Examining Reading Alouds in Preschool Education Classrooms in Turkey

Abstract

This study described and examined how reading alouds were carried out in 17 public preschool classrooms in Mugla, Turkey through detailed ethnographic field observations using the OMLIT-RAP that identifies and rates teacher behavior when reading aloud to children. How often read-alouds performed during the week? How long were they? Did dialogues and follow-up activities occur? The results indicated that the quality of reading alouds in public preschool classrooms in Mugla – to be of low-to-moderate degree. Based on the findings of this study, other ways of improving reading alouds can be pinpointed, such as giving one or two vocabulary and accurate comprehension support for each word, having all children join in conversations with teachers during read alouds, expanding on children’s comments about the book, placing the book in the context by mentioning the classroom theme or how the book fits into class activities and extending children’s understanding by tapping into their own experiences to help them comprehend the story.