Abstract—Children’s engagement during parent-child reading is one crucial factor to predict their reading quality and language acquisition. However, very few researches investigate effective strategies to engage children in foreign language reading between parents and children. This study aims to examine the extent to which dialogic reading strategies can affect children’s reading engagement in digital English storybooks in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. Data were collected via observation checklist and semi-structured interview with a sample of six Chinese parents and their children (aged five to six) in one eastern city of China. They were given six digital English storybooks to read for six weeks. The data were analyzed by coding and thematic analysis. The results showed the children exhibited reading engagement across three dimensions: physical engagement (frequent looking behaviors); verbal engagement (constantly asking questions) and affective engagement (many positive expressions and excitement). The findings indicated the significance of dialogic reading of digital storybooks on children’s reading engagement in EFL context. 
 

Keywords—dialogic reading, digital English storybooks, reading engagement 

Cite: Zhao Lili and Sarimah Shamsudin, "Dialogic Reading of Digital English Storybooks on Children’s Reading Engagement in China," International Journal of Learning and Teaching, Vol. 10, No. 6, pp. 657-662, 2024.

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