Program information

Developer and contact

Dialogic Reading is a practice that does not have a single developer responsible for providing information or materials. However, readers interested in using Dialogic Reading practices in their classrooms can refer to sources available through internet searches for information. A list of examples follows, although these sources have not been reviewed or endorsed by the WWC:

• Pearson Early Learning: http://www.pearsonearlylearning.com/products/curriculum/rttt/index.html;
• The Committee for Children: http://www.cfchildren.org/wwf/dialogic;
• Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island in Washington State: http://www.bainbridgeislandrotary.org/default.aspx?c=10052;
• Reading Rockets: http://www.pbs.org/launchingreaders/rootsofreading/meettheexperts_2.html;
• The American Library Association: http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/alscresources/borntoread/bornread.htm.

Scope of use

Dialogic Reading was created in the 1980s and the first published study appeared in 1988 (Whitehurst, Falco, Lonigan, Fischel, DeBaryshe, Valdez-Menchaca, & Caulfield, 1988). ⁴ Information is not available on the number or demographics of children or centers using this intervention.

Teaching

In center-based settings, Dialogic Reading can be used by teachers with children individually or in small groups. Teachers can be trained on the principles of Dialogic Reading through videotape followed by role-playing and group discussion.

While reading books with the child, the adult uses five types of prompts (CROWD):

• Completion: child fills in blank at the end of a sentence.
• Recall: adult asks questions about a book the child has read.
• Open-ended: adult encourages child to tell what is happeningin a picture.
• Wh-: adult asks "wh-" questions about the pictures in books.
• Distancing: adult relates pictures and words in the book to children's own experiences outside of the book.

These prompts are used by the adult in a reading technique called PEER:

• P: adult prompts the child to say something about the book.
• E: adult evaluates the response.
• E: adult expands the child's response.
• R: adult repeats the prompt.

As the child becomes increasingly familiar with a book, the adult reads less, listens more, and gradually uses more higher level prompts to encourage the child to go beyond naming objects in the pictures to thinking more about what is happening in the pictures and how this relates to the child's own experiences.

Cost

Published Dialogic Reading procedures are freely available to the public. Information is not available about the costs of teacher training and implementation of Dialogic Reading.

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