Dialogic reading is a way of reading picture books with young children in which the adult turns the reading into a conversation, prompting the child to talk about the story, building on her answers and gradually letting her become the storyteller. Developed by Grover Whitehurst and colleagues in the late 1980s, it suits bilingual classrooms particularly well, because a single story can be explored in both languages across a week and every child can take part at her own level.
This article explains the method, its PEER sequence and CROWD prompts, then applies it to a Vietnamese–English preschool: how to choose books, how to plan one story across two languages, how to adapt for toddlers, for confident five-year-olds and for children who are not yet speaking, and how to extend story time into families' homes.
Where dialogic reading comes from and what the research found
In a 1988 study, Grover Whitehurst and colleagues trained parents of two- and three-year-olds to read picture books in a more interactive way: asking open questions, expanding on what children said and praising their contributions. After a few weeks, the children in the trained group showed stronger expressive language than those whose parents read in the usual way. The method was later adapted for preschool teachers and small groups and became known as dialogic reading.
Subsequent studies, including work with children from low-income families and with children learning English as an additional language, generally found positive effects on vocabulary and expressive language, particularly when children took part regularly in small groups. Like any well-studied method, results vary with how faithfully it is carried out and how often, and effects are typically strongest for oral language rather than for later reading skills directly.
The underlying idea is simple. When an adult reads and the child listens, the child is a passive audience. When the adult asks, waits, listens and builds, the child becomes an active participant who rehearses language, tries new words and thinks about the story. That shift from listening to talking is what makes the difference.
The PEER sequence
The basic interaction in dialogic reading follows a short cycle known as PEER. The adult Prompts the child to say something about the book; Evaluates the response, affirming it or gently offering a better word; Expands it by rephrasing and adding information; and Repeats the prompt so the child can try again with the expanded language.
In an English session, it might sound like this. The teacher points to a picture and asks, "What is the bear doing?" The child says, "Sleeping." The teacher replies, "Yes, the bear is sleeping. He is sleeping in a dark cave. Where is the bear sleeping?" The child answers, "In the cave", or perhaps "In a dark cave". In a few seconds, the child has used a new word, heard it in a sentence and had a chance to say more.
The same cycle works in Vietnamese and, importantly, it accepts answers in either language. If the child answers the English prompt with "ngủ", the teacher can evaluate warmly, then expand in English: "Yes, ngủ, sleeping. The bear is sleeping." The child's understanding is recognised, and the English model is offered without any sense of correction.
The CROWD prompts
Dialogic reading uses five kinds of prompt, remembered as CROWD. A good session mixes them according to the children's age and language level.
| Prompt | What it asks | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Completion | Child fills in a word at the end of a sentence | "The caterpillar was very…" |
| Recall | Child remembers what happened | "What did the hen find at the start?" |
| Open-ended | Child describes or tells | "Tell me what is happening on this page." |
| Wh- questions | What, where, who, why, how | "Why do you think the boy is sad?" |
| Distancing | Child links the story to her own life | "Have you ever been lost? What happened?" |
Completion and recall prompts suit children at an early stage in the language, because they can join with a single word. Open-ended and distancing prompts invite longer answers and suit children with more language, or can be offered in the child's stronger language first. Wh- questions span both: "what" and "where" are easier than "why" and "how".
Choosing books for a Vietnamese–English classroom
Good dialogic reading starts with books that give children plenty to talk about: clear illustrations with details to notice, a story with a problem and a resolution, repeated phrases children can join, and characters whose feelings are visible. For bilingual classrooms, a few kinds of book deserve a special place.
Wordless picture books are remarkably useful, because the story is carried entirely by images and can be told in any language. The same book can be explored in Vietnamese on Monday and English on Wednesday without any translation question at all, and children can retell it in whichever language they choose. Dual-language books, with text in both Vietnamese and English, can work well with older children and for sharing with families, although adults need to decide which language to read from in a given session rather than reading every page twice.
Vietnamese picture books, including retellings of folk tales and stories set in recognisable Vietnamese places, should be as well chosen as English ones. Children should see their own world in books, not only the snowy forests and red buses of imported picture books. Books that reflect international children's home cultures, borrowed from families or libraries, round out the collection.
Planning one story across two languages in a week
Repeated reading is one of the most effective ways to build language, and a bilingual class can use repetition across languages. A typical pattern for one book over a week looks like this.
- Day one, stronger language: read the story through with expression and minimal interruption so that children enjoy it and grasp the plot.
- Day two, target language: read again in small groups, using mostly completion and recall prompts and focusing on a few key words.
- Day three, target language: return to the book with open-ended and wh- prompts, letting children tell more of each page themselves.
- Day four, either language: retelling with props, puppets or a felt board; children choose their language and teachers listen for story structure and new words.
- Day five, distancing: link the story to children's lives, extend it into play, drawing or a related activity, and note what children say.
The pattern is a guide, not a timetable. Some books hold children for two weeks; others are finished in two days. The principle is that children meet the story first in a language that gives them full understanding, then return to it repeatedly in the target language with growing participation.
Adapting for toddlers, five-year-olds and quiet children
With toddlers, sessions are short and physical. Books with large, clear pictures and repeated sounds work best. Prompts are mostly pointing and naming: "Where is the duck? There is the duck! Quack, quack." The adult accepts pointing as an answer and supplies the word. Groups are tiny, often one to three children, and a child who wanders off and comes back is participating in a toddler way.
With five-year-olds, sessions can be longer and more demanding. Children can predict what will happen, discuss why a character acted as she did, compare two versions of a story or invent a different ending. Distancing prompts lead to rich conversations, and children may begin to notice print, asking what a word says or pointing to a letter in their name, which teachers welcome without turning the session into a reading lesson.
For children in a silent period, dialogic reading needs gentleness. Offer completion prompts the whole group answers together, so the quiet child can join without standing out. Accept pointing and gestures. Never single her out with an open question she cannot yet answer. Over weeks, many quiet children first speak during a group completion, a safe moment when their voice is one among many.
Common pitfalls in bilingual story time
The most frequent pitfall is turning dialogic reading into an interrogation. A session that stops on every page to ask a question can kill the pleasure of the story, and children who stop enjoying books stop wanting to talk about them. The usual remedy is the first-read rule: read a new book through once for enjoyment, then use prompts on later readings when children know the story and want to say things about it.
A second pitfall is large groups. Dialogic reading depends on each child getting turns, and in a group of twenty most children get none. Whole-class story time has its own value for shared enjoyment, but the dialogic sessions work best with a handful of children, which means planning when the other adult in the room will lead a different activity.
A third is choosing books for the adults rather than the children. A beautifully illustrated book with long, poetic text may delight the teacher and lose the four-year-olds. Watch which books children bring to you, ask for again and retell on their own; those are the books that are working.
What to notice while reading
Story time is one of the richest moments for observation in a bilingual class, because children are talking about something shared and the teacher is close enough to hear. Useful things to note include which prompts a child can answer and in which language, whether she can retell part of the story in sequence, whether she uses new words from the book later in play, and whether she links the story to her own experience.
Brief notes taken immediately after a session, a line or two per child, add up quickly to a picture of each child's story language in both languages. They help teachers decide which children need more completion prompts and which are ready for distancing questions, and they give concrete, positive examples to share with families. As always, the notes describe what a child does; they do not score or rank children.
It also helps to note the books themselves. Recording which titles prompted the longest conversations, in which language, builds a shared list the team can draw on next year, and shows gaps in the collection, such as too few Vietnamese stories that children really love.
Taking story time home
Families can extend dialogic reading at home, and in a bilingual school this is a natural way to strengthen the home language. A simple book bag system, in which children take a familiar book home with a short note suggesting two or three prompts, invites parents to read in the language they speak best. A Vietnamese parent reading an English book can talk about it in Vietnamese; the conversation is what matters.
Teachers can share the PEER idea with families in a short session or a one-page guide, emphasising that it is not a test: the goal is to enjoy the book together and get the child talking. Parents often worry that they are reading wrongly if they do not stick to the text. Hearing that pausing, asking and chatting are exactly what helps is usually a relief.
For international families, inviting them to read a story in their home language to the class, or to record one, brings the home language into school and shows the child that her language belongs in the story corner too.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
What is dialogic reading?
It is a method of reading picture books with young children in which the adult turns reading into a conversation, prompting the child to talk, building on her answers and gradually handing over the storytelling. It was developed by Grover Whitehurst and colleagues in the late 1980s.
What does PEER stand for in dialogic reading?
Prompt, Evaluate, Expand, Repeat. The adult prompts the child to say something about the book, evaluates the answer warmly, expands it with richer language, then repeats the prompt so the child can try again using the expanded version.
What are CROWD prompts?
They are five types of prompt used in dialogic reading: completion, recall, open-ended, wh- questions and distancing. Completion and recall suit early language learners, while open-ended and distancing prompts invite longer answers from children with more language.
Should teachers read every page in both languages?
Usually not. Reading each page twice halves the conversation time and children tend to wait for their stronger language. It works better to read the whole story in one language per session and revisit the same book in the other language on another day.
Are wordless picture books useful in a bilingual class?
Very. Because the story is carried by pictures, the same book can be explored in Vietnamese, English or any home language without translation questions, and children can retell it in whichever language they choose.
How can parents use dialogic reading at home?
By reading familiar books in the language they speak best, pausing to ask simple questions, building on what the child says and enjoying the conversation. It is not a test; getting the child talking about the story is the goal.