Can Explaining Less Be More? Enhancing Vocabulary through Explicit versus Elaborative Storytelling

Autor/inn/en	Vaahtoranta, Enni; Suggate, Sebastian; Jachmann, Cornelia; Lenhart, Jan; Lenhard, Wolfgang
Titel	Can Explaining Less Be More? Enhancing Vocabulary through Explicit versus Elaborative Storytelling
Quelle	In: First Language, 38 (2018) 2, S.198-217 (20 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0142-7237
DOI	10.1177/0142723717737452
Schlagwörter	Vocabulary Development; Story Telling; Language Acquisition; Preschool Children; Pretests Posttests; Fairy Tales; Comparative Analysis; Reading Aloud to Others; Nonverbal Communication; Definitions; Figurative Language; Mixed Methods Research; Receptive Language; Foreign Countries; German; Multivariate Analysis; Intelligence Tests; Cognitive Development; Young Children; Germany; Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Wortschatzarbeit; Sprachaneignung; Spracherwerb; Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Fairy tale; Fairytale; Fairytales; Fairy-tale; Fairy-tales; Märchen; Non-verbal communication; Nonverbale Kommunikation; Begriffsbestimmung; Rezeptive Kommunikationsfähigkeit; Ausland; Deutscher; Multivariate Analyse; Intelligence test; Intelligenztest; Kognitive Entwicklung; Frühe Kindheit; Deutschland
Abstract	Shared reading represents an established practice to foster preschool vocabulary development, particularly when coupled with explicit instruction in word meanings. However, a question remains as to whether explicit word definitions detract from story delivery and hence language learning. Accordingly, this study compared explicit versus story-focused, elaborative storytelling in a 2 × 2 pre-posttest randomized and counterbalanced mixed design with 63 preschoolers. Children were told two fairytales daily across three sessions in either explicit or elaborative conditions, whereby target words were accompanied with either an explicit (e.g., definition, question) or elaborative (e.g., gesture, metaphor, rhetorical question) word learning technique. Stories were either read aloud or freely told by experimenters. Both conditions resulted in similarly large gains in target vocabulary and performance on a story retelling. Some differential effects were found, with there being a larger difference between explained versus incidental words in the explicit condition. Furthermore, children in the elaborative condition were less restless during storytelling. The findings suggest that both elaborative as well as explicit approaches promote vocabulary growth and provide some evidence of differential effects for child behavior during storytelling. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01