The Effects of MMCI course on Preschool Teachers’ Instructional Support during Whole-Group Shared Book Reading in China

Children's development greatly benefits from reading. The Chinese government attaches great importance to improving children's reading interest and reading ability. Kindergarteners' reading interests and proficiency will be significantly impacted by the standard of the engagement between teachers and the child during joint book reading. Nonetheless, prior research has demonstrated that the quality of teacher-child interaction in picture book shared reading by Chinese kindergarten teachers is not high, espacially instructional support skills and the existing teacher’s professional development models are insufficient. The MMCI course serves as a professional development framework developed by the Pinta research team in the United States, utilizing the Class assessment tool to enhance preschool teachers' skills in teacher-child interactions. Accordingly, this study sought to evaluate the impact of the MMCI course on Chinese preschool teachers' instructional support during whole-group shared book reading.The study involved 48 preschool teachers employed in four public kindergartens in China, and they were non-randomly assigned to the conventional reading group (n = 24) and MMCI intervention group (n = 24). This research utilized a quasi-experimental design to identify the impacts of the MMCI course. The study's findings indicate that the MMCI course has a significant effect on the professional development of Chinese kindergarten teachers's instructional support practice quality during whole group shared book reading.