The investigation of higher order thinking skills using alternative modes of dialogic reading methods

Objectives: To investigate whether the interactive dialogic reading modes can better enhance preschoolers’ higher order thinking skills compared to typical story telling mode on acquiring the concepts of depression through story book sharing. The study also compared the learning effectiveness in collaborative and individual dialogic reading modes so as to investigate for group size effect for dialogic reading. Method: Participants were 86 kindergarten children at 3 local kindergartens and they were assigned into 3 groups (group 1-typical story telling group n=32; group 2- collaborative dialogic reading group n=30; group 3- individual dialogic reading group n=24) by cluster sampling. All participants were firstly assessed by Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices Test and a preliminary question about depression’s definition. Then the story tellers shared the story about depression to three groups of children according to each group’s reading requirements, standardized scripts and interaction guidelines. Results: Results showed that the dialogic reading groups has significant better performance on thinking skills of understanding and applying compared to typical story telling group. Conclusion: Findings suggest that dialogic reading modes enhanced some higher thinking skills (understanding and applying) for children. Thus, the dialogic reading modes, either collaborative or individual, are recommended in preschool educational setting. The roles of core components in dialogic reading on learning are discussed. All rights reserved.