Mid Sweden University

The enquiries in this study were directed towards the reading of children’s literature in preschool with the aim of describing and analysing how read-alouds were carried out in 39 preschools in the northern and southern parts of Sweden. How often were read-alouds performed? How long were they? How was literature chosen? Who initiated the read-alouds? Did dialogues and follow-up activities occur? In what context did the read-alouds take place? Student preschool teachers and preschool teachers in in-service training carried out observations over the course of one week. The results indicated that read-alouds most often occurred once a day, and that they were seldom embedded in a context or planned. Books were chosen randomly. Follow-up activities occurred in 27 % of the reading occasions. Thus, we conclude that read-alouds primarily had a disciplinary focus. The negative effects of these findings, in particular with respect to children from poor print environments, will be discussed.