“No, the Real Question Is…”: A case study of kindergarten students’ meaning construction during dialogically organized read-aloud discussions.

Bence Mathezer, Michelle

“No, the Real Question Is…”: A case study of kindergarten students’ meaning construction during dialogically organized read-aloud discussions.

dc.contributor.advisor	Aukerman, Maren
dc.contributor.author	Bence Mathezer, Michelle
dc.contributor.committeemember	Aukerman, Maren
dc.contributor.committeemember	Boyd, Maureen
dc.contributor.committeemember	Spring, Erin
dc.contributor.committeemember	Lenters, Kim
dc.contributor.committeemember	Burwell, Catherine
dc.date	2025-06
dc.date.accessioned	2025-01-20T20:58:24Z
dc.date.available	2025-01-20T20:58:24Z
dc.date.issued	2025-01-10
dc.description.abstract	This qualitative single case study explores how kindergarten students construct understanding of picturebook read-alouds through idea-sharing in a dialogic classroom setting. The aim was to investigate the processes by which young children engage in the co-construction of textual meanings and develop a knowledge authority role in dialogically organized read-aloud discussions. Over seven months, weekly dialogically organized read-aloud discussions were facilitated with 20 ethnically and academically diverse kindergarten students. Data from 10 book discussions were analyzed using sociocultural discourse analysis and fine-grained conversation analysis to examine students' idea-sharing. The central research question addressed how young students construct meaning through idea-sharing during dialogically organized read aloud discussions, while sub-questions explored variations in the ideas shared, changes over time, and the functions of these shared ideas in the social construction of students' meaning-making. The findings reveal that students' idea-sharing was a complex, individualized process, where each student drew upon personal resources to construct deeply meaningful interpretations of the text. While their interpretations were highly personalized, they were also malleable and evolved in response to peers’ contributions. Analysis of language patterns within the idea-sharing indicated that the students' shared ideas changed over the length of the project. By the end of the study, students employed a greater range of resources, their verbalized ideas became lengthier, contained more reasoning words and included more textual theorizing suggesting the students were engaging increasingly complex textual understandings. Furthermore, the findings suggest three critical factors in the dialogic discussions that aided students’ meaning construction; (a) exposure to shared ideas helped highlight diverse textual ideas for students to explore, (b) unconstrained idea-sharing made visible the thinking processes students engaged in and provided a starting point to collaboratively build off of and, (c) discussions held students accountable to think deeply about the text, explain their interpretations positioning these young students as active textual interrogators. These findings underscore the importance of dialogic environments in supporting young children to become confident and reflective meaning-makers, leveraging both their own and their peers’ resources to construct robust textual understandings. Recommendations for teachers and administrators are provided.
dc.identifier.citation	Bence Mathezer, M. (2025). “No, the real question Is…”: a case study of kindergarten students’ meaning construction during dialogically organized read-aloud discussions (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/120546
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	Dialogic Pedagogy
dc.subject	Read aloud
dc.subject	Discussion
dc.subject	Meaning construction
dc.subject	Comprehension
dc.subject.classification	Education--Curriculum and Instruction
dc.subject.classification	Education--Early Childhood
dc.subject.classification	Education--Elementary
dc.title	“No, the Real Question Is…”: A case study of kindergarten students’ meaning construction during dialogically organized read-aloud discussions.
dc.type	doctoral thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Education Graduate Program – Educational Research
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I do not require a thesis withhold – my thesis will have open access and can be viewed and downloaded publicly as soon as possible.