Effects of affective vs. instructional teacher scaffolding on preschoolers’ emotional engagement and social attention in picturebook reading

Introduction: Emotional support is increasingly recognized as a critical component of effective early childhood education, yet empirical evidence comparing different scaffolding styles during classroom activities remains limited. This study examined how affective versus instructional teacher scaffolding shapes preschool children's emotional engagement during electronic storybook reading. Methods: Forty-one children aged 4-6 years from one preschool were assigned by class to either an affective-scaffolding or instructional-scaffolding condition. Children's regular classroom teachers, who received prior training, implemented the assigned scaffolding style while reading a 20-page digital picture book. Multimodal measures of engagement were collected, including eye-tracking data, children's self-reports using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM), teacher ratings, and behavioral observations. Semi-structured interviews with children and teachers complemented the quantitative data. Results: Compared with instructional scaffolding, affective scaffolding led to significantly higher positive emotional experiences, reflected in greater emotional valence and arousal. Children in the affective condition also showed increased social attention, indexed by longer gaze duration on characters' faces, and more frequent overt emotional engagement behaviors, without reduced attention to text. Engagement indicators were moderately intercorrelated, and qualitative findings converged with quantitative results, indicating higher perceived engagement under affective scaffolding. Discussion: The findings suggest that integrating emotional support into preschool reading activities can enhance children's emotional involvement and focused participation. Affective scaffolding appears to be a trainable and assessable instructional strategy that promotes more holistic engagement in early childhood learning contexts.