Early childhood educators' knowledge, beliefs, education, experiences, and children's language- and literacy-learning opportunities: What is the connection?

Abstract

In this study, we investigated how multiple types of knowledge and beliefs, along with holding an early childhood-related degree and teaching experience, were linked to amounts of early childhood educators' language and literacy instruction. Quantile regression was used to estimate associations between these variables along a continuum of language and literacy instruction for 222 early childhood educators. In general, low levels of language-and literacy-related instruction were observed; however, the use of quantile regression afforded unique insight into the associations of knowledge, beliefs, education, and teaching experience with instruction when levels of instruction were sufficient. These findings would not have been visible with traditional, linear regression models. Specifically, two types of knowledge were examined: disciplinary-related content knowledge about the structure of language and knowledge for use in teaching language and literacy to young children. digitalcommons.unl.edu

Early childhood educators' knowledge about language and literacy: Associations with practice and children's learning

“…These results extend prior studies documenting early childhood educators' knowledge (e.g., Crim et al, ; Troyer & Yopp, ) as well as studies within the preschool context that have suggested positive associations between knowledge and practice (Hindman & Wasik, ; Schachter et al, ). With respect to preschool children's emergent literacy gains, our findings are partially aligned with those of Cash et al (), who documented associations between educators' knowledge and children's gains in print knowledge and expressive vocabulary but not phonological awareness or receptive vocabulary.…”

“…Conceptually, educators' knowledge is considered important because it informs how they select and enact classroom practices (Schachter, ; Shulman, ). Some studies have examined associations between educators' knowledge and practice in the area of early literacy (e.g., Cirino, Pollard‐Durodola, Foorman, Carlson, & Francis, ; Gersten, Dimino, Jayanthi, Kim, & Santoro, ; Hindman & Wasik, ; McCutchen, Abbott, et al, ; Neuman & Cunningham, ; Neuman & Wright, ; Puliatte & Ehri, ; Schachter, Spear, Piasta, Justice, & Logan, ). These studies have, again, tended to primarily focus on elementary educators and, as a whole, provide mixed evidence concerning associations between knowledge and practice.…”

“…McCutchen, Harry, et al () found that elementary educators who had greater content knowledge tended to use more explicit phonological activities; however, content knowledge was not associated with other types of classroom activities measured. In one study specific to early childhood, Schachter et al () found that preschool educators' knowledge for practice did not predict the language and literacy learning opportunities offered in their classrooms, whereas their content knowledge was positively associated with oral language and vocabulary learning opportunities. The latter was only true, however, for educators who provided higher amounts of such learning opportunities.…”

The Dilemma of Reading, Writing, and Counting in Early Childhood Education: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

“…Educators' knowledge with an Early Childhood Education degree is positively associated with language teaching and literacy instruction [24]. Based on observations, the majority of kindergarten teachers in Thailand have an attitude that is leaning toward authoritarian discipline.…”

The Importance of Early Childhood Education and Development in Indonesia

“…In the field of education, since birth a child requires appropriate services to meet his educational needs. Schachter et al discussed the connectivity between early childhood educators' knowledge, beliefs, education, experiences, and children's language-and literacy-learning opportunities [1]. An understanding of the characteristics of children according to their growth and development will be very helpful in fitting the learning process of the children to their age, needs, and circumstances intellectually, emotionally and socially [2][3][4][5][6][7].…”