The dichotomy of asynchronous picturebook read-alouds

Description

During the pandemic authors, publishers, teachers and librarians began recording picturebook read-alouds and sharing these online to ensure that children were given continued opportunities to engage with quality literature. It was quite a phenomenon, despite the idea of asynchromous read-alouds being a contradiction in terms. To discuss this dichotomy further, I will walk you through the aesthetic object that is a picturebook, showing how the pictures, words and design all contribute to making a picturebook quite different from anything else we might bring into a language classroom. I will then take a serious look at the read-aloud and discuss how it supports the development of language and literature, a love of books and a bond between the reader and their audience – a single child or a classful of children.

The scene will then be set for me to share some research I am doing with friend and colleague Gail Ellis, that looks at the potential of asynchronous picturebook read-alouds for foreign language learners. Using data from a multimodal analysis of recordings and transcripts of asynchronous picturebook read-alouds, I will explain how these can establish a rich, enabling, learning environment when the reader is able to engage learners through online rapport, three ‘essentials’ and ‘read-aloud talk’. I will suggest that ‘asynchronous’ and ‘picturebook read-aloud’ can in fact successfully furnish comprehensible and meaningful input, provide support for construction and interpretation of the story and recreate the shared social experience of a classroom read-aloud. I will conclude with implications for classroom practices and teacher education and development.

Period	19 Dec 2020
Event title	INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON VISUAL LITERACY AND DIGITAL COMMUNICATION: : THE ROLE OF MEDIA IN NEW EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE
Event type	Conference
Conference number	1
Location	Madrid, SpainShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International