Louise Rosenblatt's well-known concept of stance distinguishes between efferent reading (reading to take something away from the text) and aesthetic reading (reading for the experience of dwelling in the text). This article proposes a refinement to this binary, adding the concept of afferent reading. Afference, in biology, means a bringing-to, and…

The personal formation of students is an important goal in Religious Education in secondary schools in the Netherlands. This article, which is based on the design research of my PhD dissertation, examines how a contemplative approach to reading stories can, according to Religious Education teachers, contribute to the personal formation of…

The purpose of this article was to re-examine the empirical research focused on the creation and recreation of pre-school teachers' identity and their practices with multilingual children and language development. The analysis was based on empirical sequences from previously published qualitative analyses with the assistance of an interactionist…

Given the emerging evidence on the importance of learning content-specific vocabulary in the early years, many early childhood teachers try to incorporate science vocabulary teaching as part of classroom activities. In this article, the authors argue for the importance of teaching science vocabulary in engaging ways using read-aloud and the…

The Norwegian picture book "What a Girl!" (original title "Snill") by Gro Dahle and Svein Nyhus was published 2011 and immediately gained a large audience. The book tells the story about a girl who always behaves in the ways expected of her: she never confronts her parents, her teacher or her classmates. This behaviour makes…

Developing young children's vocabulary is essential for later reading success; thus, early childhood classrooms require a comprehensive vocabulary approach that teaches academic vocabulary. Yet even providing young children with child-friendly definitions of sophisticated words can be a challenge. First, the authors outline the components of a…

Parents engage in joint story book sharing where adults read an appropriate text to children, usually in the home environment. Story book sharing promotes the young children's development of receptive and expressive language abilities as well as their emerging early literacy abilities, which have an effect on the children's success in school-based…

Various works with different genres can be applied to rewrite classic literature. Versified stories, unreal fictions and real stories are identified as texts which can be rewritten in a new texture. The first rewritten texts have been published long ago. The authors and researchers have been more knowledgeable in this regard particularly in the…

In this article, we review the skills that have been found to be related to good story comprehension in novice readers with normal hearing and describe the relative weight each plays. The relationship between effective story comprehension and lower level skills (such as syntactic awareness and vocabulary knowledge) is considered, and the casual…

Partnerships are dynamic, negotiated spaces encompassing community organizations and interprofessionals. Partnerships support young children and families as they transition from home to school. Interprofessionals create a culture for learning and accessible resources. Early childhood centers, public health and libraries develop collaborative…

Children's literature is on the digital move, and many of the new technologies are eye popping in terms of their aesthetic qualities. Books that are already beloved are moving into new spaces well beyond the combination of words and illustration, as movement, sound, and interactivity enter the scene. The purpose of this article is to explore…

Vocabulary development is critical for children's ability to learn to read and their success at school. Vocabulary has also been identified as a key factor in the achievement gap, with children from low-income families knowing significantly fewer words when they enter school. Although book reading has long been celebrated as an effective way for…

Since the early 2010s, there has been a proliferation of new platforms for children's stories (e.g. storybook apps or iBooks), but not necessarily greater diversity of story content or children's greater interest in reading. This article argues for a new approach to address the apparent paradox of a wider availability of children's literature…

There is widespread agreement with in the field of early childhood education that vocabulary is important to literacy achievement and that reading aloud can support vocabulary growth. However, there are unexplored and significant problems with the ways we assess young children's vocabulary learning from read-alouds. This paper critically reviews…

Social Stories are becoming a popular intervention used to improve the social skills of children with disabilities. This article examines the use of Social Stories with young children with disabilities. Social Stories are described, creation guidelines are recommended, and strategies for Social Story implementation in the classroom are discussed.…