Emerging Ideas: Father–child exchanges, configurations, and discourse during shared book‐reading: An interaction analysis

• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Author: Cory J. Campbell,Holly S. Schindler
• Date: 01 July 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12653

BRIEF REPORT

Emerging Ideas: Father–child exchanges,

configurations, and discourse during shared

book-reading: An interaction analysis

Cory J. Campbell she/her|Holly S. Schindler

Learning Sciences and Human Development,

University of Washington College of

Education, Seattle, WA, United States

Correspondence

Cory Campbell, Learning Sciences and Human

Development, University of Washington,

Miller Hall, Box 353600, Seattle,

WA 98195-3600 USA.

Email: cjcampbe@uw.edu

Abstract

Objective and Background: Shared book-reading (SBR)

has long been thought of as a way to improve language

skills in children, but the specifics of SBR practices have

been studied less often, especially with fathers.

Method: This study used interaction analysis—a qualita-

tive methodology that examines the participants’dis-

course, actions, and surroundings together—to examine

videos of nine predominantly Hispanic fathers as they

engaged in SBR with their infants and toddlers (aged

9–35 months)usingadevelopmentallyappropriatebook

offered in both English and Spanish. Analyses examined

the discourse strategies fathers used during SBR, how

fathers physically supported joint attention, and how dis-

course was supported through physical reading configura-

tions, conjoined speech, and movement practices.

Conclusion and Implications: Findings illustrate how inter-

action analysis allows for additional information of

fathers’and children’s SBR practices to be examined in

future studies. This study suggests that more holistic

assessments of infants’and toddlers’communicative

behaviors and language should be used when interacting

with fathers and their young children.

KEYWORDS

book-reading, discourse, fathers, infants, interaction analysis, toddlers

It is now well founded that parents’interactions with their young children influence later learn-

ing and development (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2012). How parents

and children spend this time is important, with parents’verbal interactions, responsiveness, and

stimulation serving as key mechanisms for supporting children’s early development (Cooksey &

Fondell, 1996; Garrett-Peters et al., 2011; Swain et al., 2017). However, parents differ in the

quality of interactions they have with children and the extent to which they provide enriching

Received: 7 August 2020Revised: 12 August 2021Accepted: 18 September 2021

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12653

© 2022 National Council on Family Relations.

1304 Family Relations. 2022;71:1304–1318.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare