Ana Dili Eğitimi Dergisi

Öz

This study was conducted to reveal how family interaction in the home reading environment changed children’s reading behaviours and skills. For this purpose, an attempt was made to describe the change that occurred by making observations before, during and after interactive book reading activities and observing the effects of this process on children’s and families’ reading behaviours and approaches as well as on children’s reading skills. The research was conducted using the multiple case study method with three children passing from the first grade to the second grade of primary school, their families and their classroom teachers. Reading texts, unstructured and semi-structured interviews, non-participant unstructured observations, video recordings and a researcher diary were used as data collection tools in the study. The data obtained from the study were analysed in three stages using the inductive analysis technique. As a result of the analyses, three themes emerged: the family’s approach to reading, the child’s approach to reading, and change; six sub-themes were found: family typology, expectation, experience, child typology, change in the child’s reading behaviours and skills, and change in the home reading environment. The study presented findings demonstrating that the home reading environment and family-child interaction were effective on children’s reading skills. During the process, a series of changes was observed in children’s reading skills, word recognition and reading comprehension levels, and cognitive and affective dimensions of reading. It was observed that families’ approaches and attitudes towards reading changed along with the interactive book reading instruction and the guidance provided in the process, that their discourses and perspectives regarding their duties and responsibilities in helping their children become good readers changed, and that this change was reflected in their reading experiences with their children. Regarding the change in children’s reading skills, the positive change observed in word recognition skills was limited to the development in basic-level comprehension questions in reading comprehension skills. An attempt was made to explain the situation before, during and after interactive reading with descriptions, and the reasons for the change in children and families were discussed by observing that the change in this process affected the families’ approach and their perception that reading was a school-based skill, and therefore, the home reading environment, while the change in the home reading environment affected the change in the child.