Read-alouds in kindergarten classrooms and the nature of literary understanding

Abstract

Storytelling and read-alouds have long been integral components of the preschool and kindergarten programs. Indeed, these practices are supposed 1) to demonstrate to children the value of literature and reading through enjoyable experiences; 2) to prepare children to learn to read through the development of linguistic and cognitive skills. These practices, however, have recently been the subject of controversies highlighting their limits. It has been argued, for instance, that storytime is not a « magical silver bullet »: simply immersing children in good literature will not turn them into readers. On the other hand, the use of literature as a teaching tool is often confined to the simplest aspects of narrative comprehension and seldom gives its due to its symbolic and aesthetic dimensions. It will be shown how these limits can be overcome within a literature-based framework where high-quality, demanding literary works provide the basis for an interactive storyreading program including different kinds of activities.