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This investigation was a cross-cultural comparison in quantity and quality of maternal interactive behaviors during joint book reading (JBR). Ten Chinese mothers from Fuzhou City, China and 10 U.S. mothers video recorded themselves reading two storybooks, one provided by investigators and one home book, to their typically developing four-year olds. Videotapes were transcribed in the respective languages and analyzed using investigator-developed codes. Results revealed Chinese mothers had a higher percentage of extra-textual talk (talk in addition to the book text) than American mothers. Attention to print (i.e., English letters or Chinese characters) was uncommon among mothers in both groups. Instead, mothers primarily described story content. Only Chinese mothers elaborated on the story moral. Chinese mothers had more frequent use of question prompts, explanations, directives, and elaborations compared to American mothers. These strategies fit a “question-give-answer” pattern. Whether this directive style is optimally supportive for language development of Chinese preschoolers needs future investigation. Generalization is limited by sample size and within culture variation; however, understanding JBR as a culturally valid context can support emerging speech-language services in mainland China. |
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