Identifying Quality in Asynchronous, Pre-recorded Picturebook Read-alouds for Children Learning English as a Foreign Language

This chapter discusses quality in asynchronous picturebook read-alouds for pre- and primary foreign language learners. It describes small piece of research which analyzed four asynchronous picturebook read-alouds recorded for young EFL learners with a view to categorizing the phenomenon of ‘read-aloud talk’, adult-generated talk which goes beyond reading the picturebook verbal text. Results show that read-aloud talk afforded an enriched the comprehensible and meaningful input, provided support for shared construction and interpretation of the story through comments and questions in the L1 and the target language, and successfully recreated the shared social experience of the classroom. However, the analysis highlighted the relevance of considering read-aloud talk along with the skills of reading aloud and performance. The conclusions describe how the assemblage of these three skills provides children with a holistic, virtual read-aloud experience, providing affective, aesthetic, cognitive and multisensory opportunities for learning.