Dialogic reading is a concept based on the work of Dr. Grover Whitehurst and the Stony Brook Reading and Language Project. As Dr. Whitehurst put it, "In dialogic reading, the adult helps the child become the teller of the story. The adult becomes the listener, the questioner, the audience for the child. No one can learn to play the piano just by listening to someone else play. Likewise, no one can learn to read just by listening to someone else read. Children learn most from books when they are actively involved."

The fundamental technique for an adult to use in reading to a child is called the PEER sequence, in which the adult:

P	Prompts the child to say something about the book "What does a dog say?"
E	Evaluates the child's response "That's right, a dog says woof woof!"
E	Expands the child's response "And a cat says meow!"
R	Repeats the prompt "What does a cow say?"

Here are some of the different kinds of prompts that adults can use in dialogic reading:

C	Completion prompts-the child is asked to complete sentences in familiar books. "I do not like Green Eggs and Ham, I do not like them Sam I ___"
R	Recall prompts-the child is asked about what happened in a story that's already been read. "Did Sam like Green Eggs and Ham?"
O	Open-ended prompts about the picture and the story. "What is Sam doing in this picture?"
W	What, when, where, and why prompts for preschoolers. "What is Sam holding?"
D	Distancing prompts-the child is asked to relate the book to events or situations in his own life. "Look at Sam's doggy. Do you have a doggy?"

Information on this page from Whitehurst, G. (1992), Dialogic Reading: An effective way to read to preschoolers.

More info about Dialogic Reading can be found at:
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/400.