Book selection behaviors of emergent readers

Abstract

Using an observational comparative case study, this study explored emergent readers’ book selection behaviors within their classrooms. Emergent literacy skills are the forefront of literacy development (Clay, 1982; Ferriero & Teborsky, 1982; Teale, 1986; McNaughton, 1993; Chall, 1996; Neuman, 2000), yet reading motivation and engagement has largely focused on older students (Wigfield & Guthrie, 1997; Gambrell et al. 2011; Marinak, 2013), and emergent readers’ motivation and book choice research has relied upon surveys (Saracho, 1986; Sperling, et al., 2013). This study of two pre-kindergarten and two kindergarten classrooms, along with their classroom teachers, utilized observations to examine emergent reader motivation and choice (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 2005; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Clay, 1982, 1991, 2001; Rosenblatt, 1978, 1995). The observational data were analyzed for vertical and horizontal case analysis and findings suggest that emergent and early readers’ text selection behaviors rely on cover illustrations and familiarity with the text.