“Teacher, is this a book about real things?” Implementing an Intervention Designed to Teach Unconstrained Literacy Skills Using a Dialogic Reading Approach to Non-Fiction Texts

Abstract

This study set out to create an intervention for teaching language and comprehension with a group of Junior Infants. The research explored language and comprehension as components of unconstrained literacy skills and the place of non-fiction texts in a Junior Infant classroom. This involved implementing a dialogic reading approach to specifically themed non-fiction books and analysing how the children’s unconstrained literacy skills were impacted through observations, test, drawings and photographs. The research methodology was action research. The participants involved were the 18 five and six year old children from the researcher’s Junior Infant class, many of whom were learning English as an additional language. It took place over four weeks and involved two phases of an action research cycle. The study also required the researcher to examine and reflect on her own experiences of the study. The results found that the strategies used in dialogic reading did provide a framework of support for teaching unconstrained literacy skills, but the whole class reading sessions were not sufficient for all participants. However, the different ways in which the children demonstrated a development in their language and comprehension skills allowed the researcher to construct a checklist for formative assessment to target specific areas for improvement. The children also demonstrated increased awareness of the non-fiction genre after the intervention and their involvement in the choice of texts increased their motivation and engagement throughout the process.