Interactive Book Reading with Expository Science Texts in Preschool Special Education Classrooms

Expository, or informational, text can be defined as a type of nonfiction that describes a topic categorically by moving from subtopic to subtopic with the intent to teach content or convey information (Maloch & Bomer, 2013). One vehicle for teaching the text structure and language of expository...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inGrantee Submission Vol. 49; no. 3; pp. 185 - 193
Main Authors Breit-Smith, Allison, Busch, Jamie D, Dinnesen, Megan Schneider, Guo, Ying
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 2017
Subjects
Content Area Reading
Early Childhood Education
Group Activities
Group Discussion
Language Skills
Preschool Education
Reading Aloud to Others
Reading Strategies
Science Instruction
Special Education
Teaching Methods
Vocabulary Development
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Summary:Expository, or informational, text can be defined as a type of nonfiction that describes a topic categorically by moving from subtopic to subtopic with the intent to teach content or convey information (Maloch & Bomer, 2013). One vehicle for teaching the text structure and language of expository text to preschool-age children is through interactive book reading. Although interactive book reading has traditionally used narrative texts to teach text structure (i.e., story grammar) and content, the activity of interactive book reading has a lot to offer teachers who want to expand understanding of text structure and build children's language and vocabulary in particular. Yet, simply exposing preschool children to expository text through read-alouds is likely not enough to build a foundation for the language of expository text for children, particularly given the language needs of those with language or learning disabilities (e.g., language impairment, autism spectrum disorder). Rather, it may be more beneficial to build this foundation through a strategic approach, such as explicit instruction focused on a text structure. This article describes an approach conducted in repeated whole- or small-group book readings that can be specialized for the needs of students with language-based disabilities. Three components that can be used as a guide when teaching life science using a sequence text structure are provided. [This article was published in "TEACHING Exceptional Children" (EJ1140398).]