Joint picturebook interactions of mothers and 1‐year‐old children

One of the most common forms of interaction between parents and young children is picturebook reading. This study examined both the structure and content of picturebook interactions of 30 mothers and their 12-, 15-, or 18-month-old infants. Structural aspects of the interaction were relatively constant over the age range studied: For all three age groups the mothers controlled the interactions and took responsibility for determining which of the pictures would be talked about. The content of the interactions varied as a function of the age of the child. More active participation was demanded of older children. They were asked more questions by their mothers, and the information provided to them was more complex. For all age groups, maternal questioning was related to the mother's beliefs about her child's word knowledge; the mother was more likely to ask the child to label a picture if she thought the child knew that label. The results are interpreted in terms of the scaffolding construct. They reveal a general maternal orientation to elicit the best possible performance from the child. Several forms of maternal support are discussed.