Tweak the Talk: 3 Ways to Elevate Classroom Conversation
Picture books are a robust source of interesting words, complex language structures, fascinating information and captivating ideas. Did you know that, in today’s children’s literature, these elements are more sophisticated than the language adults typically use with children (Montag, Jones, and Smith)? Therefore, when it comes to language development, read aloud is one of your most powerful tools.
To get the most out of read aloud time, you must be intentional:
About book choice: choosing texts with complex ideas, vocabulary and language structures.
About planning meaningful discussion points with high-quality questions and discussion prompts.
About creating extensions for repeated exposures and authentic use.
Yes - turn and talks can check for active listening, understanding and processing, but Burkins & Yates, in their popular book Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom, remind us of Whitehurst et al. 1998 research on dialogic talk. This dialogic conversation strategy has repeatedly demonstrated to increase the oral language of children by many months.
With three simple tweaks, you can raise the level of read aloud discussions and increase word acquisition:
Engage: ask open-ended questions
Repeat: say back the child’s response, integrating any corrections in an authentic and natural way
Expand: Expand the language with a new word, phrase, or idea.
For more information on dialogic talk, see Michael Graves’s The Vocabulary Book: Learning and Instruction.
While simple, Burkins and Yates cautions us that these three tweaks take a little practice to implement fluently and authentically. Once comfortable with this tool in interactive read aloud, you can apply it across the day in any discussion or conversation.
