Experiences of constructing physical and social knowledge in child-adult interactions: An experimental study on dialogic teaching and storybook reading

It has been believed that preschoolers in the pre-operational stage of cognitive development are not capable of logically operating conservations of measurement of length, size, and volume. However, contrary perspectives challenged this position and argued that children’s inability to conserve measurement is not because of a deficiency in their conceptual mechanism, but a lack of recognition when to use them. Effective communication between speakers and learners of knowledge can establish a mutual mental context for comprehension and thus promote cognitive development. As a storybook-reading technique, dialogic reading is such a communication process that can accelerate children’s language learning and academic development with children and adults engaged in potentially desirable patterns of interaction during the storybook reading time. Children learn to negotiate meanings through social interactions with other people in social settings. Texts facilitate discourses to develop a shared language. This study will explore the effect of the teacher-child dialogic reading on kindergarten children’s constructions of physical knowledge (i.e., measurement conservation) and social knowledge (i.e., conflict resolutions). Measurement of children’s social orientation, self-regulation, peer interaction, and play behavior will also be explored to investigate any potential impact. Forty-eight K2 children from four different kindergartens with different socioeconomic backgrounds will be recruited. The results are expected to contribute to an effective teaching method that can enhance preschoolers’ cognitive development and wellbeing. Copyright © 2020 International Conference on Learning and Teaching.