The Impact of Preschool Teachers' Extratextual Talk Profiles on Children's Language Development during Interactive Book Reading

This study aimed to investigate the impact of preschool teachers' extratextual talk profiles during interactive book reading on children's language development. A comparative correlational survey method was employed to collect data from six preschool teachers and 54 children in their classrooms. The Systematic Assessment of Book Reading (SABR) and the Test of Language Development-Third Edition (TELD-3) were utilized as data collection tools. Video recordings of teacher-child interactions during the reading of ten different picture storybooks were transcribed and analyzed using the SABR framework, focusing on content and expression forms. Children's receptive, expressive, and overall verbal language scores were assessed using the TELD-3 before and after the interactive book reading sessions. The results of the analyses revealed two distinct teacher profiles: ‘Low Demanding’ and ‘High Demanding’. Teachers characterized by a high extratextual talk profile had a significant positive effect on children’s pre- and post-test receptive (d=0.68), expressive (d=0.65) and overall verbal language (d=0.69) scores at a medium effect size level (p