Teacher–child interactions during shared book reading in the domain of early mathematics

This study examined the teacher–child interactions during shared book reading (SBR) in the domain of early mathematics. We investigated preschool teachers’ and children’s talk in terms of (1) communicative acts, mathematical focus, and level of abstraction (literal versus inferential), (2) the sequential relation between teacher’s talk and children’s mathematical inferential talk, and (3) the contribution of the type of picture book (mathematical versus non-mathematical) and teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (MPCK) to the amount of mathematical inferential talk and the strength of the sequential relation. Twelve preschool teachers read one mathematical and one non-mathematical picture book to their preschoolers, resulting in 24 reading sessions. All 24 sessions were video-recorded, transcribed, and coded. Our analyses revealed that teachers’ mathematical talk was dominated by initiations, follow-ups and comments, and children’s mathematical talk by responses and comments. About 30% of teachers’ mathematical initiations and children’s mathematical responses were inferential; approximately 25% of children’s mathematical comments were inferential. Next, we observed a strong sequential relation between teachers’ mathematical inferential prompts and children’s mathematical inferential responses. Finally, the type of picture book, but not preschool teachers’ MPCK, contributed to the SBR interaction: preschool teachers formulated more inferential elaborative follow-ups when reading a mathematical compared to a non-mathematical picture book, and the sequential relation between teacher’s mathematical inferential prompts and children’s mathematical inferential responses was stronger for mathematical picture books.