PUB DATE 2000-06-30

This paper reports on an examination of the strategies that one of the researchers (Donovan), then a first-grade teacher, modeled while reading information books aloud in class. Returning to previously tape-recorded read aloud sessions, the researchers studied student and teacher responses during the reading of six storybooks and six information books, considering whether the different genres prompted different types of participant interactions. The researchers found that interactive information book read alouds may lead children to engage in more meaning-making efforts than storybooks do. The interactive information book read alouds provided context for scaffolding, modeling, and engaging in direct instruction of comprehension; this context also offered opportunities for students to engage interactively in discussion designed to clarify concepts and construct meaning. The paper stresses that developing an interactional stance during reading is critical to promoting comprehension acquisition. Comprehensio