Describing oral language opportunities and environments in head start and other preschool classrooms

Smith, Miriam W.; Dickinson, David K.

doi:10.1016/0885-2006(94)90014-0

Cited by 54 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…A few researchers have examined teacher talk in preschool classrooms from an emergent literacy perspective, focusing primarily on features of teachers' storybook reading discourse (e .g. , Cochran-Smith, 1984;McGill-Franzen, Lanford, & Adams, 1997;Smith & Dickinson, 1994). An array ofdescriptive and correlational studies suggests that adults' reading styles differentially impact children's understanding of literacy, with some styles apparently more efficacious than others .…”

Section: Literacy Conversations Between Adults and Children At Child mentioning

confidence: 96%

“…(Also see Yaden, Rowe, & MacGillivray, 1999, for a review. ) In a study representative ofthis research work, Smith and Dickinson (1994) examined different phases (before-during-after) of 25 preschool book-reading sessions at the teacher-child utterance and interaction levels. They observed three categories of utterances in terms of content: cognitively challenging talk (e.g., analysis, prediction, clarification); lower cognitive demand talk (e.g., labeling, recall, chiming); and management talk (e.g., organization, attention).…”

Section: Literacy Conversations Between Adults and Children At Child mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Literacy Conversations Between Adults and Children at Child Care: Descriptive Observations and Hypotheses

Rosemary

Roskos

2002

Journal of Research in Childhood Education

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Section: Literacy Conversations Between Adults and Children At Child mentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Literacy Conversations Between Adults and Children At Child mentioning

confidence: 99%

Literacy Conversations Between Adults and Children at Child Care: Descriptive Observations and Hypotheses

Rosemary

Roskos

2002

Journal of Research in Childhood Education

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“…The most effective book reading experiences were those in which the teacher asked open ended questions, therefore, promoting conversations (Dickinson 2001;Dickinson and Smith 1994;Smith and Dickinson 1994). An open ended question is one that requires more than a ''yes/no'' or ''one word'' response .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conversation Stations: Promoting Language Development in Young Children

Bond

Wasik

2009

Early Childhood Educ J

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Conversations are a primary tool for language development in preschool classrooms. Unfortunately, opportunities to have meaningful conversations between children and adults may not exist in preschool classrooms, especially those that serve children from high poverty contexts. Conversation Stations were implemented in preschool classrooms to ensure that high quality, consistent conversation would occur. In a Conversation Station, children have the opportunity to talk, to get feedback on their language, and to have appropriate language modeled for them. The Conversation Station can be used as an effective activity to promote language and vocabulary development in preschool classrooms. Using Conversation Stations allows for language development to be systematically included in everyday experiences in the classroom.

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“…Thus, the original CLASS scales and the two new scales focus almost exclusively on dynamic aspects of the classroom, particularly the interactions between teachers and students. For each scale, observers assign a single score from 1 to 7, spanning a continuum of quality that encompasses low (1, 2 points), mid (3, 4, 5 points), and high (6, 7 points) quality.The Language Modeling and Literacy Focus scales, new additions to the CLASS tool, were developed through careful analysis of the empirical and theoretical literature describing the types of teacher-child interaction that promote positive language and literacy development in young children (e.g., Bunce, 1995;Dickinson & Sprague, 2002;Girolametto & Weitzman, 2002;Justice & Ezell, 2002;Roberts et al, 1989;Smith & Dickinson, 1994). The Language Modeling scale focused specifically on teacher use of techniques during instruction known to accelerate language growth in children, such as asking open-ended questions; repeating, extending, and recasting children's utterances; using advanced vocabulary; and engaging in extended conversations with children.…”

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confidence: 99%

Quality of language and literacy instruction in preschool classrooms serving at-risk pupils

Justice

Mashburn

Hamre

et al. 2008

Early Childhood Research Quarterly

506

298

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Policy-makers, administrators, researchers, and teachers are increasingly vested in ensuring the quality of preschool instruction, particularly in the areas of language and literacy. This research was conducted to characterize the quality of language and literacy instruction in 135 publiclyfunded preschool classrooms serving at-risk pupils. As all teachers in these classrooms were implementing the same language and literacy curriculum, we also studied the interrelationships among procedural fidelity to a prescribed curriculum and the quality of language and literacy instruction, determining whether procedural fidelity is associated or disassociated with quality instruction. Results showed that the quality of language and literacy instruction in classrooms was low, with few teachers delivering high quality instruction. Although teachers were able to implement a prescribed language and literacy curriculum with a high degree of procedural fidelity, this was not associated with quality instruction. Few structural characteristics of classrooms of teachers were systematically associated with quality of instruction. Findings have important implications for professional development of teachers by suggesting a need for a sustained and coherent focus on the process of instruction to elevate instructional quality in language and literacy.Two-thirds of 4-year-olds currently participate in early education programs, and this figure is growing annually in light of many state-level initiatives to expand enrollment or provide universal access to preschool for 4-year-old children (Barnett & Yarosz, 2004). Complementing these initiatives are movements to improve the quality of instruction within preschool programs, particularly in the area of language and literacy. As an example, the U.S. Department of Education's Early Reading First program provides funds to preschool programs to support their achievement of "excellence" in programming, particularly the provision of high-quality instruction in literacy and language through improved classroom print richness, professional development for staff, and implementation of scientificallybased curricula. The anticipated outcome of such proactive and prevention-oriented initiatives is that more children will enter school with the skills and competencies needed to succeed in early and later reading instruction.Educational-policy initiatives that seek to improve the quality of early education, particularly in the area of literacy and language instruction, are grounded in developmental theory and empirical evidence emphasizing the continuity between children's early literacy and language development and their later achievement of skilled reading (e.g., Catts, Fey, Zhang, & Tomblin, 2001;Lonigan, 2006;Storch & Whitehurst, 2002;Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998). Evidence shows that children with well-developed language and literacy Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this ear...

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Describing oral language opportunities and environments in head start and other preschool classrooms

Cited by 54 publications

References 13 publications

Literacy Conversations Between Adults and Children at Child Care: Descriptive Observations and Hypotheses

Literacy Conversations Between Adults and Children at Child Care: Descriptive Observations and Hypotheses

Conversation Stations: Promoting Language Development in Young Children

Quality of language and literacy instruction in preschool classrooms serving at-risk pupils

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