The educator intentionallyThe educator acts in a planned, thoughtful and purposeful way. encourages the child (or children) to actively engage and take part in ​‘reading’ a book. Over time, the educator increasingly passes responsibility of who ​‘reads’ or facilitates discussion about the book to the child.

There is strong evidence that interactive reading can improve children’s early language and communication.

Based on the evidence, educators should:

• Think about using practices that encourage children to respond – evidence shows that the more a child participates, the more their oral language skills develop
• Consider practices that encourage a discussion which goes ​‘beyond’ the text in the book
• Carefully monitor the implementation of this approach. The evidence confirms that interactive reading can benefit children from lower-income families. However, we do not know if this approach would narrow learning gaps if provided equally to all children.

Interactive reading tends to be effective when educators use practices to ​‘prompt’ and encourage interaction between themselves and the child. The evidence does not tell us which individual practices are most effective, so educators should use their professional judgement to decide which practices are appropriate for the context of the interaction.

Within the evidence, educators used the following practices to ​‘prompt’ responses from children:

• Questioning: using questions to encourage children to think about and use new knowledge
• Completion: leaving a blank or gap for the child to fill in.

When we spoke with educators, they described using practices from both Teaching and Modelling Vocabulary and Teaching and Modelling Language during Interactive Reading. For example:

• Sequencing: using language to organise a story, event or experience into simple, ordered steps
• Recalling: using language to describe a previous event or experience – for example, connecting the story to the child’s own experiences
• Commenting: articulating an observation to highlight information – for example, connecting new vocabulary with similar words (synonyms) children already know.

RepetitionIntentionally repeating and reinforcing a taught concept in different contexts, over time. is also likely to be important. Educators might consider:

• Choosing books which include repeated refrains or repetitions of key vocabulary
• Encouraging the repetitionIntentionally repeating and reinforcing a taught concept in different contexts, over time. of key words or phrases
• Re-reading the book on several occasions, to embed children’s understanding and use of key words or phrases.

A small amount of evidence suggests that a specific form of interactive reading, known as ​‘dialogic readingA form of interactive reading where educators structure their input using the PEER Framework. Find out more on page 11 of the Preparing for Literacy Guidance report.’ could have positive effects on children’s oral language outcomes.

Most studies show that interactive reading has a positive impact. However, a small number of studies have shown mixed effects. As studies tend to examine interactive reading as a whole, further research is needed to understand which practices are impactful.