This article describes part of a study that explored the responses of nine- and ten-year-old children during a picture book read aloud in a small group setting in a New Zealand classroom. The read aloud was interactive, where the participants were encouraged to respond to the book and to each other throughout the session. The authors created a…

Focuses on the issues of skills in reading instruction in New Zealand. Feels that instruction can maintain a reciprocal and mutually supportive relationship between teaching word-level strategies and comprehension strategies. (MG)