Examining the impact of dialogic reading interventions with math picture books

Abstract

This study aims to examine the effects of math storybooks read with different reading techniques on young children’s language and early math skills. Eighty-eight children, four teachers and twenty-two parents participated in the study. Four preschool classes from a public school were randomly assigned to different conditions: a dialogic reading class (DR-C), dialogic reading at home (DR-H), a traditional reading class (TR-C), and a control condition. Each of the eight math storybooks was read aloud three times per week, with one book assigned per week over the eight-week intervention period. The experimental groups participated in these readings, whereas the control group did not use math storybooks and instead read the books already available in their classrooms. The results revealed that reading math storybooks using a dialogic reading technique significantly increased children’s language and early math skills compared to the traditional and control conditions. These findings highlight the importance of integrating mathematical concepts into storybooks and advocates for the widespread adoption of dialogic reading strategies to optimize developmental benefits for children in both language and early math domains.