Teacher’s Awareness and Practice in Fostering Children’s Development Through Shared Book Reading: A Case Study

Abstract

Shared book reading is a beneficial method in fostering children's learning and development in many aspects, such as language learning, emergent literacy, and cognitive development. This study examined teachers' awareness of the benefits attributed to shared book reading for children's learning, their intentional pedagogical decisions in practice, and the deliberateness and rationale behind their pedagogical decisions. Three teachers were observed in their shared book reading sessions, and participated in one-on-one interviews, to shape an image of these teachers' personal beliefs and professional philosophies, as a small group relative to the practicing teachers in New Zealand. For the findings of this study, teachers demonstrated an understanding of the benefits that shared book reading brings to the children. Teachers were observed to be intentional in their pedagogical decisions and interactions with the children during shared book-reading sessions. However, a disconnect between teachers' professional knowledge and the rationale behind their pedagogical decisions could be observed. The effectiveness of professional development training was observed in this study, where teachers were better able to elaborate on their pedagogical decisions, and make connections between their professional knowledge and actions. However, professional development training was only observed to be effective in some cases. In conclusion, this study provided some insight into the perspectives and practices of three practicing teachers in New Zealand and examined the relationship between teachers' professional knowledge and their practice.