Embodied Action Scaffolds Dialogic Reading

Might dialogic reading require previous or concurrent embodied activities to be effective? Twenty-nine preschool children, ages 3–5 years, were randomly assigned to the control condition (children listened to a story eight times), the dialogic-then-embodied condition (children engaged in dialogic reading for four readings and then embodied action was added), or the embodied-then-dialogic condition. The embodied action required the child to act out components of the story using toys. Adding embodied action increased story recall, vocabulary acquisition, and positive affect (with generally large effect sizes). Thus, embodied action in conjunction with dialogic reading provides an effective model for promoting early literacy skills. We discuss the possibility that all benefits of dialogic reading come about through embodied processes.