Essential Characteristics of Effective Interactive Reading

1) Adult sensitivity and responsiveness: adults should show children that they value children's con­tributions to the storybook reading interaction (Bus & Van Uzendoorn, 1995; Leseman & de Jong, 1998) and this could be done considering different strategies such as observing, waiting, listening, and being face-to-face.


2) Child engagement: There are many examples. One of this can be having children answer questions during storybook readings because it can help to produce greater gains in their expressive vocabulary than reading passively. Pausing to look at pictures, talking about words, and exploring topics of particular interest, allow children to handle reading materials and to turn pages. Remember that deviations from the text can be beneficial. The object of book reading sessions should not be to get through the book or only to read the words on the page but rather to create an enjoyable, high-quality, and sensitive interaction.

3) Repeated reading: Children enjoy reading books multiple times, so…let’s take profit from this. What are the advantages? Just to name mention some: acquisition of the target language will be fostered, children will experience a sense of familiarity due to the meaningful repetition of the story, and in consequence, they will fell more confident in the target language

Justice, L. & K. Pence. 2005. Scaffolding with Storybooks. Newark: IRA.