Scaffolding and Triggering: Teachers’ questions and children’s response patterns during digital storytelling activities in preschool

This study examines how preschool teachers support children’s narrative competence by using different types of questions during storytelling activities. Video data were generated from 13 sessions with five multilingual teachers and 22 bi-/multilingual children (ages 4–5) in two Swedish international preschools. Using Interaction Analysis and drawing on PRECEC theory, we investigated how teachers used scaffolding questions, which guide children toward coherent story development, and triggering questions, which invite imaginative expansion. Findings show that teachers flexibly shifted between question types to support plot development and coherence in children’s stories, highlighting the importance of responsive questioning practices in preschool teaching. • Teachers adjusted their triggering and scaffolding questions based on children's responses or non-responses. • Both question types distinctly and complementary supported different aspects of children's narrative competence. • Teachers' questions facilitated plot development by encouraging children's imagination. • Teacher's questions facilitated the development of coherence, by fostering children's narrative connections. • Questions are inherently interactive phenomena.