Definition of Terms

Authentic children's literature are fiction written for children for them to read for pleasure, instead of for
didactic purposes, which means no 'reading scheme' books that has controlled vocabulary (Ghosn, 2002)
Shared reading is an interactive reading experience, where students and teacher share the reading experience
Sight words refer to words that usually cannot be phonetically decoded, words that are most fre!uently used and
repeated in books, which is why sight words are also sometimes referred to as "high#fre!uency" words $ight words are
usually based on the %olch &asic $ight 'ord (ist, published by )dward 'illiam %olch in *+,*
Low socioeconomic status is defined as "the extent to which an individual does without resources" (-ayne,
*++., p/)
Big books are oversi0ed books (referred to as big books) with enlarged print and illustrations 1s the teacher
reads the book aloud, all of the children who are being read to can see and appreciate the print and illustrations
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Research Theory And Framework
2he shared reading approach is very much related to 3ygotsky's view of cognitive development and
scaffolding )ffective learning involves high !uality interaction, particularly with more knowledgeable people, as
3ygotsky believed that cognitive and language development is highly linked to input from others ($lavin, 2004) 2he
concept of modeling the correct reading strategies done by the teacher during a shared reading session is in line with
3ygotsky's theory of language and cognitive development (earning takes place when children are working in their
0one of proximal development(5-%), according to 3ygotsky 6n layman's terms, 5-% is simply the gap between a child
being able to carry out an activity without any help or support and an activity which the child cannot complete without
the guidance of someone more knowledgeable(7ead, 200/) 8unctions within the 0one of proximal development are
ones that children cannot yet do independently but could do with the assistance of a higher order thinking peer or
teacher 2he steps taken in the shared reading method in this study will incorporate 3ygotsky's theories by first
modeling the correct reading strategies and then inviting the children to chime in in parts that have familiar phrases,
familiarising the children with the story through meaningful interactions until the children could read the story on their
own
'2eacher modeling, or showing kids how, includes explaining the strategy, thinking aloud about the mental
processes used to construct meaning and demonstrating when and why it is most effective 2hinking aloud about
what's going on inside our heads as we read allows us to make invisible visible and the implicit explicit'(9iller,
2002)
3ygotsky is a champion for active participation and interaction, and shared reading offers many opportunities to do
so
$caffolding is an expansion and extended version of 3ygotskyan principles, and it is developed by 'ood, &runer
and 7oss(*+/.) 1ccording to &runer, scaffolding refers to 'the steps taken to reduce the freedom in carrying out some
task so that the child can concentrate on the difficult skill she is in the process of ac!uiring'(&runer, *+/:, *+) 6t is a
process of setting up the activity so that it will be easy for the child and gradually pulling back and handing the reins to
the child as she gains more and more skills to manage it (&runer, *+:4) 2he trick for teachers is to know when to step
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in and how to gradually give up control, which is a skill on its own 1s 3ygotsky summed it up nicely ''hat the child
can do with assistance today she will be able to do by herself tomorrow'(3ygotsky, *+/:, p:/)
2he shared reading model was introduce by ;oldaway(<+/+) 6t is built from the research that storybook reading is
a very important factor in young children's reading development ;oldaway found out through research that children
who have parents or adults read their favourite stories to them repeatedly until the child takes over gradually when he
becomes very familiar with the text will eventually go on to have successful language experiences in school ;e then
proceeded to adapt the 'bedtime story' model to the classroom there were a number of home literacy events and
practices which characterised the language experience of successful children 2wo of the ma=or findings were that,
firstly, many had favourite stories read to them, and with them, repeatedly> and secondly, gradually the child was
encouraged to take over more and more of the responsibility for making sense of the text himself ;e modelled the
approach to how the adults talk about the stories with their children, rather than simply read to them and gradually
passing on the 'responsibility' of making meaning of the text to the children, which demonstrates a form of scaffolding
taking place ?ustice @ -ence (200A) expand this idea, explaining that in shared reading the teacher intentionally
encourages and supports the student's engagement and participation
2here is an exhaustive list of scholarly articles that advocate the use of stories for early literacy development
1ccording to Brashen (*+:2) in his famous affective filter hypothesis when it comes to second language ac!uisition,
stories lower the young learners' affective filter, allowing them to learn more easily 7egular shared reading from a
young age has consistently been shown to correlate positively with language development ($enechal @ Cornell, *++4#
as cited in Bindle, 20**) 1 study of children *: months and older found significantly higher receptive and expressive
vocabulary in children who were read to more often (;igh et al, 2000) $hared reading has also been found to have a
significant impact on vocabulary development, listening comprehension and understanding of print concepts(Bindle,
20**) 6n $hared 7eading, children participate in reading, learn critical concepts of how print works, get the feel of
learning and begin to perceive themselves as readers (8ountas @ -innell, *++.) 9ost prominently, )lley (*+:A), shares
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that Dew 5ealand pupils who have shared reading more often, make rapid gains and develop more positive feelings
about books6as cited in Bindle, 20**)
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2he model used by the teachers in doing their shared reading will be very much based on ;oldaway's model
and the scaffolding theory, and was presented by 7osidah 1bu &akar in the &ritish Council '2eacher as 7esearcher'
$ymposium
;ow to Conduct a $hared 7eading $ession
1) 6ntroduce the story
E 2alk about the title cover, author, illustrations
E Get students to predict what the story might be about
&)7ead the story aloud
E Fse the appropriate tone, inflection
E -ause and interact with the students appropriately 1sk them ''hat's nextG'
E 1sk !uestions to check student's comprehension level
C)Conclude the reading
E 1sk !uestions about the story and relate it to the students' similar experiences
%)conduct follow up activities
E 1ny appropriate activity that relates to the story eg games, chants, making a puppet
2o select the appropriate book, according to Ghosn(2002),
E 2hemes#9ake sure the themes are universal
E $toryline# Clear, uncomplicated storyline with a satisfying ending
E (anguage#&ased on what target language the teacher chooses to highlight -redictable
repetitions are good
E 6llustrations#Good illustration that opens up possibilities for discussions or eliciting ideas
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Research Design
2his research will be conducted as an in #depth case study, involving two Hear 4 )nglish teachers6t is designed to
pursue key issues that emerge from the observation notes so as to add detail and depth to the teachers' views on these
issues
2his research will apply semi#structured interviews to look atIunderstand teachers' views on the shared reading
method and the use of authentic children literature in the classroom $tudents will be pre#tested to find out their
knowledge of certain basic sight words before the treatment begins 2he students are sub=ected to a post#test to measure
if there is a significant increase in their sight word recognition 2he post#test will be the same as the pre#test
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