Gesturing in joint book reading

Reading to children is reported to be a valuable activity to promote children’s language acquisition (e.g. De Temple and Snow 2003; Reese et al. 2010). Yet the quality of verbal behavior during book reading is considered to be more important than the frequency of reading (De Temple and Snow 2003). In a review, Reese and colleagues (2010: 107) summarize that the quality of reading is particularly effective when promoted within the context of the home: programs supporting parents in their reading techniques are “an effective way to enhance children’s expressive, and in some studies, their receptive vocabulary”. However, when we look at a parent reading to a young child (see Figure 5.1), what becomes apparent is the fact that the reading activity is not at all restricted to verbal behavior. In fact, both the parent and the child communicate with each other nonverbally to a great extent. It is thus surprising that to date, little is known about nonverbal behavior during joint book reading. Figure 5.1 Mother and child gesturing to a picturebook. While the mother points to the whole picture, the child is pointing to specific parts of it. The pointing of the mother serves also a manipulative purpose, as the finger fixes the page and prevents the child from turning the pages. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315866710/4806c361-e43c-4482-b58d-9d078f4eb691/content/fig5_1_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>