Research completed on
reading intervention with teachers indicates that
book reading can positively play a role in
affecting childrens language and literacy skills
(Hadley et. al, 2000 Sickman Smith, 2006).
Thus, it is important to examine if and how
teachers language use changes after, in-class
modeling and training by a speech language
pathologist. Research has shown that
teacher-child interactions tend to be dominated
by the teacher leaving fewer opportunities for
child language production (Girolametto et. al,
2000). Typically book reading is a
teacher-directed activity. Examining the
teachers use of directives and non-directives
will help determine whether their style of
language has been influenced by the literacy
enrichment strategies. . A partnership
between a local urban Head Start center and the
University of Cincinnati was established to
support classroom teachers during language and
literacy activities. A book reading program was
instituted at this site at the request of the
Head Start director (Sickman Smith, 2006). One
literacy enhancement strategy was modeled by the
SLP during book reading and then implemented by
the teacher each week for 10 weeks. Each weeks
collaboration was videotaped to examine the
teachers implementation of the literacy
enhancement strategies. Figure 1
Lead teachers Assistant teachers
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